Aug 3, 2026 · 8 min · 5 segments
This week’s *Question of the Week* comes from Dave, who asks: **Do you find a difference in your reaction time if you stage first or you stage second?** If you’ve got a topic you want us to tackle…
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Dave asks, "Do you find a difference in your reaction time if you stage first or you stage second?" Um, this is a, like, a pretty straightforward question that I think is a relatively in-depth answer, or requires a relatively in-depth [chuckles] answer.
Uh, now the an- the simple answer to this is no, I, I don't see a difference in my personal reaction time, but that's because, in large part, this is something that I've worked on pretty significantly, and that's kind of what I, what I want to dive into, the, the layer, the onion that I, I want to peel back.
Um, let me just take, like, the, the broad version of this is I've felt really for the bulk of my racing career that, that racers...
Far too many racers get far too hung up on who stages first or last, and the go-to line that I always say is, like, those four sets of lights on top of the Christmas tree, right? The two pre-stages and the two stages.
The race can't start until all four of those lights come on, and the order in which they illuminate has zero bearing on the outcome of the race, right? That's the simple side.
But I will admit, and this part of the conversation we'll say is kind of exclusive in my mind to, like, top bulb bracket racing or, or pro tree racing, right? That over the course of my career, and those of you that have been racing for a long time would nod along and say, like, the margins have gotten slimmer, right? The margin for error is smaller than it's ever been.
The competition keeps getting tighter, and as a result, like, everything matters.
So on some level, the, the cadence of staging, like, I think most racers are more comfortable when we stage last.
And the reasoning for that, uh, if you put in a fair amount of time on the practice tree, is because that's what the practice tree mimics, right? And it allows us to fully take advantage of auto start, right? Like when on a practice tree, when you press the button, that's mimicking stage, so you're on the button for about the same amount of time.
Like, you don't know when the top bulb is coming on, but you kind of get in a cadence to where you can turn that level of focus up so that you're really focused as the bulb lights, right? Because you know that it's gonna light at about the same time every time.
So the first step to, to kind of mimicking that in competition, and something that I'm, I'm, I really harp on within the Suspect Racing Elite, is w- whether you are, or whether I am the first to stage or the last to stage, I don't press the trans brake button in until both cars are staged.
But when I stage first, I just hold the car in the stage beams with the foot brake until my opponent stages and then set the button.
That way I'm on the button for about the same amount of time, and I'm taking advantage of auto start.
Like, that is, it is, it, and it, it's easier to do when you stage last in terms of, like, you know when the stage light's gonna come on or it's about to come on, and you're, you're pressing the button almost instantly from that, versus your opponent stages last and you kind of react to that.
Like, it's minimal, but I'm telling you, we play a game of thousandths of a second.
So the difficult part about getting comfortable, you know, s- staging first is that it's difficult to, to, to mimic.
Dave asks, "Do you find a difference in your reaction time if you stage first or you stage second?" Um, this is a, like, a pretty straightforward question that I think is a relatively in-depth answer, or requires a relatively in-depth [chuckles] answer.
Uh, now the an- the simple answer to this is no, I, I don't see a difference in my personal reaction time, but that's because, in large part, this is something that I've worked on pretty significantly, and that's kind of what I, what I want to dive into, the, the layer, the onion that I, I want to peel back.
Um, let me just take, like, the, the broad version of this is I've felt really for the bulk of my racing career that, that racers...
Far too many racers get far too hung up on who stages first or last, and the go-to line that I always say is, like, those four sets of lights on top of the Christmas tree, right? The two pre-stages and the two stages.
The race can't start until all four of those lights come on, and the order in which they illuminate has zero bearing on the outcome of the race, right? That's the simple side.
But I will admit, and this part of the conversation we'll say is kind of exclusive in my mind to, like, top bulb bracket racing or, or pro tree racing, right? That over the course of my career, and those of you that have been racing for a long time would nod along and say, like, the margins have gotten slimmer, right? The margin for error is smaller than it's ever been.
The competition keeps getting tighter, and as a result, like, everything matters.
So on some level, the, the cadence of staging, like, I think most racers are more comfortable when we stage last.
And the reasoning for that, uh, if you put in a fair amount of time on the practice tree, is because that's what the practice tree mimics, right? And it allows us to fully take advantage of auto start, right? Like when on a practice tree, when you press the button, that's mimicking stage, so you're on the button for about the same amount of time.
Like, you don't know when the top bulb is coming on, but you kind of get in a cadence to where you can turn that level of focus up so that you're really focused as the bulb lights, right? Because you know that it's gonna light at about the same time every time.
So the first step to, to kind of mimicking that in competition, and something that I'm, I'm, I really harp on within the Suspect Racing Elite, is w- whether you are, or whether I am the first to stage or the last to stage, I don't press the trans brake button in until both cars are staged.
But when I stage first, I just hold the car in the stage beams with the foot brake until my opponent stages and then set the button.
That way I'm on the button for about the same amount of time, and I'm taking advantage of auto start.
Like, that is, it is, it, and it, it's easier to do when you stage last in terms of, like, you know when the stage light's gonna come on or it's about to come on, and you're, you're pressing the button almost instantly from that, versus your opponent stages last and you kind of react to that.
Like, it's minimal, but I'm telling you, we play a game of thousandths of a second.
So the difficult part about getting comfortable, you know, s- staging first is that it's difficult to, to, to mimic.
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