Ok, after three iterations I think I have finally built a dead strip that will work with all cars (even my HO cars with Slide Guides). After running many laps with my first two attempts I found many flaws that I could not live with. I did not want to use the conventional dead strip with contacts on both sides of the slot for fear of voltage getting back to my parallel port through the motor and smoking my computer. So I wanted to stay with a method using only one side of the braid. My first try at a dead strip was an inline dead strip using all 1/4" braid. This version worked pretty well for larger, heavier 1/24 scale cars. Even then, it missed counting a few laps per heat. 1/32 cars were a lost cause because the braid on the cars was not long enough to bridge the gap in the track braid to trigger the lap counter. Nice idea but it would not work for all cars.
Then I tried another version of the inline dead strip using 1/4" wide brass strips. I was able to get the gaps down to 1/16" so the 1/32 car braid would bridge the gap and trigger the lap counter. This worked great with heavy 1/24 cars; didn't miss a lap count. However, a lighter car going over the dead strip would miss an ocasional lap. Even a heavier car that was accelerating and pulling the weight off the front end would miss a lap. I figured that the trigger area was so small that a car at speed could skip over it and not make contact. Worked OK but back to the drawing board.
For my last effort at a dead strip I used another method that was explained on this board; a split rail dead strip. I used 1/4" wide brass strips, cut them down, bent them in a "U" shape, and pushed the ends through holes in the braid recess. The brass was super glued to the track and hot glued underneath the track. The gap between the two strips is about 1/32". I am happy to say that now this dead strip counts all laps for all cars! The longer contact area (about 3") gives the car braid more opportunity to trip the lap counter and works well with any length or width braid. I even ran some of my HO cars using Slide Guides on it and they counted every lap. I am now a happy camper....ah slotter! Hope this helps anyone try to put a dead strip on the track. I will be glad to answer any questions anyone has about getting this to work. I was really puzzled at first about getting a dead strip to work but it really is pretty simple.