A little about my background:
I started bracket racing a Honda CB550 at an eighth mile strip outside Colorado Springs in 1978 (which closed shortly thereafter). I was in the Army at the time, and was transferred to Germany in early 1979. Much to my delight I discovered a club in Hanau that patterned themselves after NHRA, and had permission to convert an Army airfield to a drag strip several Sundays during the summer. I raced a '76 Vega with a V6 5-speed, and was their ET champion in 1981. I transferred back to the states in early 1982, and got out of the service later that year to go to college full time.
Even with a wife and child, I managed to race at Scribner (now Nebraska Motorplex) in '83. I qualified to represent them at the regionals, but couldn't afford the trip as a married college student. With another child arriving and needing to concentrate on graduation (and the Vega getting wrecked), I didn't race after 1984. We moved to San Diego after graduation. On a college grad's starting salary with 3 dependants, I didn't do any racing out there.
We moved to Denver in 1994 when my employer was bought out. I started racing again in 1996 running the '57 for the first time. It had a mild 350/TH350 and ran low-mid 16's. I put the current 396/TH400 in it in 1998 and ran high 15's. I've since taken about 2 seconds off its ET without major engine modifications - still same pistons, cam, intake, and headers as in 1998. I've applied the normal racer tricks to get there - posi, gears, stall, Holley, cold air induction. So, I have a few ideas about what works and what doesn't.
The sig shows my career highlights.