Went Racin'

[SUX2BU99]

Took the truck out to the Street Legals last Friday evening for it's first 1/4-mile run of the season. I unbelievably got 5 runs in between 5-9pm which I still can't believe. It's usually so busy there that 3 runs is considered good. Anyway, the track is 24 ft. above sea level, air temps were between I'd say 65-75F, cloudy and I don't know what the barometric pressure was.

I didn't go any faster than last fall but this session was more about finding out the best way to launch my truck and shiftpoints to see where the power was. I do believe my fuel line upgrade gave me more pull above 4500 RPM. It felt like it stopped pulling at 4500 before the upgrade. Now it feels like it pulls to about 5200. I got 30-45 min between rounds of cool-off time. 35 PSI in the back tires, 40 PSI up front. Burnouts weren't too major. Did a dry hop too.

One thing I know is, me = inconsistent 

Run 1: 15.219 @ 90.27, 9.828 1/8, 2.419 60 ft.
Ran against a 2001-ish Mustang GT convertible (14.34). I spun off the start a little. Shifted at 5000 I believe. Launched at around 1400 I think. It's hard to get calmed down and sorted out at the line because they start the tree pretty quick after you stage, leaving little time to setup your launch RPM.

Run 2: 15.344 @ 88.17, 9.788 1/8, 2.289 60 ft.
Ran against a 12 second 70 Olds 442. Best 60 ft. of the night. Launched around 1300 and rolled into it quickly but without stomping on the gas. Seemed to hook and go. Shifted at 4500 though and it slowed down because of it.

Run 3: 14.989 @ 91.76, 9.682 1/8, 2.316 60 ft.
Ran against a 10 second late 60's Dart. Fastest time of the night. Spun a bit off the line. Launched around 1400 I think. Shifted higher at 5200 1-2 and 5000 2-3 I think. The gear gap between 2-3 is larger than 1-2 so I think next time I'll take 2-3 for sure to 5200, maybe 5500. I've heard that whatever improvement you get in the 60 ft. time is worth 1.5x in the 1/4. So this could mean I would have seen .04 improvement if I had the same 60 ft. as run 2.

Run 4: 15.928 @ 85.95, 10.156 1/8, 2.403 60 ft.
This run totally sucked. Ran against a blown 07 F150 (14.0). Spun off the line, launched at 1500. Track was cooling off. Blew the 1-2 shift. Totally missed 2nd gear and went straight to 3rd. I have to get my Megashifter in! No more missed shifts after that. Yeah, how do you blow a shift in an automatic? It can happen with a column shifter and crappy governor settings. Oh well.

Run 5: 15.659 @ 89.81, 10.233 1/8, 2.686 60 ft.
Although my 2nd slowest run of the night and my worst launch, this was fun as it was my only victory lol. My buddy who came to the races with his Viper, and my wife who came with my daughter to cheer me on, wanted me to go up against this 05 Dodge Ram 5.7 "Rumble Bee" regular cab 4x4. It was yellow and running 16.0s. Well whattya know, I got up against him. I launched too high at 1500 and spun good off the line and just drove through it. The track had cooled down a fair bit by this time as it was dark now. He got me to the 1/8 and then I got him on the big end. The video is kinda fun to watch of it. I don't even remember where I shifted at lol  5000 or higher anyway.

So that's about it. It was a lot of fun and I'm learning more about how to race my truck. Next time I'll be watching my launch closely and trying shift points between 5000 and 5500. I'm crossing the line at about 4500.

[luke6016]

thats very respectible times ive had a 79 stepside that ran 15.20s and a 75 fleetside that ran 15.0s and it just seemed like thats were they loved to run, what rear tires are you runnin, 35psi is still fairly high even for a street tread radial you could probably bring your launch up a little higher with less tire pressure and really get your 60fts down and yeah your right you pick up alot in 60ft. still though its hard to get these trucks movin out of the hole. great et though, and drag racin is tons of fun even if you dont have the fastest ride on the track

[oldwhity]

Man, that brings back memories. Try to lower your tire pressure like down to 20-25psi. If I remember correctly I used to air down to about 12psi on a drag radial so 20-25 might not be too bad for an everyday radial. Also, try launching on the last yellow or right after that. Your rear suspension will take time to squat so by the time you start moving the light will be green. I used to go around the waterbox and do a light burnout(just to get a good smoke) and dryhop. Try this a few times and see how you do. Good luck!

PS. Try to post your vid!

[SUX2BU99]

My rears are 295/50-15 Dunlop GT radials with about 30-40% tread on them. I've been told varying opinions on radial tire pressure. Some say air them up to 45 PSI and they bite like crazy. Some say to 25-30 PSI to make them softer and fatter on launch. I dunno.

A guy at the track with a 12 second Camaro told me to set my timing at 14 initial, plug the vacuum advance on my HEI and set total timing to 36 at 3000 and it'll rip. That and to ditch my Edelbrock for a Holley 600.

[Captkaos]

Adding air is going the wrong way, I would start at about 25lbs and work your way down until it either gets worse or better.  Airing them up reduces your contact patch.

[luke6016]

yeah i run those same tires on my 31 model a pickup that i race the heck out of, it has run 11.72 on those tires with about 1.86 60 ft and i get them to hook with about 18 psi i cant launch the truck nearly as hard as i do with the slicks but they still work, i would put them at about 20-25 psi,dont go through the water box and dont do a big burnout, because street radials tend to turn to grease with to much burnout, all you want is just enough to get them sticky, also dry hops are not good on treaded tires because they quickly remove the heat back out of the tires, i would try that and i bet your times will improve.

[luke6016]

oh and one more thing most unmodified hei distributors dont mechanically advance a full 20 degrees so you can usually get by just setting the total timing, 36 degrees is a good starting point you might have to play with it, go a few degrees one direction if that slows it down go a few degrees the other way, keep doing that until you find the right point

[SUX2BU99]

Thanks for the advice guys. Yeah I've always thought it weird when I hear about people going high on their radial tire air pressure for them to bite. I have a mag article where a guy built a 10 second sleeper out of a 80 Pontiac Bonneville 2-door with a 455 on juice. Runs 10s on slicks and low 11s on Wal-mart cheapo white-wall radials that he airs up high and they bite apparently. And a couple of racers I knew back in my Dakota R/T owning days had also said to air up the factory radials for better bite. Since you've seen good times on the same tires, I'll try airing them down. Last time I was at the track in October, I had them at 30 PSI and they did bite better. Interesting about the dry hop thing. I do that just to try out my launch RPM before I stage but I'll skip that. I usually do drive around the water box and back in to do my burnout. Are you saying to not use the water box at all for a burnout? I just clean the tires off with my burnout as I know about the greasy thing with regular radials.

Oh yeah, for some reason unknown to me, my track runs a Pro tree for the street legals instead of the usual Sportsman tree where the lights countdown. The Pro tree flashes all the yellows at once and then they go green. I guess it makes it a little simpler but just a little more suprising too when they all come on. So no leaving on the last yellow. It's just leave on all yellow.   lol

[luke6016]

yeah if you can get by without going in the water box at all dont because what happens is that the tread will sometimes hold some of the water until you are sitting on the starting line than it will run out as your sitting there waiting for the tree, that doesnt always happen but it sucks when you need a good run and it does

[grinder1989]

I had 2.2XX 60 ft times with stock suspension, a mild built 300hp 350, stock open rear end and snow tires.  Best run was 15.3 @ 87 with the hood off.

[SUX2BU99]

Went back on Friday and got 3 runs in. Best was a 14.899 @ 92 with a 2.2 60' with 30 PSI in the rears so I'm getting there. Still sorting out tire pressures, launch RPM's and shift points. I taped my camera to my rear slider and video taped my last run. Kinda neat to watch. I was racing my friends Viper. Yeah, his 12.88 run is obvious when he tears away and rockets past me in the last 1/2 of the run   lol

[oldwhity]

12.88?? Was he sandbaggin? I've always seen stock ones in the low 12's.

[SUX2BU99]

He ran a best so far of 12.7 last year and there's for sure more in it. He just has to get comfortable with driving it on the track. He's got 22" rims and tires on it and a new tranny he doesn't want to blow up so getting it out of the hole can be a trick. He also said it lit up most of the way through 2nd. I've been in the car on a full-throttle run through the gears and the power is immense. I could see how it can have traction problems!

[oldwhity]

Gotcha, that explains it. I almost bought one back in 99 and I know they're crazy fast. I bought a new Vette instead for half the price. It ran a 12.88 with street slicks. Your buddy needs to invest in a set of "racin ters" (maybe on his stock rear wheels) so he doesn't mess up his good shoes. Man, I miss runnin at the track.

[SUX2BU99]

Went back on Friday and it was a crappy night for times    Couldn't get below 15.2 for the 5 runs I did. Traction was an issue though as I went below 30 PSI in my tires (26) and that wasn't a good thing for the tires I have. Every launch I did produced screeching and my last, worst run, I could even hear screech when I was running up through 1st gear and that's never happened before. I aired them up to 40 PSI just for running around on the street for giggles and they seem to grab better so I'll try that out next time.

My tires though are getting low on tread. Anybody have a good recommendation for 295/50-15 replacements? Similar width or wider with better traction.