I am finally going to the track (for real this time) friday night. Truck is in sig. I know traction will be a huge problem with my open diffy... and I will probobly put my spare on the "power side" of the rear to keep from wearing off too much of my street tire.

Any lil power tips, cool down tips, traction, etc would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Derek

 

Drive around the water box, and do a quick "dry hop" on the concrete in front of the water box to clean off any pebbles and debris that will have collected on your tires while moving through the staging lanes. You'll at least want your one "good" tire to be clean. Try your best to not spin the tire off the starting line.....the first 60 ft is critical to a good run. A lot of people pop their hoods in between runs to let the heat escape faster, but I rarely do myself. It obviously can't hurt to pop it open, but make sure it's latched securely before your next run.

If this is your first time on the strip, don't wait until you see the green light before you hit the gas. As soon as the last amber comes on nail the throttle.... everyone's vehicle reacts differently, so you'll need a few runs to figure out what works best for you. I hope this was helpful....

 

Thanks for the info!

"Nail the throttle" LOL.... I'ld be giving them a burnout show from the line.

Why shouldn't I use the waterbox? Just curious? I thought it was there to help me do spins.

 

Street tires will get greasy if you're doing burnouts with them. Slicks benefit from the waterbox because building up heat in the tires allows them to stick to the track surface better. The compounds in street tires and slicks are just so different.

Don't get me wrong....doing burnouts are definitely fun! Just not if you're trying to make good runs.

 

if you spin your tires in the water box you will throw water up into yoru fenders, which can drip back onto the tires and the starting line..it'll make you spin and it'll **** everyone off that is on slicks that nite.

just drive around the box and all you need to do is clean the tires off on the way up to the line, street radials don't benefit from any significant burnout.

 

Couldn't have further explained it any better

 

I race both a tame mildly modified F150 ford truck without posi and a 73 totally strip car Roadrunner (and several ponies inbetween). My experience in running the truck off and on over the past 5 years (and to lots of wins I might ad) is LEAVE AS MUCH WEIGHT ON THE BACK AS YOU CAN-dont go yanking off ur tailgate and trailer hitch and if you have dual tanks fill the rear at least half way-truck r notorious for sliding esp if u dont have posi and even if u do. (Some folks esp with short beds will ad ballast like filled battery boxes over each axel-well secured of course and not filled with something ugly like sand or once again you will be hated) Been there done that got the tee-dont DO IT. Better to be a bit slower than sliding off the lite which will kill ur 60ft. If ur FI dont get all caught up in that hood popping thing-I only do if VERY hot or back to back runs. ALways try to leave at the same temp-even without fancy gauges ur regular gae will suffice-just be consistant about amount of fuel, temp and AIR PRESSURE -even in street cars a few pounds will make all the differnence in hooking up or not. I run 47 in the front and 40 in the back (tires normally take 50lbs) Sometimes Ill even ad 1 or 2 more pounds to my spinning tire because its gonna sit back hard n squat on that one. Ive u dont have a tach-invest in a cheapie and always try to leave at the same RPM and once again ITS A TRUCK-dont think u can leave at 4 grand and make a decent run-YOU WILL SPIN. Youll find your magical number after a few runs. Leave your tailgate DOWN unless you have a bed cover. And heres the best advice I can give-youll see most heavy vehicles have DEEP on their windows-its works for some but also increases your chance of a redlite. I shallow stage everything and it works for me. Turn on the top lite and then just feather it in so that you are barely turning on that second bulb (and hope the guy next to u isnt already staged in a hot car and up on his converter waiting on you to screw around because you wont make any friends taking too long) Try DEEP too (turning off the top bulb-you never know what will work till u try it) what shallow staging does is gives you a lot more rollout time. And Honey if youre seeing green your leaving too late-on heavier vehicles-your gonna be leaving probably somewhere between the second and third bulb or just as the 3rd bulb comes on. If u see red-and your just playing-dont waste you motor-just peddle it thru and come back around for a better run. And.....dont forget to BREATH no one is watching u!
Cynthia

 

Oh ya an PS the biggest booboo you can do is keeping antifreeze in your radiator (in case of a leak its very nasty stuff for track people to clean up and other racers will hate u) and for goodness sake on your way to the track cut of ur a/c at least 15-20 min before ur first pass-if not you will DRIP and other racers and track officials will hate you. And dont forget the shoepolish and a razer blade