History Heads up racing...when exactly did it die?

THIS...is also very interesting info...thanks!
I hope my thread doesn't get yanked, since we're talking about the decline of, and rebirth of, drag racing during the "post heyday" era, because I think this all relates to the evolution of the sport, and, it maybe even can help some of the newer grass-roots guys, and the tracks that host them, learn from the past...
Many folks race nostalgia cars today, and though they are based on, and built like early drag cars, they are most times running bracket-style.
I think it helps some of us understand exactly how we got where we are now.

 

Go to select NHRA/IHRA points meets and national events and watch Stock & Superstock "Class" eliminations, all heads up. At the US Nationals each year they run class elims. in both classes as well as
the "Hemi Shootout" pitting '68 Hemi Cuda's n Darts
heads up.

 

They still running sportsman at Nhra Nats?

 

Watch for the first jiggle!

 

Oh ya. Oct 2-5th @ Fontana is a Sports National, like a
mini national for sportsman cars. They will be running
stock and superstock class eliminations and record runs.
I'll be there with my brother-in-laws B/S 427 Fairlane
Hardtop and good frien Robert Ponds AA/S 427 Fairlane
Sedan. Since NHRA has added so much to national events, they run stock at one event, then superstock at
the next and so on and class elims at select events.
Divisional points meets run stock & superstock at all
events with class elims. and record runs at select events. These are the only two class at an NHRA event
that you can still get you fill/thrill of factory horse power
wars, with lots of wheelies and stick (manual trans) cars. Check it out and you'll forget about the pro classes.

 

At some point in the 80s factory produced muscle got old enough to fall out of daily driverland. At that point, joe lunchbox that was driving his street/strip daily had to step up his skilset 2x because of the shift in available hardware. That weeded out a ton of street/strip cars & owners and resulted in a shift of what showed up at the track. Suddenly the street/strip car is the exception not the rule at the track. That's what happened in the 90s and the answer was bracket racing because the leash of streetability was gone from the majority of the hardware.

Thank the rebirth of factory muscle and the EFI generation for swinging the pendulum back to the heads up direction. People like to beat up on the pinks phenom but it's putting a spotlight on where racing is really at. Lotta small tire doorslammers on a tight budget kicking serious ass, that's traditional attitude for sure.

 

It lives on at the HAMB Drags... Every August like clockwork...

He's actually proud of that?

 

In the '70s they still had Wednesday night "Grudge Night" racing at Fremont, where any two cars could race heads up if some guys wanted to challenge each other. I wish they still had something like that in the area. That was pretty fun. But even then, I think most of the racing was bracket type racing.

 

Brackets go back at least to the late '60s. After introduction of electronic starting devices, the technology to have handicapped starts was available. By about '67, the sportsman racing in the SoCal area was mostly bracket racing on Saturday nights. There was class racing (heads up) on most Sundays, but if I recall correctly, not many hot cars (push started) raced on Sunday. We raced mostly at the Beach and the Pond; there may have been other programs running elsewhere that I am not too well versed on.

Of course, there was a lot of heads up racing as well. Most Saturday nights there was a headlining show (Top Fuel, maybe Funny Car) and a couple of lesser heads up classes (maybe Junior Fuel or Gas, Top Gas, AA/GS, or Fuel Altereds). We had a group of flathead racers that raced heads up from time to time (we were quite a ways down the food chain.....). One year we went to the Winternationals and won a class trophy.

Keep in mind that bracket racing was much less technical in those days. No delay boxes, no computer readouts; the methods of evaluation and tuning were not very sophisticated by modern standards. As with modern bracket racing, there were aggravations (sandbaggers, breakouts, etc.), but it sure beat the hell out of not racing.

 

I HATE BRACKET RACING! STUDDER BOXES! DELAY SWITCHES...
Heads up is the only way to race ! Period!
In my book anyway....hee hee...
I KNOW I KNOW .......My two cents..........

 

She sure has some long arms!

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Yes, Alex and his brother are proud of the fact they started bracket racing, and with good reason. He could see the decline of racers that maybe drove their car to the track only to be faced with a racer that towed in his race only vehicle that had all the latest go-fast goodies that the other racer couldn't afford. Dropping down a class wasn't something racers like to do to get away from the so-called "hitter" so they just stopped coming to the track.
Face it, if it wasn't for bracket racing, drag racing for the Joe Sixpacks would be gone by now. And I mean no malice using the words Joe Sixpack either.