what are or are there any advantages of holding numbers? (driving with some in your pocket) vs dialing honest. is it a phycological game, do track conditions play a factor, or is it just a personal preference? I personally have never raced but my dad does & 98.99% of the time he is dialed honest or at worst one number off.. I have always learned & been taught it is about consistency, if you have to hold numbers wouldn't that mean your car is not as consistent as it can be?

quote:

Originally posted by dragkid1990:
what are or are there any advantages of holding numbers? (driving with some in your pocket) vs dialing honest. is it a phycological game, do track conditions play a factor, or is it just a personal preference? I personally have never raced but my dad does & 98.99% of the time he is dialed honest or at worst one number off.. I have always learned & been taught it is about consistency, if you have to hold numbers wouldn't that mean your car is not as consistent as it can be?

If you are dialed in to be dead on 5 and give up .01 on the tree to somebody that is holding,as long as they take the stripe by less than .015,you have no chance of winning.

That is why some people hold.

Holding helps to be sure you can cover your dial but you also have to be good at scrubbing it off or you are gonna be under. I also think it helps hide a bad light especially if you are being chased but again you got to be good at scrubbing off what you are holding.

Every time I've held I've won. Problem is, it was by accident every time and I didn't realize what I'd done until after the run!!

Some racers you hold numbers ,and some racers you dial honest against,all depends,lol.Hence,my nickname ,HAMMER,lol.

Dialing is the only time I’m never honest
At very least you want to cover the worst you think the car might run

Yes holding does mean you have to drop the same or more.At same time if you spin a tire or stage a little deeper than you mean to you will have hard time running the number. Plus it gived you a secondary shot a controlling the game some. Do I like the idea of having to shut off before 10 past last mph as I have always done in heads up,hell no.
Its part of the game and holding is just another tool.

quote:

Originally posted by THE HAMMER:
Some racers you hold numbers ,and some racers you dial honest against,all depends,lol.Hence,my nickname ,HAMMER,lol.

This racer decided holding was going to work at this event. When he changed his strategy that rest became history.

Holding numbers is done to present a different view to your opponent than what is actually happening...I will not get too specific here but for example, if you miss the tree but are holding you still catch your opponent...he sees something totally different than what is actually the case...you then drop and still have a chance to win...or you are very close on the tree but catch your opponent quick...he thinks you killed the tree and races accordingly...you drop and, oops!...things are not what he thought they were...

Holding is creating an illusion to confuse your opponent which is a good thing...anyone who holds knows perfectly well that if you run into a racer who hits the tree and runs the number and maybe never even looks over, there is nothing you can do about that except congratulate them...

First time I did it, I had forgotten to change then numbers in my delay box. I caught the guy REALLY QUICK, and it seemed strange to me that I did...so I whomped him once....kept my nose in front...and ran nearly dead on my dial.....After the race I looked at my dial, the time slip, and my delay box.....the whomp didn't win me the round, it saved me the round....was gonna break out big time....

Next time I did it, I just guessed wrong on my dial and same thing happened....I caught the other car a lot sooner than I should have, or that I thought I should have.....brakes this time, keeping nose in front....round win.....but it was a somewhat slower car....had it been a faster car, I would have been screwed....

So I got lucky twice, but it taught me how to hold.....Now I just need to learn how to control it and what to hold!!! Ugh........

A very important factor in bracket racing is confidence. Do whatever makes you think you can win.

The only time holding doesn’t give you a chance of winning is when you race an honest dialer and he hits the tree and runs dead on. Most of the dialers racing around me never even look over at me so you can’t push them into a mistake because they hold it down to the finish. I’m usually the faster car so I have had those same people break out many times when I was late by not looking at what was happening.

Curtis

This message has been edited. Last edited by: CURTIS REED,

Personally, I always dialed what I expected I could run. I never gave a margin, just what I expected to run. But for sure I see the benefit of holding. Definitely takes experience to have consistent success. I remember in Scotty's course, how he breaks down the track and run so that the person knows where and when to be offensive or defensive to gain the advantage.

Unless you got nitrous under the thumb to speed ‘er up, or can race on throttle stop with an override switch to finish line race with; it’s easier/cheaper to slow em down than speed em up. make sure you never dial yourself out of a race putting something on for dial in you hope or think it might run. You will win more by accident dialing soft than hard. That Curtis in above post made dead on with a 0 statement about the “out the back door racer”. either race them same way or set up soft and try to “get inside them” at stripe or turn em loose cause you know you can go under. Cars/converters/ignition boxes so good nowadays the “holding” game bout obsolete. Watched a $15,000 win race last fall. Have stayed away a while from the sport. Was surprised how many at decent paying race was hammer down at stripe. Was all new to me

At the WFC this weekend the guy that won 2 of the races claimed he didn't hold and he ran dead on several times. I dial pretty honest and won a round where the guy was good a bunch and killed about 15 mph. I was late and ran it out and got the finish line .005 for the win. As said above and in my observations more and more winner are not holding any or very little.