32 JULY 2018 scca.com
FEATURE
Quite simply, racers are placed
in a time bracket based on the
demonstrated lap time potential in
qualifying. Starting with an analysis
of past MARRS races, seven time
brackets were chosen for the
April event. Drivers who break
out into faster brackets are simply
moved up into the next fastest
bracket without penalty. Cars
must be closed-wheel and must,
at a minimum, meet all Improved
Touring safety requirements.
Innovation always meets
obstacles, however, and Sprint
got behind the idea and provided
funding for advertising, while the
Region’s Director of Club Racing,
Greg McDermott, decided that
the Region would run Bracket
Racing for the entire 2018 home
season, which consisted of five
race weekends. This required a
small team to develop branding,
logos, and an ad campaign to
get the word out. Advertising
included the use of social media to
establish a web presence for the
new race group. The next obstacle
was working out how to issue a
logbook to a diverse collection of
non-SCCA classed cars. Our tech
inspectors and RE developed the
Regional class of Bracket Improved
Touring, or BIT, which the SCCA
National Office approved.
The next hurdle was
logistical – a test run of the
{SBRR} concept in 2016 left
the announcers struggling to
keep track of the brackets and
breakouts. Enter Ted Cahall, a
Region member who developed
an application to track the
brackets and make them available
Bracket Road Racing is no
exception. The first was convincing
the Region’s Board of Directors
and the Road Racing Committee
that it was worth giving it a try.
This involved countless hours of
one-on-one discussions. “I’ll just
sandbag to win a bracket,” was an
argument voiced several times,
but when faced with competition,
road racers rarely sandbag.
Case in point, in the April 2018
race, nearly every racer broke
out of their qualifying bracket.
Ultimately, DC Region’s Board
