Avoid Losing Races With This One Simple Trick

Losing races sucks, but it’s even worse when it’s due to a simple failure that is totally preventable. I’m talking about the coiled cable or cables coming from your steering wheel for your wired buttons. At a minimum, those steering wheel buttons control your transbrake and bump button. If you’re a real gangster, then you probably have a scramble button, parachute release, and maybe a line lock as well. Are you a hardcore, weight-saving Drag and Driver? You might even have blinker buttons and a horn. Honestly, the possibilities are endless.

We asked our followers for their steering wheel button experiences. Here are just a few:

"Almost burned my car to the ground over f****** steering wheel buttons getting caught in the column" - Matt R.
"Let’s just say intermittent activation at Sick Week. Go to stage, mat the gas, no trans brake. Try to back up, no trans brake, then it would work! Also a pain while driving and wire hanging off column." - Dave T.
"Hi Bill, here goes. I made it to the finals of the local drags. Rolled into the burnout box, up to the staging light, activated the line lock... but couldn’t turn it off due to wires shorting and making contact. Result? Runner-up. AAGGH!" - Kirin H.
"Ripped my nitrous button wiring out on that short day in Kearney on 2.0 this year. Second day in on Race Week and fragged an $80 button, only made like 3 passes. I was pretty ticked off on that one. Definitely didn’t help that it’s a factory tilt wheel and the coiled cord got caught between the column and the wheel. I had an oil down right in front of me, and they backed me out and left it plugged in, and it just ripped right out of the back of the button while backing the car out." - Nikko C.
"My spiral-wired bump button caught on the tilt steering lever while I was turning... got yanked pretty good but looked okay. Turned out it pulled the wires apart inside. Bump wouldn’t work. Spent a couple hours changing switches trying to get it to work, no luck. Changed out the wire and bingo, back in business! I hate these f****** wires... but I like my steering wheel buttons, so wires are a necessary evil for now… please change this for me, Bill!" - Stace K.
"Pulled plug from car. Trans brake didn’t work on the line. Big loss. Got wedged between the hub and the column, destroyed the signal light detent. Had to hold the lever to make the signals work. Have a big ugly cord zip-tied to the wheel now when not in use to keep it from causing more havoc." - PJ N.
"Pulled wire from TB when turning tight leaving pits. That was a bummer way to lose." - Jeff S.
"Always damn broken." - Rob L.
"Cord got wrapped up between the column and wheel in the staging lanes, ripped out wiring." - Tony S.
"Coiled cord caught between the column and tilt section (Foxbody) and is just annoying and ugly. Have to dig the cord out from in between the wheel and column bezel." - Robert J.
"Got my trans brake and bump wiring wrapped up into the column on 1.0 this year. Broke a wire on the brake and also broke my turn signal switch. Had to scramble to figure out a solution. I’ve been wanting a wireless button since!" - Tyler J.
"I lost my transbrake button because the wire stretched inside the plastic coating and I couldn’t tell it was broken when I had a race against Craig Carman. Should have dragged his ass and won the event but no, LOL." - Aaron S.
"I was tuning a customer’s vehicle, and it was breaking up real bad randomly, and then I realized the two-step button harness kept randomly getting caught in the steering column and activating the two-step while driving." - Eric W.
"I’ve ripped out wiring so many damn times it’s driven me near crazy. At $80 a pop, those stupid buttons add up." - Matt R.
"We had wires pull out of one going to lanes for the money and it cost us a race!" - Lewis M.

Along with the endless options come the not-so-good-looking, dangly cables that are in the way and, not to mention, dangerous. From getting tangled in your turn signal, jamming up your steering column, catching on the keys/ignition, or blocking necessary ventilation on hot drives, those coiled cables seem like a fact of life. How failure-prone are hardwired buttons? Coming from an aviation background, there are best practices for wiring installations, and I incorporate that mindset into all racing and automotive products. With that in mind, a dangly cable that catches on your feet and everything surrounding it is a recipe for failure.

I’m here to tell you there is an alternative—say hello to the Billy Button. This is a wireless solution for buttons on your steering wheel. Here’s the lowdown on the system:

Four military-spec (milspec) buttons with plugs.
Wireless transmitter with a quick-release mounting base and USB-C charging port.
Receiver with four 30-amp rated outputs. The unit is internally protected with auto-resetting “fuses.”

Now for the Q&A:

Q. System security—how secure is it? Basically, could someone else accidentally activate outputs in my car?

A. The chipset being used has been specifically developed to minimize the possibility of multiple devices having conflicting addresses. What does that mean? It means each button is assigned an address from over 16.77 million possibilities. Your odds of winning a million dollars in the lottery are far better than having someone else with the same address. So go play the lottery for Pete’s sake!

Q. How fast could it be?

A. Testing has shown a delay of .028 milliseconds. To put that in perspective, the average human blink of an eye is between 100 and 400 milliseconds (.100–.400 ms). Wile E. Coyote and Speedy Gonzales would be impressed.

Q. How long does the battery last in the wireless transmitter?

A. According to battery draw calculators, with all four buttons pressed and held continuously and factoring in a 20% battery drain cutoff for safety, it would last 21,000+ hours—125 weeks or over two years. Basically, it’s a LONG time. For extra security, the transmit LED will change from amber to red when the battery is getting low. When it’s time to recharge, just plug it into your USB-C charger. Easy!