Introduction:
I. The week before racing:
A. Make sure everything on your car, both electrical and mechanical is in proper working condition.
B. Second, make sure that whatever tires you are going to run, are in proper racing condition, i.e., no slow leaks, no nails in tire, no patches, no plugs. Etc?
C. Third, make sure you have all your tools ready that you intend to take to the track. You can never have too many tools, because you never know what you might need while at the track.
II. The day of racing
A. First thing you should do when you get up that morning is to check the weather for where you are going to be racing. This way you can decide if you need to go ahead and start getting everything together, or just cancel. The worst thing on race day is procrastinating, trying to figure out if you're going to race or not. You make the decision that morning. Either you drive to the track, and risk racing being canceled, or you just stay at home, and risk not racing if they do end up racing.
B. Second, once you've decided that you are going to race, you need to remove everything that's loose in your car possible. Some people, such as myself, prefer to do this the night before, but it?s mainly up to you, depending upon how much time you have before you have to leave for the track. Now, when I say everything loose, I mean things such as articles of clothing, books, magazines, any trash, everything in your glove box and console that you won't need, anything in the rear hatch that isn't needed, and just anything in general that you don't want in the car. Be it for cleanliness purposes, weight reduction, or safety measures.
C. Third, loading the car. Once you've removed everything from the car that will be of no use to you at the track, start loading the things that you will need. Such as tools, wheels and tires if you?re not already driving on them, food, drinks, laptops, etc.
D. Lastly, do a quick once-over of the car, and make sure that everything is still in proper working order.
III. Arriving at the track
A. First thing you'll do when you get there is to go through the entrance gate, and pay your race fees. Upon payment, you will receive what is called a tech card.
B. Second. Once you've received your tech card at the gate, proceed to the pits, and find yourself a good parking spot. Personally, I usually like finding one that is relatively close to the staging lanes and the concession stand.
C. Third. After you've found your parking spot, go ahead and unload your car, and start making whatever preparations you need to make to the car, be it changing wheels and tires, making adjustments to your tuning, removing seats, etc.
D. Once you've made all your preparations, you need to fill out your tech card. The main info they need on there is your name, address, phone number, make and model of your car, and your signature. After you've filled that out, jump in your car, and drive over to the tech booth. Once there, pop your hood, and wait your turn in line till they get to you. Once it's your turn, hand them your card, and let them look over your car.
As a reminder, you may want to bring some window chalk with you, because sometimes, the tech guy won't have any, and you'll need some to write your number down on your window.
E. Now that you?re done with tech, return back to your parking spot, and wait till they call for your class before you enter the staging lanes.
IV. Staging Lanes
A. Once they call for your class to enter the staging lanes, go ahead and jump in your car, and head on in. Once in the staging lanes, turn your car off and pop your hood, that way the motor stays nice and cool. Only start when your line moves up, and leave your hood up, cause you can still see to drive through the line.
B. Once you get a little further up in line, be sure to do a quick once over of everything, just to make sure everything is working and where you want it to be. Now, this can include, but is not limited to, tire pressure, temperature, seat position, etc.
C. By now, you?re probably pretty close to the front of the line. Go ahead and close your hood, and make sure it is closed securely. You really don?t want your hood popping up going down the track, it?s not a pretty sight, trust me. Get back in your car, and get buckled in. Make sure all of your accessories are off, as you don't want anything to be running when you pull out onto the track.
V. Ready to Race
A. Now it's time for you to pull out on the track. Go ahead and pull onto the track, avoiding the water, going around it if you have to. Once you are straight in your lane, go ahead and start to back up. This next part is VERY IMPORTANT, so please pay attention. If you are running regular street radial tires, only back up a few feet, going nowhere near the water. Reason being, the grooves in your street tires will pick up the water, and carry it to the starting line, which will in turn cause massive wheel spin. Not good! Once you've backed up a few feet, put the car in a forward gear, and just barely turn them over a few times, just to clean them off. It is very important that you DO NOT do a huge burnout on street radials, as the rubber will become very greasy once it is heated, and will cause major wheel spin. All you have to do with a street tire is turn them over a few times, and clean any debris that's on them off.
B. Next, if you're running any type of drag radial, street slick, or full-on race slick, go ahead and back into the water. Once you've backed the rear tires into the water, barely turn them over, 2-3 rotations at the most, just to get the tire wet. Once the tire is wet, pull forward to the edge of the water, and begin your burnout. If you?re an automatic car, I prefer to start off in 1st gear, get the rpms up to around 5500, and shift to 2nd, and try to hold about 5000 rpms for at least a few seconds. This process should take you no longer than 10 seconds at the most. Contrary to popular belief, if you are not making huge power, there is no need for a John Force style burnout.
C. If you're a manual car, it's going to be a little bit trickier. The way I personally do it, is once I've pulled forward to the edge of the water, I bring the rpms up to around 5000-5500, side step the clutch, and soon as my foot comes off the clutch, it jumps directly on the brake, and then I apply more gas, keeping the rpms around 5500 or so. This is a very complicated procedure, and requires lots of practice. Trust me, the first few times you try this, YOU WILL KILL THE CAR! The same amount of time applies to this as above.
An important thing to remember about your burnout is, never just lift your foot off the gas pedal to complete your burnout, you're going to want to do what is called rolling out of it. What that means is, you let off the brake, and continue to burn the tires towards the starting line a few feet, while slowly letting your foot off the gas. Don't worry, there's plenty of room to do this, and you will want to come to a complete stop before you get to the starting line.
D. Now that you've done your burnout, or have cleaned your tires off, and are at a complete stop, you are ready to stage. Before you start to roll up to the line, look down and make sure all your accessories are off, and that all your gauges look like they're in acceptable ranges. Now, slowly start to roll towards the line until you turn the top 2 yellow bulbs on the tree on. You are now what is called "pre-staged". Stop here for a brief second, take a deep breath, make sure everything feels right, and get to ready to launch the car. If you're an auto, put one foot firmly on the brake pedal, and the other on the gas, bring your rpm's up to whatever your desired launch rpm is, and then barely ease up on the brake pedal, just enough to let your car inch forward. While you're inching the car forward, be watching the tree, because when you turn on the 2 bottom yellow bulbs, you are then what is called "staged". Same applies for manual cars, except you won't be easing up on the brake pedal, you will be easing up on the clutch. Therefore slipping it a little bit to allow you to roll into the staged position.
E. Now that you're staged, you are ready to launch. Watch the tree now, because below the bottom 2 yellow "staged" bulbs, there are 3 single bulbs on either side of the tree that will start coming down one at a time. Below the 3 single yellow bulbs will be a green bulb, and below that one will be a red bulb. Once the first single bulb lights, there are .500 of a second between lights till the green one comes on. A good way to measure how to launch is, once the 1st yellow bulb comes on, start your countdown. 3-2-1, and then the green light will come on. After a few runs, you will get your countdown in sync with the light coming on.
When that green light comes on, release the brake/clutch, and mash the gas and do your thing!!!
F. Now that you?re going, be sure to keep it straight going down the track. If for any reason at all, the car feels loose, or you begin to lose traction, or it starts getting a little sideways?. LET OUT! At this point, the run is botched anyway. There?s no point in risking your safety, or the persons beside you, because you are not going to run a new best at this point!
G. Now that you've crossed the finish line, let off the gas, and begin to gently apply the brakes. There's no need to shower down on them, because there's plenty of room to slow down. Your return road exits will usually be on your right-hand side, and if you're at a 1/4 mi track, there will be at least 3 of them. I personally, take the very last one, that way my car has plenty of time to slow down, and I don't have to be so hard on the brakes.
H. Now that you've completed your run, and you're on the return road, you will come upon a little booth on your left-hand side called the ticket booth. Here is where you will receive your time slip. Now that you've received your time slip, you can return to your parking spot in the pits, analyze your slip, pop your hood so the motor can cool, check your car over, and wait for them to call you up again!
Conclusion:
Drag racing is meant to be fun. So that's what you should try to make it. We are by no means serious racers, so there is no reason to get really serious about it. The main thing is to make sure your car is good running order, and to make sure you have all the necessities to make a run at the drag strip. Once you've done it a few times, be prepared to go back for more, because you will be hooked!!
I. The week before racing:
A. Make sure everything on your car, both electrical and mechanical is in proper working condition.
B. Second, make sure that whatever tires you are going to run, are in proper racing condition, i.e., no slow leaks, no nails in tire, no patches, no plugs. Etc?
C. Third, make sure you have all your tools ready that you intend to take to the track. You can never have too many tools, because you never know what you might need while at the track.
II. The day of racing
A. First thing you should do when you get up that morning is to check the weather for where you are going to be racing. This way you can decide if you need to go ahead and start getting everything together, or just cancel. The worst thing on race day is procrastinating, trying to figure out if you're going to race or not. You make the decision that morning. Either you drive to the track, and risk racing being canceled, or you just stay at home, and risk not racing if they do end up racing.
B. Second, once you've decided that you are going to race, you need to remove everything that's loose in your car possible. Some people, such as myself, prefer to do this the night before, but it?s mainly up to you, depending upon how much time you have before you have to leave for the track. Now, when I say everything loose, I mean things such as articles of clothing, books, magazines, any trash, everything in your glove box and console that you won't need, anything in the rear hatch that isn't needed, and just anything in general that you don't want in the car. Be it for cleanliness purposes, weight reduction, or safety measures.
C. Third, loading the car. Once you've removed everything from the car that will be of no use to you at the track, start loading the things that you will need. Such as tools, wheels and tires if you?re not already driving on them, food, drinks, laptops, etc.
D. Lastly, do a quick once-over of the car, and make sure that everything is still in proper working order.
III. Arriving at the track
A. First thing you'll do when you get there is to go through the entrance gate, and pay your race fees. Upon payment, you will receive what is called a tech card.
B. Second. Once you've received your tech card at the gate, proceed to the pits, and find yourself a good parking spot. Personally, I usually like finding one that is relatively close to the staging lanes and the concession stand.
C. Third. After you've found your parking spot, go ahead and unload your car, and start making whatever preparations you need to make to the car, be it changing wheels and tires, making adjustments to your tuning, removing seats, etc.
D. Once you've made all your preparations, you need to fill out your tech card. The main info they need on there is your name, address, phone number, make and model of your car, and your signature. After you've filled that out, jump in your car, and drive over to the tech booth. Once there, pop your hood, and wait your turn in line till they get to you. Once it's your turn, hand them your card, and let them look over your car.
As a reminder, you may want to bring some window chalk with you, because sometimes, the tech guy won't have any, and you'll need some to write your number down on your window.
E. Now that you?re done with tech, return back to your parking spot, and wait till they call for your class before you enter the staging lanes.
IV. Staging Lanes
A. Once they call for your class to enter the staging lanes, go ahead and jump in your car, and head on in. Once in the staging lanes, turn your car off and pop your hood, that way the motor stays nice and cool. Only start when your line moves up, and leave your hood up, cause you can still see to drive through the line.
B. Once you get a little further up in line, be sure to do a quick once over of everything, just to make sure everything is working and where you want it to be. Now, this can include, but is not limited to, tire pressure, temperature, seat position, etc.
C. By now, you?re probably pretty close to the front of the line. Go ahead and close your hood, and make sure it is closed securely. You really don?t want your hood popping up going down the track, it?s not a pretty sight, trust me. Get back in your car, and get buckled in. Make sure all of your accessories are off, as you don't want anything to be running when you pull out onto the track.
V. Ready to Race
A. Now it's time for you to pull out on the track. Go ahead and pull onto the track, avoiding the water, going around it if you have to. Once you are straight in your lane, go ahead and start to back up. This next part is VERY IMPORTANT, so please pay attention. If you are running regular street radial tires, only back up a few feet, going nowhere near the water. Reason being, the grooves in your street tires will pick up the water, and carry it to the starting line, which will in turn cause massive wheel spin. Not good! Once you've backed up a few feet, put the car in a forward gear, and just barely turn them over a few times, just to clean them off. It is very important that you DO NOT do a huge burnout on street radials, as the rubber will become very greasy once it is heated, and will cause major wheel spin. All you have to do with a street tire is turn them over a few times, and clean any debris that's on them off.
B. Next, if you're running any type of drag radial, street slick, or full-on race slick, go ahead and back into the water. Once you've backed the rear tires into the water, barely turn them over, 2-3 rotations at the most, just to get the tire wet. Once the tire is wet, pull forward to the edge of the water, and begin your burnout. If you?re an automatic car, I prefer to start off in 1st gear, get the rpms up to around 5500, and shift to 2nd, and try to hold about 5000 rpms for at least a few seconds. This process should take you no longer than 10 seconds at the most. Contrary to popular belief, if you are not making huge power, there is no need for a John Force style burnout.
C. If you're a manual car, it's going to be a little bit trickier. The way I personally do it, is once I've pulled forward to the edge of the water, I bring the rpms up to around 5000-5500, side step the clutch, and soon as my foot comes off the clutch, it jumps directly on the brake, and then I apply more gas, keeping the rpms around 5500 or so. This is a very complicated procedure, and requires lots of practice. Trust me, the first few times you try this, YOU WILL KILL THE CAR! The same amount of time applies to this as above.
An important thing to remember about your burnout is, never just lift your foot off the gas pedal to complete your burnout, you're going to want to do what is called rolling out of it. What that means is, you let off the brake, and continue to burn the tires towards the starting line a few feet, while slowly letting your foot off the gas. Don't worry, there's plenty of room to do this, and you will want to come to a complete stop before you get to the starting line.
D. Now that you've done your burnout, or have cleaned your tires off, and are at a complete stop, you are ready to stage. Before you start to roll up to the line, look down and make sure all your accessories are off, and that all your gauges look like they're in acceptable ranges. Now, slowly start to roll towards the line until you turn the top 2 yellow bulbs on the tree on. You are now what is called "pre-staged". Stop here for a brief second, take a deep breath, make sure everything feels right, and get to ready to launch the car. If you're an auto, put one foot firmly on the brake pedal, and the other on the gas, bring your rpm's up to whatever your desired launch rpm is, and then barely ease up on the brake pedal, just enough to let your car inch forward. While you're inching the car forward, be watching the tree, because when you turn on the 2 bottom yellow bulbs, you are then what is called "staged". Same applies for manual cars, except you won't be easing up on the brake pedal, you will be easing up on the clutch. Therefore slipping it a little bit to allow you to roll into the staged position.
E. Now that you're staged, you are ready to launch. Watch the tree now, because below the bottom 2 yellow "staged" bulbs, there are 3 single bulbs on either side of the tree that will start coming down one at a time. Below the 3 single yellow bulbs will be a green bulb, and below that one will be a red bulb. Once the first single bulb lights, there are .500 of a second between lights till the green one comes on. A good way to measure how to launch is, once the 1st yellow bulb comes on, start your countdown. 3-2-1, and then the green light will come on. After a few runs, you will get your countdown in sync with the light coming on.
When that green light comes on, release the brake/clutch, and mash the gas and do your thing!!!
F. Now that you?re going, be sure to keep it straight going down the track. If for any reason at all, the car feels loose, or you begin to lose traction, or it starts getting a little sideways?. LET OUT! At this point, the run is botched anyway. There?s no point in risking your safety, or the persons beside you, because you are not going to run a new best at this point!
G. Now that you've crossed the finish line, let off the gas, and begin to gently apply the brakes. There's no need to shower down on them, because there's plenty of room to slow down. Your return road exits will usually be on your right-hand side, and if you're at a 1/4 mi track, there will be at least 3 of them. I personally, take the very last one, that way my car has plenty of time to slow down, and I don't have to be so hard on the brakes.
H. Now that you've completed your run, and you're on the return road, you will come upon a little booth on your left-hand side called the ticket booth. Here is where you will receive your time slip. Now that you've received your time slip, you can return to your parking spot in the pits, analyze your slip, pop your hood so the motor can cool, check your car over, and wait for them to call you up again!
Conclusion:
Drag racing is meant to be fun. So that's what you should try to make it. We are by no means serious racers, so there is no reason to get really serious about it. The main thing is to make sure your car is good running order, and to make sure you have all the necessities to make a run at the drag strip. Once you've done it a few times, be prepared to go back for more, because you will be hooked!!
