Dragster maintenance

[chevy620]

I would guess there are probably 50 used dragsters you could buy just in FLorida.
You have several of the best dragster chassis shops only a few hours from you. Phantom, Mullis, Undersover, Miller Race Cars. Those guys know the cars, what to look for, etc.
I would stay with a quality name, let the owner show you his log books and ABSOLUTLEY raise the car up, take the tin off and look at the tubing where the uprights are attached and everywhere around the motor plates. Rod ends should be tight with quality bolts.

Sit in car, get in and out with fire jacket and pants and be sure you take a helmet. Last thiing to ever buy is a car that is too small to be comfortable getting in and out of 30 times a day. If you don't fit good you won;t race good.

Plenty of nice cars for sale right now in $15K to $20K range with under 400 runs on them.

Good luck in joing the "piperack brigade".

Jok

[Tweaker]

Thanks a lot guys for all the information. I have yet to find someone local in my area to show me the ropes and be a mentor. However i just signed up to go to School for Sept 15th to get licensed so I'm looking forward to that. For me I want to find a good deal for around 20k-25k$ for Rail and Trailer of course im fine with it being hard tail my track is newly all concrete and 225 wheelbase is fine. I put my car up awhile ago for trade/sale on racing junk. I haven't tried super hard yet to sale it until i firm up a couple more things but the info you guys provide is very helpful.

http://www.racingjunk.com/category/1...ale-Trade.html

[Bmack]

Thanks

[Chris Williams]

Clearly many others will have advice on this. It seems you have three options in NHRA (I don't know diddly about IHRA): TD, SC, or SP.

Although Top Dragster seems custom-made for people who want to run full-out in a dragster, a car that runs 7.91 is going to have a tough time qualifying in TD fields. Anything much over 7.50 is not going to make a lot of fields, and even much over 7.30 is tough. So TD's out.

Super Comp is the likely choice, a car that can run 7.90s would be good in an 8.90 class. It is, however, a tough class, and you'll have to brush up on those .030 lights if you want to ever see the win light on the other end. You'll want to be able to get your packages (ET difference and RT) under that .030 to be competitive. But, IMHO, SC is the most fun. The racing there is tight, and if you want to race with the best, that's the place. I'm not familiar with your area, but see if there's a local SC Association around. That's a great way to get going without the pressure of a divisional or national event.

SC isn't hard to get started in, just hard to excel in. Get a handheld weather station (lots of options, check Biondo's site for some options), read Biondo's FAQ on throttle stop racing, and give it a shot. If your car already has a delay box and throttle stop on it, you're just a bit of testing away from your first race.

Another option is just to race Super Pro at your local track. No, you won't compete for a Wally, but when starting out, it's great. With a good delay box you can leave off the top yellow (good practice for SC later) and get some laps in, maybe even take home some bucks at your local track. There are a whole lot of people who love that and never venture beyond it.

Finally, if I were you (and we were you just a few years ago), I'd put my focus on test and tunes. Go to every one you can, just put in some laps. Get the whole thing down to a routine. Everything, not just the race part, but things like your "back at the trailer" routine. Fill the fuel, charge the car, check the CO2, etc., etc. Get it down to a pattern. It will pay huge dividends when you are finally ready to actually race. We made a pact to make 50 T&T passes before our first race. Best decision we ever made.

Hope this helps, I'm sure others will chime in.
Chris

[Bmack]

Thanks Chris for the great advice!

[Chris Williams]

Originally Posted by Bmack

I just want to stay on top of things with maintaining the car and parts because this is my first Methanol engine. So far the thing runs great and consistant. I just bought a Primer kit from Killer Rons because on the intial start up is quite tricky.

I don't know squat from methanol. Can't help you there.

Best of luck,
Chris

[Bmack]

How would I figure out what data to enter into the delay box, so I could leave on the first amber?

[Chris Williams]

Originally Posted by Bmack

How would I figure out what data to enter into the delay box, so I could leave on the first amber?

Simple, on a .5 tree the lights are .5 seconds apart, so just add a second to whatever you have in the box today. Perhaps start with 1.1 in the box and adjust from there.

[Bmack]

Hello Chris, I can't remember what was dialed in the box after I bought the car but it was 1...something. I dialed it to .000 so I could leave off the trans brake. The box is a biondo mega 85. My next question is, how do I know if it's a .500 tree or .400 tree. I'm trying to figure out if it's between different tracks or is it nhra or ihra or bracket tree or pro tree. Any thoughts there? Do you think there is any way I can compete by just using T/B.
Thanks again Chris for your great advice!

[Chris Williams]

Originally Posted by Bmack

Hello Chris, I can't remember what was dialed in the box after I bought the car but it was 1...something. I dialed it to .000 so I could leave off the trans brake. The box is a biondo mega 85. My next question is, how do I know if it's a .500 tree or .400 tree. I'm trying to figure out if it's between different tracks or is it nhra or ihra or bracket tree or pro tree. Any thoughts there? Do you think there is any way I can compete by just using T/B.
Thanks again Chris for your great advice!

Regardless of the delay, you are just leaving off the trans brake, just a tiny bit later So, sure you can compete that way.

Typically (although this is not always true) a "pro tree" -- all three yellows flash together -- is a .400 tree (actually .370, but let's not go there right now), and a "full tree" -- the three yellows flash in sequence -- has each light .500 apart. However, there are some classes and places where this is not the case (and with "cross talk" it's not always exactly .500, again, that's another discussion). In competition, it's decided by the class. Super Comp is a .400 pro tree, Top Dragster is a .500 full tree, for example. Bracket racing (name your dial) is all done on a full tree.

At a test and tune session, they usually say "lanes one and two for pro tree, three and four for full tree" and so on. And you can always ask the guy in the staging lanes. Most places on a T&T will even give you what you want. Just hold up 4 fingers for a pro tree, 5 for a full tree, they'll get it going for you.

As for IHRA, couldn't tell you. We're 1000 miles from the nearest IHRA track...

Chris