Near stock 73 Swinger first time at the track

I made it back to the track tonight. Since the last time I took my car I've added Suregrip and 3.55's. (I used to have an open diff and 3.23's.) I not spinning my tires as much and my 60' and et has improved, but I wanted to get into the 15's.

My best time was 60' 2.488 1/8 13.453 and my 1/4 was 16.026 @ 85.986.

I was excited to hear my car chirp the tires going into second gear. But going from second to third the engine feels like it's surging or stalling out. I have to take my foot out of it for it to shirt into third. I don't have a tach so I don't know what rpm I'm running. Should I manully shift the car into third?
The car does feel and sound like it's out of tune and my mechanic has told me the distributor is pretty worn. With a new distributor and betting tunning, I think I'll get into the 15's.