Can I get a primer course in drag racing?

Aside from redlight racing, I've never drag raced before. Drag racing is an important part of the challenge. Do you see my dilemma?

I'll be in an automatic, (most likely) without a big fancy stall converter. What do I need to know? Just put the pedal through the floor and hang on?

I think the part most confusing me is wheels and tires. Do I need all 4 to match for RWD? Are lighter wheels better? Drag radials or slicks? How do I even shop/size drag tires?

I only caught a few of the last runs from this years challenge. Is there any staging before the runs? And if so, do I just power brake to heat the tires up or is there a method for doing so?

I won't be able to even get to test n tune till spring, but I don't even know how to start shopping/pricing for before then.

until you build a car to drag only, the best advise will be how to launch a STOCK car my advise is when the top light goes out say out loud ONE, TWO.stomp the gas at t let go the brake at o.The W is silent.

This is an excellent subject to discuss and I cannot understand why it never gets any coverage in the Magazine...

I am no expert and cannot add anything that someone else could probably say better. My biggest tip is to make a concerted effort to FOCUS all of your attention to the task at hand while in the moment. If you think it is simple then you are not trying hard enough! Everything matters! Just "Flooring it" works to get you down the track but if you want the best results possible you must work at it as hard as possible.

It took me a long time to make the mental shift and recognize that executing a great drag run is a skill that draws on every single bit of your effort.

Please, please!!! If you are an experienced and accomplished drag racer, speak up an tell us how it is done!

GTXVette wrote: until you build a car to drag only, the best advise will be how to launch a STOCK car my advise is when the top light goes out say out loud ONE, TWO.stomp the gas at t let go the brake at o.The W is silent.

Good point! If you wait for the Green light you are already too late. Reaction time isn't everything, but I bet no one liked being beat off the tree by my slow car!

Loosing the jump at the light can be distracting and could move you away from executing YOUR game plan. It is all about minimizing those distractions and running YOUR race!

been years, but the part that always got me was two fold.

1. not blowing the tires off adter the lights. there always seems to be plenty of traction right at the line, but about the 60 foot clocks it seem to go away. you have to threshold throttle. its just like threshold braking, but with the gas pedal.

2. I always drag raced a stick. so shifting became of utmost importance. best way to maintain traction and revs and speed was to all but preload the shifter. in first gear, you hold it back gently against the synchro. when you hit about 600rpm above peak, kick the berkeley outta the clutch pedal. don't lift. the preload will ram to the next gear, and the clutch action will be violent but smooth. its hard on parts, but that's how Ronnie sox did it, and he was the berkeleying man. repeat until about 50 foot after the traps. never berkeleying lift unless you get crossed up or break traction, and then its threshold throttle. also, make sure you have a rev limiter other than valve float, because valve float on the bottle is berkeleying expensive when you miss third.

I have never been to the Challenge, but from reading the magazine it sounds to me like ET is what really counts. In close head to head competition, cutting a good light is important. However, timing only starts when you break the beam and if all that counts here is getting a good ET, then it doesn't matter what your reaction time is. That said, do pay attention to where you stage your front tire. I liked to roll back as far as I could so I wouldn't accidentally break the front beam while digging for traction but not really going anywhere.

1: with a street car that's not that fast, drive around the burnout box and proceed directly to staging
2: Always stage the exact same way. With a street car, it's easy. Cruise up super slow until you light the first bulb. Look over at the tree for the other lane, are any of his bulbs lit? If not, wait for him to light one or you end up being a jerk (some tracks time out if you stage and the other guy doesn't after 30s or so).
3: When it's time to light the second build, bump the car in against the brakes, you are only moving inches here. Your goal is to just barely light the last bulb and to put the car in the exact same place every time.
4: When you are both staged, stare at the bottom amber bulb and load the car up against the torque converter.
5: When the last bulb lights, mat it and release the brake simultaneously.

We'll talk about bracket racing later. You should try this over and over before getting in too far. Use test and tune night for this stuff. If your reaction times all suck, move your attention up a bulb. You may have to play with timing to get them right depending on your car.

wheels777 wrote: I travel to Uniontown, Delmont and Armagh frequently. Would you like to meet? I am willing to travel to you. I gave a Drag Racing 101 discussion at the Challenge 3 years ago. Other would have to convey if it was helpful.

That would be awesome. I live in Greensburg, so I'm pretty central to all those areas. Actually, will be doing test n tune at Pittsburgh Raceway Park in New Alexandria.

do NOT neutral drop... ask 16 year old me how i know...

Reaction time is completely irrelevant at the Challenge. The only thing that matters is ET. And sometimes, worrying about the lights can be a distraction.

I tell beginners (at the Challenge) to not worry about the other lane or the lights. Go ahead and let him jump. Focus on your own launch, and getting through the gears.

Hm, our SCCA region is having a get-together at the last Test n Tune night the last Thursday of this month at Kil-Kare, and I plan to bring the Abarth to see how terrible I can be. I think I'll drop this comment right here so I can try to figure out how to drag race this tiny 4cyl FWD turbo car.

RevRico wrote:

wheels777 wrote: I travel to Uniontown, Delmont and Armagh frequently. Would you like to meet? I am willing to travel to you. I gave a Drag Racing 101 discussion at the Challenge 3 years ago. Other would have to convey if it was helpful.

That would be awesome. I live in Greensburg, so I'm pretty central to all those areas. Actually, will be doing test n tune at Pittsburgh Raceway Park in New Alexandria.

When? I want to get the datsun out one more time this year

In reply to patgizz:

I actually just found out, they have 2 more test n tune scheduled for this year, October 29 and November 5. If the weather is good the 29 I'll head to that one.

Just practice, if your on street tires drive around the burnout box. Back into it if a burnout is needed. Staging was already covered. Learn to use your gauges because theres a chance you wont be able to hear your car at all over whats in the next lane.

If its an event like the challenge wear its just for your own best ET reaction time doesnt matter, the clock doesnt start until you move.

I'm sitting here wondering if everybody has missed the point, or if I did. If I'm right, then here is the kindergarten version. If I'm wrong, sorry for wasting your time...

Pre-stage light will light up when you are close to where you need to be, and the front tires block the sensor beam. Once they are lit, you need to move ahead gently until the stage lights are lit. 8 inches, I think. Now, you are within the start range. When the starter activates the tree, the top yellow will light, with the second and third coming on at 1/2 second intervals. The green then lights another 1/2 second later. If you leave too soon, the red light comes on, and you lose.

Reaction time is the difference between the ideal launch and when you crossed the start line. Ideal is .000, and if you want to win a real drag race against real bracket racers, you need to be in the .020 range. This is a hard thing to do in a street car.

Good advice above about ignoring the water box if you have street tires. Some street tires, even a burnout just makes them greasy. You can figure the best way by doing different things, and comparing your 60 foot times, which is the time it takes you to, strangely enough, get sixty feet down the track. It is a very good indicator of traction. It will also depress you when you compare your numbers to proper drag tires.

tb wrote: This is an excellent subject to discuss and I cannot understand why it never gets any coverage in the Magazine...

Because until you start approaching 11.00 flat in the 1/4 it's really pretty boring. Launching low power cars like most of us hear drive (my BRZ for example) a good "launch" really takes lots of RPM and slipping to get off the line without bogging hard or sending the tires into smoke.

Even my sport bike got boring after taking it out a couple of times and I was consistently running in the 11.15 range @ 122-124mph carrying the front through 2nd gear.....so I should have been able to touch 10.99 had I been willing to try to focus on keep the wheel down.

Some like it, I'm one of the ones that finds it incredibly boring without something that's seriously quick. And even then it got boring pretty quick.

Almost any automatic car you can build some revs with your left foot on the brake before launch. This works better with FWD cars because you obviously won't accidentally start doing a burnout if you overdo it.

In reply to RevRico:

Post something up if you do, I may be interested as well. Would be a shame to sell my Camaro without ever taking it to drag strip...

SVreX wrote: Reaction time is completely irrelevant at the Challenge. The only thing that matters is ET. And sometimes, worrying about the lights can be a distraction. I tell beginners (at the Challenge) to not worry about the other lane or the lights. Go ahead and let him jump. Focus on your own launch, and getting through the gears.

This is probably the best challenge specific advice in this thread. Drag Week is also based on average ET so you'll see many competitors loading up on the start line and ignoring the start light.

Short dress

High heels

Run like a mofo...

That's all I got

I prefer my racing the same way I prefer women...plenty of curves connected by some nice straights

You may want to only go to half throttle, then release the brake just before the last yellow goes out and then increase throttle as traction permits. If you have enough power to power brake it you will probably have to do some traction control.

It's something you need to get a feel for, and difficult to practice on the street. The drag strip will have a lot more grip than anything you will likely find on the street. But you can practice throttle control on the street or a deserted bit of pavement.

Don't bother with a burnout on street tires and don't get in the water. Drive around the water and the water that others have brought forward. If you think you got the tires wet do some dry hops to clean them off, do not cross the start line when dry hopping. Do not spin your tires in the water it will splash water up inside your fenders that will drip down and spoil the starting line. Where you line up makes a difference too, always line up in the same position unless you are looking for something different. If the guy in front of you has spun tires in the water, line up in between his puddles or point out the mess to track workers. You don't have to run on a poorly prepared starting line, it is not safe. I don't think lining up in a bald spot is wise, unless you want to decrease grip to help with a bog. Walk up there and look at the starting line while you are waiting or between rounds. You will be surprised what you see! Also it will change as the event continues.

Go to some week night street car bracket races to get some experience and learn how it works.

Can you have a trans brake? Can you have a two step launch control? (megasquirt)

I love 2 minutes from keystone (pittsburgh raceway park).

If y'all are coming out this way, let me know. I'll get the grill fired up!

In reply to z31maniac:

Fair enough, I used to find it boring too. The more I actually worked at it the more I started to enjoy it. Some people find hearing about yet another miata boring; or spending all day standing in a parking lot... but others just keep on eating that E36 M3 up!

My last car was about as quick as your bike and at first I really only ever took it drag racing to datalog and tune it. Eventually, I put in enough time at the track and made enough friends there that it became fun enough to change my attitude so that I could enjoy it for its own merits.

Personally, I have never made a 9 second pass. I got so close without really caring that I didn't appreciate how I would feel about it later in life... it is starting to haunt my dreams....

Don't burn out, stay out of the water, practice controlled launches.

I was actually confused in my terminology, so thanks everyone for clearing that up. I thought staging was the burnout in the water box, never even thought about the lights.

I was planning on waiting till spring, but since I have the chance I'm going to try to go sooner. Honestly, I'm hoping that if I go now, while I still have 10 months before challenge, that if anything is going to break, it will. The transmission isn't exactly young or low miles, and while it handled autocross... I'm still not sure if it will last to Gainesville. If it does break, well, JMOD would be easier with a younger transmixer not in the car yet.

Also, since I only have street tires now, it will at least be good practice. Hopefully I can get some takeoffs between now and challenge, with a chance to try running them.

I'll make up a thread mid week if I'm going or not, once the weather report catches up.

With street tires (half bald at that), what should I do about air pressure? Lower for a bigger contact patch or higher to ... whatever that does?

If you and andrew are going, I'll find a way to be there. I've been drag racing for 20 years and the man knows so much more than me that I'd never miss the opportunity to hang out with him at the track.

I have a meeting on the 29th that i'll blow off for a chance to toss the car on the trailer and come play