Haha! Wow, all of the sudden I got a PILE of responses about a month later :D. Well, I've used this technique for 3 races now, works great and pretty consistent. I checked with a transmission builder friend of mine and he agreed that it should be fine. For those that don't know, this is one of the MANY things I have done to slow my car down enough to be able to run in Sportsman this year (bottom dial in sportsman is 12.0). I have the car right where I want it now, it currently runs 12.01-12.05 depending on weather....and this is how I got there if anyone wants to know:
1. Disconnect secondaries on carb.
2. Added as much weight to the car (safely) that I could.
3. Retard timing to 30°.
4. Short shift @ 5300.
5. Removed a good free flowing 14x3" air-cleaner and put on a dinky 10x1.25" air-cleaner.
6. Launching the car in second gear.
All that to scrub ~ 1.2 seconds, LOL.