Take your daily driver to the strip on a Test & Tune night and make as many p***es as possible. It doesn't matter what vehicle it is. Do it any night you can until you're comfortable out there. Even if it's slow as hell, you need to familiarize yourself with the track before you jump into a purpose built drag car, or any fast car for that matter. Get to know the track, how the lights work, the shutdown area, return roads, time slip booth, etc. Meet other racers and track officials. After you've gotten comfortable doing this in the daily driver, you can get to know the car you'll be in. Do some burnouts to feel out the car. Do some off-idle launches at part throttle and coast down the track. Keep taking it further and further each time you're comfortable until you're ready to make a full hard p***. Too many people are injured or killed because they don't have experience in vehicle control. They build a fast car, take it to the track with no experience driving it, and go balls out. They usually meet the wall or the medics or their maker. A friend of mine bought a car off ebay and had it shipped to his place. It was a 10 second all motor Mustang street/strip car. He had no experience drag racing, but owned a bone stock Mustang 5.0 in the past so he thought it was no problems. He took the new car to the track and on the first p*** he put it into the wall at 100' because he wasn't familiar with how the car reacted and launched. When the front wheels lifted he panicked and stomped the throttle, then turned the wheel when the tires touched. After a few weeks repairing the damage, he took it out again, made a few half-track p***es, then finally went to a full p*** run and lost control at 120mph, putting it into the wall again. He parted out the car and gave up on drag racing after that. Good luck and have fun.
Be careful, Stage Straight, Learn when and how to lift, focus 100% and I guarantee you'll never have more fun
Best advice, you take care of your side of the track before you worry about the other. Take your time, enjoy racing, and remember for quite awhile you will lose more rounds than you win, but it will come. Good Luck !!
Always remember, if you lift for any reason your run is over. There is no chance to recover that lost time and you can guarantee you will be back to race another day! Things are gonna happen fast and the track is short at 140mph! Your in for the thrill of your life! IMO the best part of the race is the first 60'. You know your haulin the bacon when your eyes roll a little and your gut feels like your on a roller coaster! Have fun, be safe and fly straight!
I agree totally with Texas********,go practice in a daily driver or mild street car.when you get everything down till you are comfortable then get in a better SAFER car.......
wow. great advice and scary haha. but going through the motions and routine in something mild sounds like a must. oh and the guy is easily twice my 170 lbs and has knee problems and such. he was the tuner and engine builder while his brother was the driver....till his bro died of a heart attack. and he dropped all intrest in cars. I will be happy to help him get back into it as I am empathetic. and some times pathetic
One thing you both need to be clear on up front is who is responsible if you have an engine blow, or crash the car or both!
Put a block of wood under the gas pedal when learning. It takes a while for your for your brain to bcome accustomed to processing information as quickly as the car is moving. You have to be good at racing slow before you can be good at racing fast.
a friend bought a car on the way home he stopped by a track to see races decided to enter the car anyway the throttle stuck wide open and he wrecked 3 tow vehicles. Do as the others said get use to the track and how it operates and only run your race don't bother with who's in the other lane just get into a routine.
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