I FINALLY TOOK IT

SnakeEyeSS · July 24, 2002

I ran it a total of five times, if you guys got advice for better times, PLEASe give it too me!! Had the tailgfate down and windows up, but you need to read everything to see what happened(why I want advice)

Gear:Drive

1st

I decided to run in "D"(3rd), but on mty first run, as I was waiting for the tree and had both brake and gas on, when I hit the gas and left off the brakes it died without going an inch. I hit the wheel threw my hat, started it back up and finsihed for a run of:

30.-- @ 76.--

Gear: Overdrive

2nd

I decided to go again againest the same truck as that truck was why I showed up to race, we go to teh same school. II decided to run in Overdrive for the rest of the night. HE has a slightly modded 2000 4.3 Vortech reg cab stepside.

I had a terrible jump he was ahead by a car lenght when I start moving but I finished with a:

17.06 @ ?

3rd:

Ran a drag race slick equpiied very modded Nova, which ate me for lunch. He probably ran a 12. I got my best, with a not good jump:

17.02 @ 79.89

4th

Went again aginst some other car I believe it was a Geo Metro 4 dorr, missing some body panels. When we started I saw a red light so I stopped not realizing it was the Metro who had a early jump, I'm new to this remember, so I gunned it again). Still beat him by about 8 seconds

17.56 @ ?

5th

Ran a Ford Probe 4 cyl. automatic, ricer mods(that didn't help much). My best jump by far, but I think I had around a centimeter of pedal left . Still blew the doors off it.

17.10 @ ?

Went Home

MarkD · July 24, 2002

Tips:

1.) Hold the brake, build rpms up to 1000 to 1500 and wait for the light. Test this out on the street to see what rpm gives you the best launch. If your engine bogs, you may want about 5 ft of tire spinning to get your best time.

2.) Unless you have changed your shift points, try to stay in each gear as long as possible. 5500 rpm should be safe with any smallblock chevy. You may need to manual shift to do this if you haven't reprogrammed your computer.

3.) Practice

4.) While waiting in line for your turn to run, watch the lights (christmas tree) and try to get a feel for the timing. There may be a 0.4 sec difference between the lights or 0.5 seconds delay. When you see the last yellow light come on, floor it and jump off the brake.

5.) If it still bogs off the line, try a more gradual flooring of the long pedal.

6.) Did I say practice?

Good luck

antig24 · July 24, 2002

keep at it and you'll get better

Blazer · July 24, 2002

What were your reaction times...

MarkD had the right idea about seeing what the truck like,every truck or car is different, we call is the "money spot" is the rpm. just enough get going without spinning the tires. And if the truck like a lor of RPM at the line.. try letting some air out out the rear tires to getting to sit better.. or if you have 4WD use it..

Blazer...

SnakeEyeSS · July 24, 2002

I must say that my new powertrax held up very well, around 5 feet of tire spin at WOT from standstill, and remember guys I have a 90 , NO tach. When I tired to launch it with some revs, that was when it died. Well, will I get better times in "D" or "OD". and with my chip, it really sounded like it was going pretty high in the RPM range when it shifted.

SilveradoWV · July 24, 2002

Sounds like you had a good time!!! A lot of NHRA drivers set in their trailers between rounds with a thing to practice their reaction time! This isnt what they use but you can mess around with some options, like which tree you want and stuff! I doubt it is 100% realistic but who knows?

Practice Tree

CityTruck · July 24, 2002

You're so close to the 16's you've got to get back out there.

doverarjim · July 25, 2002

One of the most imporant things to learn is how to stage your truck, and how good your reaction time is. This can help you with your elasped time as much as $1000.00 worth of mods can at times. If you are like me a little slow on reaction when I go to the track I do what is know as shallow staging, the top two lights are the staging lights these tell you how close you are to the "Starting Line" light the top one and I try and just get the bottom one to flicker on, when the other driver has gotten both of his staging lights lit, hit the gas, on a pro tree you will see yellow, yellow, green, and if I see green I lose!! On the other tree you see yellow, yellow, yellow, yellow, green and on this tree I make sure I see the last yellow come on and then its off. If you have good reactions you can sometimes deep stage which means you pull far enough ahead to make the top staging lights flicker on and off and you have then picked up a few inches so you have less than 1320 feet to go. Hope this helps.