Any tips, new to drag racing?

Do you want to go fast or win races on a $1000 budget? If you want to go rounds you need to be consistant, first you need traction-posi rearend and slicks. next you need to be good on the tree-buy a practice tree or even see if you can find a good program on the internet. A well tuned engine, no matter what hp will work fine. Just those three things you will have fun and win races. Now if you just want to go fast and don't care if you win go with the NOS. Oh yea your question on tear down...depends on what you got. @ 275 hp I never tore down untill I wanted to go faster. @400 hp I tore down after 5 seasons and it was a waste of time. @500+hp it seams once a year isn't enough. Drive it till it breaks then you know what to fix!