Drag Racing Basics (long)

[Buck531]

I know several people have been to the track here. However, there are others (like me) who haven't. I got this from Clubgp.com who got it from F-body.org (I would post the link but it's down there).

 

Anyways. The do's and don't at the track. I found this VERY informative for me since I've never been there.

 

DRAG RACING BASICS: PIT GATE TO FINISH LINE!

Contact your local track, and ask if they have a "street night", or "test and tune". For complete beginners, it is best to avoid bracket racing events, or any points race. On street night, almost everyone running is just as new to this as you are! The track officials know this, and are ready to felp. It is also a much more relaxed atmosphere.

 

If possible, call a few buddies, and go to watch the first time. Check out the "lay of the land". Ask the racers in the pits how everything works. Remember, everyone there is a car nut just like you, AND EVERYONE THERE WAS A "FIRST-TIMER" ONCE THEMSELVES! Everytime I go, I get asked questions by new guys! Just make sure you pay the extra couple of bucks to get in on the "pit side", as it won't do you much good to sit on the spectator side, which is usually deserted on street nights.

 

When you decide you are ready to give it a try, goto the pit gate, you will need to inform them that you intend to race. They will charge you for car & driver, plus extra for any spectator friends you brought. At the Motorplex in Ennis, they charged $18 for my wife and I (I raced, she watched) last season. You will be given a tech card.

 

Go find a pit space. Only take up one space, as the night goes on, it can get very busy. Unload any loose items in your car (I would suggest you leave what you can at home). Fill out the tech card and sign it. Usually, they also have a space on the BACK that you must sign, so look there also. Ask some of the cars parked near you whether they know if tech inspection is open, and where it is located (usually at the back, or beginning of the staging lanes). Its a good time to make new friends, and enjoy looking at all the great cars!

 

When tech inspection opens (usually 10-15 minutes after the gate opens) go to the tech area. If you are taking your street car, and it is not a death trap, you will pass tech. Some obvious things you need: seatbelts, safe tires (no cord showing), radiator coolant overflow catch canister (the factory one is fine), no blatant fluid leaks pouring out, etc! Also, shorts and tank tops are not allowed! YOU MUST WEAR LONG PANTS WHILE ON THE TRACK! All the officials look for this, so don't try to sneak it by them. This is about it for a street car. If your car runs faster than 11.99, then the entire game changes. However, if your running that well, I'll bet you've been to the track at least a time or two....The tech inspector will write your cars number on the window where it is visible by the timing tower. If staging lanes are not open, then return to your pit.

 

The track announcer will come over the PA system, and say that the staging lanes are open. Listen carefully, as some of the larger tracks have many lanes (The Motorplex has 10), and they may have cars of differant speeds report to differant lanes. On Friday street nights at Ennis, they just say lanes are open, and everyone just forms two lines. When they have a TON of cars, they split up the lanes by estimated ET of the car. Take your best guess, as this is not crucial. For your first run, I would suggest you get in line with the 15 second cars if you honestly have NO IDEA, as that is a good middle ground. The staging lanes go slowly, then quickly, so STAY WITH YOUR CAR. DO NOT RUN YOUR AIR CONDITIONER! The condensation on the system will drip down onto the track. BELIEVE ME, they look for this, and if they see something dripping, then will pull you off the starting line. When they check the liquid on the ground, and see it is plain water, they will chew your butt, and send you to the back of the staging lane.

 

At the end of the staging lanes, there SHOULD be a track official. Watch carefully, and when it is time, he will point at you, and then point where he wants you to go. His job is to pair up cars to race, then put them into correct lanes. The idea is to keep you from racing a 9 second alcohol Camaro. By the way, most tracks make a strong effort to keep near stock street cars from running sub-10 second race cars, and will usually hold a street car, and let the race car make a solo run. Unfortunatly, they don't always do this...If you find yourself lined up next to a John Force replica funny car, feel free (I advise beginners to do this!)to just sit there for a moment when the light goes green. Let the race car roar away from the starting line, then a moment later, you can go. Who cares that you got a lousy "reaction time"? Your ET slip will be UNEFFECTED! The timers don't start until you leave the starting line! This way, if the race car breaks an axle on a 7,000 rpm launch, and vears into your lane, you wont be there! I saw a sub-10 second car with an incorrectly set up rear suspention vear so hard at launch that he almost took out the starting line tree....

 

Just before you enter the water box, there should be another track official. He will make sure that your seat belt is on, all windows are rolled up, and will hold you until it is time for you to do your burnout. Do not enter the waterbox until instructed. If it is near sundown, turn on your parking lights. This is a required RULE at all tracks. This is how the officials can see where you are on the track, so they don't send another pair of cars while you are broke down at the other end, ON THE TRACK!

 

Since this is for beginners, I will assume you are on street tires. DO NOT DRIVE THROUGH THE WATERBOX! Your treaded tires will just pick up water in the treads, and when you do your burnout, it will sling water all over inside the wheel well. You will then track the water all the way down the track, and water will be dripping down onto your rear tires, making them VERY slick! If you do this, you make the track dangerous for everyone, and you may be asked to leave if you do it again. The water is for slicks, not treaded tires. DRIVE AROUND THE WATERBOX, then get your car centered in the lane. Back up slightly if needed. For street tires, I 'personally' do not think that a burnout does much at all. Street compounds are hard, and high performance tires are specifically designed to not heat up. Heat causes high speed tire failure, that is why you paid big bucks for "Z" speed rated tires. Now your trying to heat them up??? If I run my street tires, I do a quick, short burnout to clean the tires off.

 

Do not pull up to the tree! Every beginner does this. The staging beams are actually about 15 feet or so BEFORE the tree! Hopefully, you took my advise and watched the other cars run first, and looked to get an idea where everyone else was pulling up to. If you cant figure it out, don't worry, the starter knows it is "street night", and will felp you. When he realises you cant find the staging beams, watch him. He will walk up next to your car, and motion to you to either pull up, or back. Again, don't get embarrassed, or upset. The starter has to do that probably 20-30 times a night. SLOWLY pull forward until you see the very top, small yellow light come on. You are now "PRE-STAGED". It is considered a racers courtesy to wait for the other car to prestage, before staging. Then gently roll forward a few more inches, and the other small yellow light right under the top one will come on. You are now "STAGED". Do not roll forward too far, or the "PRESTAGED" light will go out, and you may be required to pull back, to relight that light. That is called "deep staging", and is usually not allowed on street nights. There -should- be a blue light turned on, on the tree, which notifies all racers that "deep staging" is not allowed. If you do accidently pull forward too far, and deep stage, DO NOT PULL BACK UNTIL INSTRUCTED TO DO SO BY THE STARTER. He may just start the tree anyway, and you would be sitting there in reverse! Now, watch that very bottom, large yellow light!

 

The starter will activate the tree, and the yellow lights will come on, one at a time .5 seconds apart. When the last yellow light comes on, GO! By the time you react, then your car reacts, the green light will be on. Trust me. If you red light, it is no big deal. Afterward, check your reaction time, and adjust. .500 is a perfect light on a standard tree (The pros use a tree where all the yellows come on at once, then green. A perfect light on a pro tree is .400).

 

If you only take one piece of advice from me, please let it be this: DON'T TRY TO SET A NATIONAL RECORD ON YOUR FIRST RUN! If this is your first time at the track, PLEASE make at least one pass where you are only running at 80%. This will give you a chance to see what the track feels like, what your car feels like, where the finish line is exactly, where the turn off is exactly. Your senses get overwhelmed when trying something like this the first time. A mistake you would have caught easily any other time can cause you to wreck your car. I've seen excellent drivers wreck great cars from a simple mistake that would have never caught them otherwise. It can happen to you too. This is the most fun you can have with your clothes on, but it is serious stuff too. Treat it that way. Stay in your lane at all costs.

 

Make sure you know exactly where the finish line is! Most new racers brake WAY too early...the speed trap beams are located 66' BEFORE the finish line beams. Make sure you are not mistaking the speed trap for the finish line!

 

Hopefully, you took my advice, and made your first pass at 80%, so you don't have to worry about figuring out this next section while running flat out....Most tracks have plenty of run out area. The Motorplex has something like 1/2 mile of run out area! However, other tracks like North Texas Dragway, as soon as you pass the finish line, you need to get on the brakes. When running the quarter mile, you will be running close to 100 mph at the finish line. If you slam on the brakes at those speeds, it is VERY easy to upset the chassis of the car and loose control, so be careful to not brake too hard.

 

READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY!!! Before you run, know where the turn off roads are located. Most tracks have 2 turn offs, with one of them located at the very end of the run out area. If the turn offs go to the left side of the track, then THE CAR IN THE LEFT LANE HAS THE RIGHT OF WAY! If the turn offs go to the right side of the track, then THE CAR IN THE RIGHT LANE HAS THE RIGHT OF WAY! NEVER, EVER TURN IN FRONT OF ANOTHER CAR, CROSSING THIER LANE!!!! If I am running a REAL slow car, I will drive all the way to the last turn off, as my only other option would be to sit in my lane and wait for them to finally arrive. I don't like sitting in the middle of my lane on a race track. Several years ago, a street car was running a low 10 second car. The fast car had problems at the starting line, and the street car won. However, the quick car was now on the way. The street car turned in front of the 10 second car which had just cleared the traps at 128mph. A STUPID MISTAKE THAT CAN GET YOU AND SOMEONE ELSE KILLED! I also had a kid in a Honda actually miss the first turn off, make a U Turn on the track, and come back to it. I flagged him down on the return road, and let him know that there was another turn off at the end of the track. The officials were also waiting for him at the end of the return road....

 

After you turn off, look for the timing shack, where you can pick up your timeslips. Bigger tracks also have scales close by where you can weigh your car if you wish. When they hand you your time slip, DO NOT READ IT YET! Wait until you are back to your pit to do that, for right now, you need to get out of the way! Continue back up the return road (most have speed limits of 10 mph in the pits). If you want the seasoned people to look down on you, then go roaring around in the pit area. That is also a sure fire way to get asked to leave.

 

CONGRATULATIONS! You just made your first pass down a drag strip! I assure you that you will be hooked after just one time! There is nothing like it...

 

THINGS TO PACK FOR A DAY AT THE RACES:

Pen to fill out tech card

1/4 tank of gas

think about your clothes! It can get pretty cold later at night, or really hot as the day goes on!

Sunscreen

Helmet (required if your car runs 13.99 or quicker)

Fold up chairs

Ice chest for drinks and cooling down intake (GLASS IS NOT ALLOWED!)

Cellular phone

Bug repellant

Orange cones to mark your pit

Camera or Camcorder!

Long pants are required! If it is hot, consider taking sweat pants you can take off and on

[Alex1647545498]

mmm yeah that sure was long smile.gif

[AngryBMW]

thanks for the info. I just hope that i can use it on May 9th.

-Marc

[Berto]

sweet i'll use it some day

[Guest OSUstang]

That was a good article, thanks for posting it.

[Guest compudaze]

Originally posted by Buck531:

I know several people have been to the track here. However, there are others (like me) who haven't. I got this from Clubgp.com who got it from F-body.org (I would post the link but it's down there).

 

Anyways. The do's and don't at the track. I found this VERY informative for me since I've never been there.

 

DRAG RACING BASICS: PIT GATE TO FINISH LINE!

Contact your local track, and ask if they have a "street night", or "test and tune". For complete beginners, it is best to avoid bracket racing events, or any points race. On street night, almost everyone running is just as new to this as you are! The track officials know this, and are ready to felp. It is also a much more relaxed atmosphere.

 

If possible, call a few buddies, and go to watch the first time. Check out the "lay of the land". Ask the racers in the pits how everything works. Remember, everyone there is a car nut just like you, AND EVERYONE THERE WAS A "FIRST-TIMER" ONCE THEMSELVES! Everytime I go, I get asked questions by new guys! Just make sure you pay the extra couple of bucks to get in on the "pit side", as it won't do you much good to sit on the spectator side, which is usually deserted on street nights.

 

When you decide you are ready to give it a try, goto the pit gate, you will need to inform them that you intend to race. They will charge you for car & driver, plus extra for any spectator friends you brought. At the Motorplex in Ennis, they charged $18 for my wife and I (I raced, she watched) last season. You will be given a tech card.

 

Go find a pit space. Only take up one space, as the night goes on, it can get very busy. Unload any loose items in your car (I would suggest you leave what you can at home). Fill out the tech card and sign it. Usually, they also have a space on the BACK that you must sign, so look there also. Ask some of the cars parked near you whether they know if tech inspection is open, and where it is located (usually at the back, or beginning of the staging lanes). Its a good time to make new friends, and enjoy looking at all the great cars!

 

When tech inspection opens (usually 10-15 minutes after the gate opens) go to the tech area. If you are taking your street car, and it is not a death trap, you will pass tech. Some obvious things you need: seatbelts, safe tires (no cord showing), radiator coolant overflow catch canister (the factory one is fine), no blatant fluid leaks pouring out, etc! Also, shorts and tank tops are not allowed! YOU MUST WEAR LONG PANTS WHILE ON THE TRACK! All the officials look for this, so don't try to sneak it by them. This is about it for a street car. If your car runs faster than 11.99, then the entire game changes. However, if your running that well, I'll bet you've been to the track at least a time or two....The tech inspector will write your cars number on the window where it is visible by the timing tower. If staging lanes are not open, then return to your pit.

 

The track announcer will come over the PA system, and say that the staging lanes are open. Listen carefully, as some of the larger tracks have many lanes (The Motorplex has 10), and they may have cars of differant speeds report to differant lanes. On Friday street nights at Ennis, they just say lanes are open, and everyone just forms two lines. When they have a TON of cars, they split up the lanes by estimated ET of the car. Take your best guess, as this is not crucial. For your first run, I would suggest you get in line with the 15 second cars if you honestly have NO IDEA, as that is a good middle ground. The staging lanes go slowly, then quickly, so STAY WITH YOUR CAR. DO NOT RUN YOUR AIR CONDITIONER! The condensation on the system will drip down onto the track. BELIEVE ME, they look for this, and if they see something dripping, then will pull you off the starting line. When they check the liquid on the ground, and see it is plain water, they will chew your butt, and send you to the back of the staging lane.

 

At the end of the staging lanes, there SHOULD be a track official. Watch carefully, and when it is time, he will point at you, and then point where he wants you to go. His job is to pair up cars to race, then put them into correct lanes. The idea is to keep you from racing a 9 second alcohol Camaro. By the way, most tracks make a strong effort to keep near stock street cars from running sub-10 second race cars, and will usually hold a street car, and let the race car make a solo run. Unfortunatly, they don't always do this...If you find yourself lined up next to a John Force replica funny car, feel free (I advise beginners to do this!)to just sit there for a moment when the light goes green. Let the race car roar away from the starting line, then a moment later, you can go. Who cares that you got a lousy "reaction time"? Your ET slip will be UNEFFECTED! The timers don't start until you leave the starting line! This way, if the race car breaks an axle on a 7,000 rpm launch, and vears into your lane, you wont be there! I saw a sub-10 second car with an incorrectly set up rear suspention vear so hard at launch that he almost took out the starting line tree....

 

Just before you enter the water box, there should be another track official. He will make sure that your seat belt is on, all windows are rolled up, and will hold you until it is time for you to do your burnout. Do not enter the waterbox until instructed. If it is near sundown, turn on your parking lights. This is a required RULE at all tracks. This is how the officials can see where you are on the track, so they don't send another pair of cars while you are broke down at the other end, ON THE TRACK!

 

Since this is for beginners, I will assume you are on street tires. DO NOT DRIVE THROUGH THE WATERBOX! Your treaded tires will just pick up water in the treads, and when you do your burnout, it will sling water all over inside the wheel well. You will then track the water all the way down the track, and water will be dripping down onto your rear tires, making them VERY slick! If you do this, you make the track dangerous for everyone, and you may be asked to leave if you do it again. The water is for slicks, not treaded tires. DRIVE AROUND THE WATERBOX, then get your car centered in the lane. Back up slightly if needed. For street tires, I 'personally' do not think that a burnout does much at all. Street compounds are hard, and high performance tires are specifically designed to not heat up. Heat causes high speed tire failure, that is why you paid big bucks for "Z" speed rated tires. Now your trying to heat them up??? If I run my street tires, I do a quick, short burnout to clean the tires off.

 

Do not pull up to the tree! Every beginner does this. The staging beams are actually about 15 feet or so BEFORE the tree! Hopefully, you took my advise and watched the other cars run first, and looked to get an idea where everyone else was pulling up to. If you cant figure it out, don't worry, the starter knows it is "street night", and will felp you. When he realises you cant find the staging beams, watch him. He will walk up next to your car, and motion to you to either pull up, or back. Again, don't get embarrassed, or upset. The starter has to do that probably 20-30 times a night. SLOWLY pull forward until you see the very top, small yellow light come on. You are now "PRE-STAGED". It is considered a racers courtesy to wait for the other car to prestage, before staging. Then gently roll forward a few more inches, and the other small yellow light right under the top one will come on. You are now "STAGED". Do not roll forward too far, or the "PRESTAGED" light will go out, and you may be required to pull back, to relight that light. That is called "deep staging", and is usually not allowed on street nights. There -should- be a blue light turned on, on the tree, which notifies all racers that "deep staging" is not allowed. If you do accidently pull forward too far, and deep stage, DO NOT PULL BACK UNTIL INSTRUCTED TO DO SO BY THE STARTER. He may just start the tree anyway, and you would be sitting there in reverse! Now, watch that very bottom, large yellow light!

 

The starter will activate the tree, and the yellow lights will come on, one at a time .5 seconds apart. When the last yellow light comes on, GO! By the time you react, then your car reacts, the green light will be on. Trust me. If you red light, it is no big deal. Afterward, check your reaction time, and adjust. .500 is a perfect light on a standard tree (The pros use a tree where all the yellows come on at once, then green. A perfect light on a pro tree is .400).

 

If you only take one piece of advice from me, please let it be this: DON'T TRY TO SET A NATIONAL RECORD ON YOUR FIRST RUN! If this is your first time at the track, PLEASE make at least one pass where you are only running at 80%. This will give you a chance to see what the track feels like, what your car feels like, where the finish line is exactly, where the turn off is exactly. Your senses get overwhelmed when trying something like this the first time. A mistake you would have caught easily any other time can cause you to wreck your car. I've seen excellent drivers wreck great cars from a simple mistake that would have never caught them otherwise. It can happen to you too. This is the most fun you can have with your clothes on, but it is serious stuff too. Treat it that way. Stay in your lane at all costs.

 

Make sure you know exactly where the finish line is! Most new racers brake WAY too early...the speed trap beams are located 66' BEFORE the finish line beams. Make sure you are not mistaking the speed trap for the finish line!

 

Hopefully, you took my advice, and made your first pass at 80%, so you don't have to worry about figuring out this next section while running flat out....Most tracks have plenty of run out area. The Motorplex has something like 1/2 mile of run out area! However, other tracks like North Texas Dragway, as soon as you pass the finish line, you need to get on the brakes. When running the quarter mile, you will be running close to 100 mph at the finish line. If you slam on the brakes at those speeds, it is VERY easy to upset the chassis of the car and loose control, so be careful to not brake too hard.

 

READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY!!! Before you run, know where the turn off roads are located. Most tracks have 2 turn offs, with one of them located at the very end of the run out area. If the turn offs go to the left side of the track, then THE CAR IN THE LEFT LANE HAS THE RIGHT OF WAY! If the turn offs go to the right side of the track, then THE CAR IN THE RIGHT LANE HAS THE RIGHT OF WAY! NEVER, EVER TURN IN FRONT OF ANOTHER CAR, CROSSING THIER LANE!!!! If I am running a REAL slow car, I will drive all the way to the last turn off, as my only other option would be to sit in my lane and wait for them to finally arrive. I don't like sitting in the middle of my lane on a race track. Several years ago, a street car was running a low 10 second car. The fast car had problems at the starting line, and the street car won. However, the quick car was now on the way. The street car turned in front of the 10 second car which had just cleared the traps at 128mph. A STUPID MISTAKE THAT CAN GET YOU AND SOMEONE ELSE KILLED! I also had a kid in a Honda actually miss the first turn off, make a U Turn on the track, and come back to it. I flagged him down on the return road, and let him know that there was another turn off at the end of the track. The officials were also waiting for him at the end of the return road....

 

After you turn off, look for the timing shack, where you can pick up your timeslips. Bigger tracks also have scales close by where you can weigh your car if you wish. When they hand you your time slip, DO NOT READ IT YET! Wait until you are back to your pit to do that, for right now, you need to get out of the way! Continue back up the return road (most have speed limits of 10 mph in the pits). If you want the seasoned people to look down on you, then go roaring around in the pit area. That is also a sure fire way to get asked to leave.

 

CONGRATULATIONS! You just made your first pass down a drag strip! I assure you that you will be hooked after just one time! There is nothing like it...

 

THINGS TO PACK FOR A DAY AT THE RACES:

Pen to fill out tech card

1/4 tank of gas

think about your clothes! It can get pretty cold later at night, or really hot as the day goes on!

Sunscreen

Helmet (required if your car runs 13.99 or quicker)

Fold up chairs

Ice chest for drinks and cooling down intake (GLASS IS NOT ALLOWED!)

Cellular phone

Bug repellant

Orange cones to mark your pit

Camera or Camcorder!

Long pants are required! If it is hot, consider taking sweat pants you can take off and on

i just had to quote that =)

 

great info, i'll be going my first time this saturday!!!

[excell]

Hopefully I'll be using this info on Friday, In Norwalk smile.gif

[Guest 1320n12]

I ran at the Import drags at Norwalk last year,

wearing shorts all day and NO seatbelt on one round. I have no idea what they were thinking that day.

[OneRunnin72SST]

I am running for my first time on the track on May 24th. Its going to be AMC only from 3-6 a guy from a club i am in rented the track and a bunch or javelins AMX's and other AMC's are going to be thier. I wonder what it will be like since it is rented out by a indivdual(sp) ? Any way after that i am staying later on that night for the test and tune they are haveing.

~Erik~

[Guest Thorne]

Can't Wait for Saturday First time to the Track.Gonna rock

[Oo0martelle0oO]

Dont Pull the E-brake.

[Guest 2001CamSS]

Originally posted by MadMalibu:

thanks for the info. I just hope that i can use it on May 9th.

-Marc

Hey thats my B-day if anybody cares. probably not so I'll just add this image before anybody else gets to it first. haha graemlins/gives.gif

[Guest Computerguy5]

Does anybody know how long the run off lanes are for trails???

[SamZman]

Originally posted by Computerguy5:

Does anybody know how long the run off lanes are for trails???

I don't know how long offhand, but you should be fine. There are some very fast cars that shut down w/out a problem. And if you do have problems they stacked up some hay at the end smile.gif

[Guest 1bad66duece]

Originally posted by OSUstang:

That was a good article, thanks for posting it.

did you copy that,or was that off the top of you head? very good ,you covered all the bases.

[Buck531]

Originally posted by 1bad66duece:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by OSUstang:

That was a good article, thanks for posting it.

did you copy that,or was that off the top of you head? very good ,you covered all the bases.</font>Me? Nope! I found it on clubgp.com and they swiped it from F-body.org. I would have posted the link but it was dead so I just copied and pasted smile.gif .

[Akula]

The only other thing I would add is this. If you show up in any car, and you break in the middle of a run. Stop as fast as it is safe to, and pull toward the closest safety wall (right lane right side). Why do I mention this??

 

If you throw a rod, or break of the smallest of oil lines, you will oil the track. If you get mad at your car and rev the engine and keep driving, you will make the "oil down" even worse. I run a class and sanctioning body that requires diapers, but most don't. This is a "professional" courtesy to the other drivers, and the safety team. One puddle is easier to remove then a streak that goes all the way back to the pits.

 

(Pet peeve of mine.)

[Guest ZBond007]

thx for the info, it really is helpful. i have always had an idea but this anwered a few of my Q's

[BIG SHAFE]

Thought I would bring this back up, its getting close to that time again.

[excell]

Originally posted by E101:

Hopefully I'll be using this info on Friday, In Norwalk smile.gif

WOW! Back from before I had ever been down a track before! Those were the days... smile.gif

[copperhead]

I thought this was a rather informative post, so I put it as a sticky.

 

[ 06. October 2003, 09:39 AM: Message edited by: copperhead ]

[flyinbrian]

That is a good piece of info to use for first timers.

 

I was lucky, my dad raced R/SA, (Class "R", "S"=stock, "A"=automatic), in the IHRA way back in the day. My parents had me at the dragstrip in April of '75, I was born in February of '75.

He took me to race my car at the High School Nationals at trails when I was barely 16. It was nice having a seasoned veteran answer all of my questions.

I forget that not everybody grew up at the dragstrip and catch myself wondering why people are staging with their rear wheels, or doing John Force style burnouts on all season radials.

 

Another thing I might add, if you are planning on actually bracket racing, bring a bottle of white shoe polish and remember to check your dial in on the scoreboard at the end of the track prior to staging your car. If it's wrong, don't stage, get the starter's attention and fix the problem. I've seen people miss out on round money because of not checking their dial-in.

 

I can't preach one point that guy made enough... Don't do burnouts and/or drive fast in the pits or staging lanes.

 

Don't be intimidated by the dragstrip. Everyone was new at it at one time. Just go, once you make your first pass you'll want to do it over and over and over. It's addicting. And who cares if your car is slow? You have to start somewhere. There is probably someone slower anyway! If not, who cares? I was one of the slowest at the high school nationals in 1991! 17.70s baby!! By the time I was 19, I had the car running 13.70s.

 

 

Trails is like $8 race or watch on Wednesdays. Dah! Race!

[OGRE]

only one thing not mention, it's kinda common sence but... Wear Shoes.

[gillbot]

Also, do your burnout IN FRONT of the water box. Don't burnout IN it. Back in to get water on the tires then pull out of it so you don't sling water everywhere. May or may not affect you, but it sure may affect the next guy who has to stage where all the water from your fender wells has dripped.

 

Don't flame since suprisingly, many do not know this. Most people want to pull into the middle of the waterbox and do their burnout.

[Conesmasher]

And another note, if your running in a grudge race, DO NOT PULL UP UNTIL YOUR TIME IS ON THE BOARD. I got hosed when they put the wrong time in for some reason, and when I was staging and whatnot, I thought to myself, hmmmmm that's not the right time, then BAM yellow, yellow.........