Bracket racing was designed to make fair racing weither you are fast or slow. In order to do so they had to handy cap the tree so the slower sled's tree would Drop first. Then the faster sled tree would drop and the race is to the finish line. 

In order to run Bracket racing first of all the racer needs to know how fast the sled was in 660ft. We call these time trials were all competitors get to race down the track on the timing system and recieve a timeslip so the racer would know how fast his sled was in 660ft. 

The Christmas tree is set on a 500 bracket light . What I mean by a Bracket Light is there are 3 yellow lights on each side of the tree. So if I was on the left side of the tree I would be Looking at the left 3 Flood light Bulbs. You are on The Right Side of the You want to concentrate on your 3 yellow Flood Lights. 

Once you are Both staged into the Starting Line Beams, The starter will activate the tree, When the tree is activated the Top yellow will light up first, Then the second yellow, Then the third yellow 

When you see the third yellow you want to go. Between the third yellow and the green light is 5 one hundreds of a second, Thats why the call it a 500 bracket tree. 500 is a perfect light anything above 500 is a green light,

499 is a red light 

Know we have explained the starting line- Know we will explain the race and give you several examples how you win & lose. We have given all Competitors 3 time trials, so everyone know's how fast there sled is in 660ft. You would then put in what we call a dial in. 

So for example in time trials my sled  in its first pass  10.20 seconds second one 10.24 seconds & the third one 10.22 seconds so all 3 runs were consistent so I would Dial in 10.20 seconds. we will use you as my competitor in my first round. Your time trials your sled ran 9.20 seconds 9.25 & 9.23 so you have decided to dial in 9.20 seconds. 

So know the race is set your sled is 1 second faster than mine. So on the staging board you are in lane 1 which is the left side of the tree & I am on the right. The computer operater of the timing system would put in the systen both our numbers & our Dial in's. 

Know the handy cap has been put into the tree. We would then both proceed to stage our Snowmobiles The starter would then activate the tree my side of yellow's would drop first as I have the slower sled, I leave on the last yellow & cut a 600 light.1 second later your side of yellow lights would drop you leave on the last yellow & you cut a 525 light. 

 Know the race is on to the finish line , I left first with the slower sled know you are chasing me with the faster sled. We get 20 ft from the finish line and your sled seems to be running on the number plus you cut a better light than what I did. You catch me 15 from the finish line with the faster sled. 

You would want to just stay ahead of me and coast threw the finish line.

You finished first your Et was 9.27 seconds to my 10.29 seconds. You finished first & ran closer to the Dial in , You won. 

The whole idea behind Bracket racing is to be the first one threw the finish line running closest to you dial without running faster than your dial in, That is what we call a breakout. If you run faster than your dial in and your competitor runs slower than his dial in he would win because you broke out. 

Know there are other cases when you both break out the winner would be the competitor closest to there dial. In another case would be you have the slower sled & you see the fast sled either cut a bad light or his sled is not running close to his dial in .

You are 50ft from the finish line and look back and you know he isn't going to catch you let off and coast threw the finish line so you don't break out, But you have to make sure you finish first ahead of your competitor. 

The whole key behind bracket racing is cut in the 500 range all day & have a consistent sled that will be close to your dial in and you will end up in the winners circle.