New to drag racing ,picking up dragster 8/7/12

[1855sc]

go over every nut, bolt, lugs, spindles, 4 link, etc. take the body off and check to make sure no broken frame rails before you make a run. Start off slow and work your way up as previously stated.

[Rich Biebel]

When you do get to the track with the car..

Your first runs should be no more than out to the 1/8th mile. Lift before the 1/8th mile markers and coast....

When you drive the car look out well beyond the front wheels.....Don't allow your eyes to watch the wheels or just in front of the wheels. If you do You will see the pavement and feel like your needing to steer the car....

It bothered me when I first drove a dragster...

Doing a proper burnout without shaking the tires and not overrevving it takes a little practice. Many people use a 3 step during a burnout and you should use it untill you feel more used to the routine. I use it sometimes and sometimes not......

Burnouts are done in high gear only......I foot brake stall my dragster up to 3000-3500 to get the wheelspeed up as quick as possible.....and am ready to use the brake pedal as quick as I need to if I feel any tire shake....

Tire shale on a bumout can wreck or break a lot of parts. Some tires do it and some don't.

Dragsters need to be looked at regularly as was suggested....Check for cracks around weld joints and around the steering arms...

Check your brakes......calipers can come loose....rotors warp and crack....
My caliper bolts are safety wired.....I look at my rotors everytime I race....
One real popular brand of rotors crack and split at the cooling slots....and warp around the outer OD.....

Dragsters are fast......stuff can go wrong in a hurry....race safe...

[Thornhill16]

Thanks for the advice again guys , we got the car here and have started to go thru it , the hurricane has caused some delays , pretty much had to lift car in the air to keep it from being submerged , the car has a pro cube digital delay box , it has a bunch of switches and im still learning what they do lol , it has an electric shifter as well the seller said the soilenoids were unhooked b/c he likes to shift himself , i think for my learning it would be best to hook it up so i can focus on driving as much as possilble , the ignition box looks like it has a burnout chip , launch chip , rev limiter etc. im guessing its auto programmed off the chips here are a few pics of the dash layout maybe i can get some pointers on what to do step by step thru the process , he also warned about the brakes he has quad calipers on the back he said they grab fast and hard to be extra careful

[nickh]

Did you get any paperwork on all the electronics? Get a 3 ring binder with some clear insert pages and keep all the paperwork in it. It can and will come in very handy.

[Thornhill16]

I found some paperwork on the delay box online i plan on printing when I get a chance I'll have get the model # off the MSD box

[Bill Baer]

You can also down load the instructions for the MSD box. I wouldn't worry about hooking up the electric shifter it's not that hard to shift once.
The MSD box should be wired to activate the launch chip when the trans brake is on,the burn out chip requires a switched 12V source to activate.
Also as the former owner advised go easy on those quad caliper brakes you do not want to lock up the brakes.

[Jeff Beckman]

Quadruple check every hiem joint on the car. Call Weld or whoevers wheels you have give them your stud size its probably 5/8 (at least) and get the correct torqe spec for your wheels. This winter or now, check the dragster for square, snap a straight line on the floor center your car on it, look for wheel/axel distances from center and side to side and front to rear, roll the car back and measure across the diagonals. if the front wheels are offset say 2 inches as the rules allow, go one inch forw

[nickh]

Great points Jeff

Always remember "the devil is in the details"

Go over the car twice and check everything, double check your brakes. Make good notes, check the wiring. verify valve lash on motor, go over everything. These guys on here will tell you many times their races are won in their garages (and of course luck).

Do everything that you can on the car before you take it to the track. You don't want any distractions once you get to the track, and don't work on the car at the track if you can help it. In other words you will perform your between round maintenance but don't be swapping heads intakes...etc....

Make yourself a check list of what needs to be looked at every pass. Keep it in your binder it will come in handy, and you cannot remember everything (I have CRS)...LOL