Any tips, new to drag racing?

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Great to see new blood on the site! My best advice I can give you is some that was given to me by a Top Alcohol Funnycar driver, Roger Bateman. He said the best thing I can do is to pick 1 guy as a mentor and listen to what he suggests. Chances are you will at least go as fast as he does eventually. I took that advice and picked the best mopar guy at our track and I am learning new things every weekend and having a blast. The car is consistent and now all I have to work on is the driver!

Don't worry about being the fastest car at the track. Get yourself a rulebook and use it as a bible, don't make mistakes 2x!

The guy with all the engines sounds like a good start. Does he race? Is he consistant? If so I would ask him to help you out.

Good Luck!


and get out to the track ASAP and just have fun!
 
oh ya and if you didn't already know, you can add about 4 sec to your 1/8 mile time to get an ET for the 1/4 mile. So if your car goes 8 sec in the 1/8 you would roughly be doing 12 in the 1/4.

Personally I would shoot for 10 sec in the 1/8 as a starting point and go from there.

Have fun!
 
All that information was helpful. The local drag strip has a forum and I told them about my camaro, but it was my daily driver. He said to come down to the trailer and he would show me around and give me tips. Sounds like that is the guy I need to be talking to. The Mopar guy just restores them, thats how he makes his living. I don't think he has raced, or at least that often.8)
 
Helmet
Seatbelt
Floor it when you see the last yellow.
Pedal through the floor into the radiator
Shift
Shift
Shift
Brake.
 
Save your timeslips, and caculate the weather with a weather system.
Make sure to do the same thing everytime, and towards the end, look over your shoulder and make sure hes their, and if hes not, BRAKE, that way you dont break out.
 
Tune it up well, find a mentor & leave it as it is for now. You need to learn technique before you need all the mods. Learn the tree, get consistent with what you have (THAT'S what wins races) and the other stuff will fall into place. For a stock, 318 car on a 1/8track slicks, NOS, etc. are all "luxuries" ---- just enjoy the car & the new experience. Learn track procedure, etc. & you'll do just fine.......
 
hemicop said:
Tune it up well, find a mentor & leave it as it is for now. You need to learn technique before you need all the mods. Learn the tree, get consistent with what you have (THAT'S what wins races) and the other stuff will fall into place. For a stock, 318 car on a 1/8track slicks, NOS, etc. are all "luxuries" ---- just enjoy the car & the new experience. Learn track procedure, etc. & you'll do just fine.......
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I agree 100%

...kind of want to stay all motor, im not a big fan of nitrous.
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It's cheaper to stay all motor...because spray is addicting! Take a ride in a car that is hitting the spray hard...its AWESOME!
 
Poison Dart said:
67GTX is exactly right...........just throw a bunch of money at it and it will go fast. Seriously, if you want to go fast, just add juice........then you blow the engine. Build the engine the right way.......then you tear up trans and rear ends. Their is really no cheap way to go fast (and stay together).....It is probably realistic to have a 12 second car that doesn't hurt parts and is relatively inexpensive. But, in my opinion, anything faster will cost about $500 for each tenth. Good luck PS....when you get in the 9's it is about $1,000 per hundreth.
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I agree. and if you never been to a track watch how evry one else is doing it.
 
Leave it in Drive and just drive it.

Check with your local track to see if they offer a beginners class, we do on Friday nights. Friday night fun night, open to street tire cars. Its a race for beginners so they can get some seat time and not be intimidated by seasoned racers. It is usually cheaper too.
 
Leave it in Drive and just drive it.

Check with your local track to see if they offer a beginners class, we do on Friday nights. Friday night fun night, open to street tire cars. Its a race for beginners so they can get some seat time and not be intimidated by seasoned racers. It is usually cheaper too.


Don't buy slicks or anything extra. here is a basic list of what you will need for starting out.

-Snell 2000 helmet[/QUOTE
-valid drivers license
-Full length pants, short or long sleeved shirt, closed
shoes and socks. No shorts. No tank tops. No
open-toe or open-heel shoes or sandals. Synthetic
clothing not recommended.


K.I.S.S.

Don't worry about slicks or ET street slicks. Just have good tires, seatbelt and a solid factory battery hold down.
 
You've had a bunch of people tell you to keep it simple. That's the best advice possible. Learn slow. Don't try to go too fast too soon. All you'll do is spend too much money on parts you really don't need yet.
Research, research, then research some more. Your car needs to be a total package of engine/transmission/rearend/suspension. You can make over 400 horsepower with a well-prepped 318 but it won't do you any good if you can't get the power to the pavement.
I believe you'll be money ahead in getting your suspension set up to get the most out of your existing engine combo.
Also, make only one change at a time and record your results. You'll quickly find what works and what doesn't.
You're only 16, you've got all the time in the world ahead of you. Take it slow and have fun!
 
Alright so what I am going to do is just buy the car and probably keep the 318 in it and just start learning...which I should have a lot to do. You guys have all been really helpful. :) What if the tires aren't any good on it. should I buy a set of street tires, drag radials, or a set of slicks? It's partial tub, which I guess means he just didn't finish it. My dad said he could fix that.
 
If you need new tires you have to decide how much street driving you really want to do with it. The biggest difference between street tires, drag radials or slicks is how long they will last. As was stated earlier do your research.

Ask racers at the track or on the forum what tires they use and how long they last. I am not sure on drag radials but I would lean toward them, only if you need them though. When you get your car take lots of pics and post them on here and we will continue to help out.

As far as a partial tub on your car he could mean mini tubbing. That just means he kept the original wheel wells and widened them by adding a 2 or 3 inch strip in the middle. It is an easy way to put in bigger tires. But you won't need to worry about that yet. You can fit in big enough tires in the stock wheel well right now.

Also remember to search our site for past posts on subjects that you are looking for answers on, there is a lot of great info on here.

Keep asking questions.

Did you decide on a mentor yet?
 
Poison Dart you are so right about the money.
Go to where they talk about installing big blocks in a-body's on this board and I've outlined what I spent on my parts car to get my car into the 11's.

Again I agree with this post.
I run 3 cars at the strip

68 Dart-9 sec car
68dartpic.jpg


67 Dart-10 sec car
P7040810.jpg


74 Duster-11 sec car
IMGP0481.jpg


All fun cars to run,But the Duster seems to get run the most and it's easiest on parts.I can hot lap it at the track and not have to worry about over heating it.

Side note the Duster has a lowly 8 1/4 in it with 3.91 gears and over 300 pass's on it.
 
I'm not planing on any street driving with it...but since we don't have a car trailer I will be doing about 5 miles to the track, and 5 miles back. So I could either go drag radials, or street tires and swap out slicks at the track? And my dad thinks what they meant by "partial tubing" is that they started messing with the frame, and just stopped and left it half way done. But minitubing sounds like what he did. My grandma passed away on july 4th. so this week is messed up. This saturday is the memorial service for her and the next saturday. So after this saturday we can start talking about the car...and don't worry I will post a ton of pics, maybe for than you want :)
 
Really sorry to hear about your Grandma, our prayers are with you and your family at this time.




I must have misread the word tubing and thought you meant tubbing, as in wheel tubs. If it is tubing that you meant as in roll bar etc. That is a different matter.

As far as tires go just wait and see what you have on it first then you can decide from there.
 
Sounds like a decent car to get your feet wet for drag racing. Sounds like the drive train should be in good condition. It mentions front shocks, check to see if they are new and if they are possibly drag shocks. Also states that it comes with "front brake hold" I would assume that means line lock. It that is so I would only use it if you plan on buying drag radials. Not necessary to do massive burnouts with street tires, sometimes it can be detrimental.

I would buy it, go through it to make sure it is safe and then race it and have fun. Don't throw a whole bunch of money at it. Go out and have fun and learn. You may decide that this is not the car you want to race for the long haul, so don't throw money at it.

Trust me it can start to snowball real easy.


Have fun.
 
Yeah I was thinking that was line lock too. Sounds good, guy hasn't sent anything back, but hopefully I can find out if we are going to buy it or not on sunday.
 
All the suggestions are really good but the best I saw was from Flyfish and Dorian. Get a mentor. That is exactly how it happened to me. Years ago I walked over to a guy in the pits who was racing a Belvedere station wagon, told him I was totally new to the sport and did he have any advice for me. Before the year was up he had given me a shell of a car to build and he also gave me a job at his speed shop. I'm not saying the same will happen for you but there are still plenty of experienced older guys out there who would be very happy to help you out. As it turned out he had raced for Chrysler for years and had an absolute wealth of knowledge.
 
The guy called back, so sounds like I can reach him if I want to buy it. My dad's friend is trying to buy his '48 DeSoto, which the 360 727 and 8.25" is in. I don't know if he is buying the car or the car and the engine. Even if my dad sells the car and engine, that would be ok. Then I would have room in the garage to work on the dart, if I get it. :)
 
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