What is the Corvette Challenge at Richmond Dragway?
It has happened to all of us. You stop at a light in your nice clean shiny deep breathing
Corvette and look at the car next to you. All of a sudden you feel like Kenny
Bernstein staring down John Force as you each wait for the light to go
green. It goes green and you are off. Then you realize you want to do this all the time
and legally. So where do you go? What do you do? How do you compete? The Corvette
Challenge is the answer.
Bracket Racing
Drag racing is simple to figure out. You line up next to someone, wait for the light to go
green and drive as hard and fast as you can for ¼ mile. Whoever gets to the finish
line first wins. This model is simple until you figure out that if you modify a car and
spend just a little more money on it, then you will always win. This scenario or "flaw"
opens the door for Bracket Racing. Bracket Racing is when you drag race against an
opponent you each are racing in your "bracket" so to speak. This bracket is also called a
"dial-in". Basically each driver has to honestly predict what amount of elapsed time (ET)
is needed for the car to travel the ¼ mile. To keep it honest, you cannot go faster
than you predict or you lose in what is called a "breakout". What this does is equalize
the cars and shifts the race to the driver's ability to predict a time and react to the
starting lights.
The Tree
The starting lights are affectionately called the "Christmas Tree" because there are so
many lights and in varying colors. The car with the slower dial in will be given a head
start. The faster car will have to wait for his Christmas tree until the slower car has
made up the difference in the dial-in ET. Example. I dial my car in at 13.50 seconds and
my opponent at 12.50 seconds. My opponent is 1 second faster than I so I will get a 1
second head start. That means if we do everything the same we will cross the finish line
at the same time.
Reaction Time
The amount of time it takes for the driver and his car to react to the green light is
where you can win your race. If it takes you one half (.50) second to react to the tree,
and your opponent takes 1 full second (1.00), then you will be .50 quicker to the finish
line. This, in a nutshell, is Bracket Racing. There are many lessons to learn but the key
takeaway for now is that the fastest car will not win. The better driver will win. Which
is how you and I can play in multimillion-dollar sport that Bernstein and Force play
without going broke.
Competition
What the Corvette Challenge does is allow you to participate in series of races that are
Bracket Races as described above, but with an entire field filled with Corvettes. Think
about it, all vintages all styles all colors. Here a C6 can race a C1. Think of it as a
very fast Car Show where you can see these works of art and experience what is under the
hood at the same time.
Spectators and supporters are welcome.
You can come out to meet new people, watch the racing and friendly competition. Many
drivers bring their spouses for support or even their entire families. Clubs bring members
to race and members to cheer, support and maybe even engage in a little friendly "trash
talking". Even Corvette owners who choose not to race still bring their Corvettes to
support the Series.
This is what the Corvette Challenge is about. We hope that you can make it to at least
one of our events if not all in the future. And remember to "Save the Wave".
Attendance
| Year | Results | Date | Corvettes |
|---|
| 2007 |
Event 1 |
May 12, 2007 |
7 |
| 2007 |
Event 2 |
July 14, 2007 |
9 |
| 2007 |
Event 3 |
August 11, 2007 |
8 |
| 2007 |
Event 4 |
September 1, 2007 |
10 |
| 2008 |
Event 1 |
May 3, 2008 |
7 |
| 2008 |
Event 2 |
May 24, 2008 |
3 |
| 2008 |
Event 3 |
June 28, 2008 |
4 |
| 2008 |
Event 4 |
September 20, 2008 |
9 |
| 2008 |
Event 5 |
October 4, 2008 |
6 |
| 2008 |
Event 6 |
October 18, 2008 |
9 |
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modified: December 31, 1969 - 7:00 pm
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