Strip only - Any regrets???

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ab7fh

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I was just wondering if you ever regret dedicating your car exclusively to the strip? I know making 10sec passes is a rush, but do you miss being able to "cruise"?
 
Yea, I do, if I had to do it all over again I would have milled the domes off my pistons so I could run a blend of race fuel instead of straight race fuel. The lower compression wouldn't have killed me that badly on power and even if it did after all it is bracket racing so it really doesn't matter how fast you run, it just has to be consistent. Going as past as you possibly can just for the sake of going fast is just for an ego trip or bragging rights being most drag classes have a break out rule.

Chuck
 
I dont think I could handle a strip only car myself. I like the fact of having a fast car and being able to cruise with it also! :toothy7:
 
I have the best of both worlds,i built a 11.0 street car,i can go to cruise nights,then the track and lay down the smack ... :thumbup:
 
No regrets!
I was getting into trouble with my street car and had a couple of close calls. Looooong time ago!
So I decided I'd better let out my "need for speed" legally before things got bad. (And I don't have to buy tags or insurance! :) )

Hanging out at the track, checking out everybodies car, getting together at the track or afterwards for lunch or dinner is similar to what you do at a drive-in, or whatever. Unfortunately, it is more expensive. Luckily, the car helps earn it's keep. I couldn't keep doing it if it didn't.
 
I'm starting to wish that I had left my Duster on the street... The closest track is now 100 miles away and I can't drive the car nearly as much as I'd like. Every so often I take it around the block, but would like to drive it to work or to a cruise night or something. It'd take a lot of work to make it streetable again, so that's out. I'm kind of half-looking for another car that I can transplant this drivetrain into so I can have something to dirve on the street.
 
I don't think I could have a track only car either. I like to drive them around too much.

It would be cool to have a 9 sec. car to race, and I know you can build them that are steetable, but I don't want to spray and I can't do it on my budget.
 
Long time ago, after paying for the first 2 stories of the court house, I made the decision to keep the racing to the strip since it was too tempting having it on the street and strip. Never regreted it since.
 
I have absolutely no regrets about making my car a strip only machine. In fact with some street treads and mufflers it could have been legal, but it's to hairy out there for my precious. I'm content to drive my truck on the street and let it all hang out at the track. Like Myron (Locomotion) said, it's a similar experience, except better if you ask me.
 
I love my track car but had to build another milder 11 sec. street car . Almost finished ,cant wait.
 
my car isn't the fastest ( runs low 12's) but its set up more towards the trac and i hated it . so i have been slowly changing t to more of a cruiser. the suspension id pretty much there now. still donna put a heavier spring up front.. i got the tires i want on the car so it now corners very nice now( way better then the skinnies...lol) and next on the list is the cam,gears and tighten the converter.... i borrowed a set of 3:55 gears to replace the 3:91 gears and i love it now.. still want more of a freeway gear but it works for now. i like the car more now then i have since i bought the car back in 2004. i got board of just being able to cruie around town nicely.. i took it to carlisle (2 hour drive) last year and it coul only cruise about 65 mph and it was screaming at that speed.. no fun for me.. the 3:55's will help allot this year and when i detune it the rest of the way i think i'll enjoy it that much more.. the goal is to be able to cruise it anywhere i want.. i want to do the nats next year in it,, thats a 7 hour drive .
 
abodyjoe said:
my car isn't the fastest ( runs low 12's) but its set up more towards the trac and i hated it . so i have been slowly changing t to more of a cruiser. the suspension id pretty much there now. still donna put a heavier spring up front.. i got the tires i want on the car so it now corners very nice now( way better then the skinnies...lol) and next on the list is the cam,gears and tighten the converter.... i borrowed a set of 3:55 gears to replace the 3:91 gears and i love it now.. still want more of a freeway gear but it works for now. i like the car more now then i have since i bought the car back in 2004. i got board of just being able to cruie around town nicely.. i took it to carlisle (2 hour drive) last year and it coul only cruise about 65 mph and it was screaming at that speed.. no fun for me.. the 3:55's will help allot this year and when i detune it the rest of the way i think i'll enjoy it that much more.. the goal is to be able to cruise it anywhere i want.. i want to do the nats next year in it,, thats a 7 hour drive .
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Yeah I would love to drive to the Nats. The 5 speed would help but I would need a loan for gas money. I'll take donations :cheers:

I like driving on the street too much and have never been to the track before. Not sure If I would get the racing bug or not. I'd build a separate car for the track though.
 
I like driving on the street too much and have never been to the track before. Not sure If I would get the racing bug or not. I'd build a separate car for the track though.
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oh you will get the bug thats for sure.. i loved the way my car was set up at the track and cruising around town. but man as soon as i wanted to cruise up on the freeway i hated it.. its a hard balanceing act.. maybe an OD tras. would help but one or the other is gonna have to suffer .
 
I think it all depends on if you want to be a serious racer or not. I ran for years in Street/Sportsman with a dual purpose car and did well, but had very little success in the Pro/Super Pro ranks. It is just too hard to make a dual purpose car deadly consistent.

If you are just a hobby racer a dual purpose car is great.

Right now I am planning on doing a tube chassis in my Duster. It will be strip only for sure after that.
 
Our car is dual purpose, but I found I made too many concessions to make it truely streetable. We found that it 'laid down' at the track, and was no fun driving on the street anyway. Thus, the new engine. It will still run under street guise, but carry a bigger stick. Still make it to the cruise night.
 
I built mine for both worlds but I'm thinking of dropping the 4:30's for the
3:91's I have and jetting down the carb to save on the $40 it costs every time I want to go for a ride down the highway.
 
I guess that makes me a hobby racer. I got to be able to drive
my car on the street. That's why I have 2 sets of gears for it.
I got the 4.30s for the strip and the gas mileage gears, 3.23s
for the street. I only get to go racing 2 to 3 times a year. So
I have to do it that way.
 
Sorry i've been crazy busy this last few weeks, but I'm back!
The whole street/strip thing is kind of a double edged sword, everyone wants a superfast car on the street so you can blast away at the stop light, the problems are can you live with the fuel consumption, trying to get a spool rear end to go around corners, the motor getting hot and all that stuff??
I regretted turning the yellow cuda into a drag car only and I took the decision to try as best I can to get it back on the street, even if it's only in a limited way. I just got to read the Hotrod magazine article on line about the F bomb camero they are building and I'm amazed how close their car and mine are!
Dam they beat me too it, still with the 3.54 gears and the new Caltracs and the coil over font end I reckon the old car will be a bit olf fun to drive again and I'm convinced the new MT Street Radials will be way more useful as street tires than the old bias ply Hoosiers I used to run, they were absolutely pathetic at highway speeds and man if it rained you were dead...
I shall have to post some more updates when I get 5 mins..
 
i agree, it is hard to build an all out fast car that can sit in the traffic without overheating, or cruise at 70 on the highway without being at 4500rpm. my cuda will always be a street car that can visit the track and see what it has. i will be building a race car for the shop and have that be my dedicated strip car.

the real question is............What is streetable? a car with 15" tires out back, a blower out of the hood and pizzacutters up front that you can't make corner faster than 15mph? 4:30 rear gears? just because you can register it doesn't mean it is a streetable car. have you ever ridden in a car with race seats for more thatn a 1/2 hour? damn uncomfortable if you ask me.
 
How about a strip car that drives to the strip? I don't have a trailer, but the strip is very close to my house, and my car has collector's plates on it so it is legal and I don't have to emission it anymore. Any racing I do will be done at the strip only, but the car is just radical enough that the fart pipe crowd won't mess with it. Not good in heavy traffic, way too hot. But it wasn't built to idle in traffic.
 
I want AC in the car and some nice comfy seats, the nearest track to me is 70miles and that's a tough one to drive- especially if you break something at teh track ! But with turbos and fuel injection you can run a nice mild tune and simply turn up the boost when you get there- I'm looking forward to having that feature for sure.
The hemi wagon is coming to me on Saturday, we'll see how streetable that monster is, but a single plate iron clutch and a lenco is no fun that's for sure..
 
Well, I decided to go strip only. We already have a fun car for the street, a 2004 Mach 1, the Dart will be track only which means no registration or insurance concerns. The track is close enough that I can go often.
 
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