Pure Stock Drag Racing tips & tricks

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

What a fun night at the dragstrip with the Yenko Deuce!!!!!!!

I didn't get out of work early, but I managed to get there by 6'ish, got through tech just fine, and got right into the staging lanes - first run was around 7:15, Temp was around 84+, RH was 81%, barometer was 29'ish, elevation was something like 2050'.

I didn't have a chance to pump up the tires, so the rears were 28 and 26! No spring clamps installed, and I left the air cleaner on.

I was so concerned with not rolling through the lights, (I never raced with a 4speed before) that I wasn't concentrating on the lights coming down! Needless to say I slept at the tree! I hit the tires at ~~ 2k rpm - way wrong! I smoked the tires for at least the first 20-30 feet - even after peddling it. My 60' was 2.49, 1/4 was 15.03 at 93+mph = bad run, but what a blast! I got right back in line.

The second run was two hours later since someone went off the end of the track at 160+mph when his chute got caught in his wheelie bars. I hit the tires at 1500 rpm this time, which was better - just a little bog, little chirp, then off we went! My 60' was 2.20, 1/4 was 14.6x at 94+ mph - better, but a lot to gain yet. I then got right back into line, if your in by 9:30 you get to run even though they need to stop by 10.

The third run was interesting, when I went to spin the tires to warm them a little, they didn't spin! It just hooked, so I went into the staging beams - it was now 10:20! This time I feathered the clutch off the line at 1500, meanwhile constantly increasing the rpm's. No bog, no chirp - gave me my best 60' at 2.17. I don't know if that is good or not, but it felt a lot better. My 1/4 was 14.5 at 95+ mph, it was nice to end on a high note - albeit, not very high, but a ton of fun.

It's possible that I was shifting too early, I hit the next gear when I thought I was at 6k, even though the shift light didn't come on, I checked my recall and I did hit 6100 at least once - so, maybe I was shifting too early.

I can't make it to the reunion, maybe I can go to the track this Friday night - we'll see. I found out where the air line is, so this time I will play with the air pressures some more.

Fun time, saw Frank Radake's son there for the NMCA event the next day - small world!