Dumbest newbie thing,you did at the drag strip.....

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Totaly for got about the reverse pattern shift went from 3 to 2 good thing it was a lock out shifter. Went out for second time trial and did the same thing. I was going to rebuild the trans. about three days later I woke up in the middle of the night iI remembered the reverse shift. took it out the next day on the road and had all gears.
 
Went to the track with one of my old sport bikes. Have this habit of ALWAYS shutting the gas off at with the petcock. Bike was parked in the staging area for a few minutes so the valve was shut off. Fired the bike up, did a small dry burnout and pulled into the beams. Accidentally rolled thru the beams in my frantic attempt to get it turned back on....
 
My first time racing. Street raced, some, so called 13 sec cars and had beat a so called 12 sec car. All of them from a roll because they had traction issues:burnout:
so first time at the track.
When around the burn out box(street tires 2.76 gears) and pulled up and pre staged just like i had watch so many time in the stands.

Starter mad at me for some reason and making me back up. i didn't get it until the pre and full stage blinked again(Yeah stage on my rear tires.).

Get all staged back up, flying down the track........... Pic up my e.t. slip... all most 20 sec 1/4 mile.:-#

That was almost my first and last drag race. but i swallowed my pride and made another run. that was some 30 years ago:cheers:
70 Cuda 318 auto w/2.76 gears.:yawinkle:
 
All my friends came to see me run my Swinger. Unloaded checked the lugs and air in the tires. Friends started bs.ing and I ran thru tech and staged while they all watched down track. They watched, and watched, and watched. Till the track crew pushed me to the side.While I was shooting the bull with my friends I neglected to check the fuel cell. Had 5 gallons of race gas sitting on the trailer. doh. I still hear about it now and then.
 
ValiantHardtop said:
A friend of mine did a ridiculously huge burnout in the water trap, all the way out to the 60 foot line. Backed up, feeling 9 feet tall in the cloud of smoke left by his crappy 225 street tyres. Guy in the next lane staged...

Five hundred people in the stands say "fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck"... The yellows flash...

And my mate launches at full noise in reverse. Missed the car staging behind him by a bees dick, drove out through the tow car exit and went home without saying goodbye.
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I did that once, but I came back for more. :eek:)
 
I had a pretty good rep on the street back in the mid 70's and alot of local guys would bring their stuff to me for mods, mainly bolt on's, cams, a few head swaps and tuning. Only caveat was i had to baseline it first and run it again after the mods. Cool thing was i got to run alot of other cars besides my own....lol. So i did a intake swap and tune for a guy going from a dual plane to a single. Went to the track and it ran 13.40/13.45. Went two rounds that day. After the swap and tune, about two weeks later, i decided to take it out. Well our local track always opened early afternoon Sat. and ran into the night, but this day was some special deal and opened early so i arrived after time trials and only about 30min before eliminations. So i guessed at a dial in at 13.15. A bud from the track came to talk to me and he was wearing a bright orange t-shirt. Then it hit me, and i took him down to the fence about half track and said if the other car redlights lean over the fence and wave your arms so i can run it out the back door and basically get a time run for the next round dial.......Brilliant plan on my part right. Well, i leave, hit 2nd gear, and look for him and what do you know, he's hanging over waving like crazy. So what do i do when i see him......back right out of it and waste the whole plan with a 15 something. So the 2nd round comes and i keep the 13.15 dial and get pushed out on the brakes with a 13.09. No doubt i left late enough to get pushed out, but it still sucked.
 
My first time out I finished getting the tires hot and drove 30 feet past the staging lights and sat there like a big dumb ***.........needless to say the dude in charge was not impressed. LOL
 
I hit (more like bumped) a track official during my burnout a couple years ago. The starter gave the go ahead to start the burnout and as I was rolling out of the box another guy stepped in front of my truck. That caused a big mess and was hugely embarrassing to be chewed out on the starting line, and was made worse when some people clapped when I got back to the pits so I just kept on driving. The announcer must have made a funny comment about the situation but I didn't think it was funny at all.

Not really a newbie mistake, but I think it was 100% avoidable if he'd been paying attention. It's a good thing I was only visiting that track on vacation because I never plan to go back.
 
had raced about 4 times before,went 5 rounds was goimg to win my bracket,came back around had to piss bad, get in line, run to the outhouse on the side,ran back after pissing forever it seemed.my line left. i was out.:sign3:
 
I spent 6 months restoring my first real race car, a 23T Altered and take it to the track for its maiden voyage.....oops lost the steering wheel on the way there.......
 
I still at least once a year get told to roll up my window. I had to carb fires once at the starting line once at the end of the track.
 
bad440 said:
had raced about 4 times before,went 5 rounds was goimg to win my bracket,came back around had to piss bad, get in line, run to the outhouse on the side,ran back after pissing forever it seemed.my line left. i was out.:sign3:
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Too funny, but what's a guy to do? Nascar drivers piss themselves all the time LOL
 
I'm usually very thorough in my staging ritual, but I was lined up against a 10 second car and didn't realize they put my dial in at 10 seconds also, me in my stock 14 second GTX, him in his Hemi Barracuda...see ya!!!LOL!! Geof
 
Forgot hood pins,hood flew up half track,lifted a second then got back in it.Went tru the traps at 102mph and won.
 
not all too certain i want to take my car to the strip anymore.. lol
 
Was adjusting air pressure, and a friend came up to talk. Forgot what I was doing and hopped in the car to head up to staging lanes with one tire at 20 #s and the other at like 12.

Car took a hard left on launch and I just about sh#t myself. Took it easy down the track then sat for awhile at the pits to calm down.
 
Years ago, first time at the drags in a long time and first time wearing a full-face helmet. Getting ready for bracket eliminations at night and the combination of cool weather and some nerves made my hands cold. Pulled up to the line first and pre-staged. Waiting for the other guy to pre-stage and put my hands up a little inside the helmet to blow on them to warm them up......

Instantly fogged up the inside of the faceshield...and the other guy has already staged.

Lesson learned!
 
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