Looking for some track tips

Well im seriously considering making the 2.5-3 hour trek to the drag strip tomorrow night and am looking for any pointers or tips from guys that have run at the track before.

I know my truck is a 2nd gen but since its got a hemi know i figured maybe you huys might have some advice. Ive only ever made 2 passes down the 1/4 mile and they were 2 years apart. So if I do decide to make the trip down I'd like a few pointers.

Im already planning on ditching as much weight as I can before I go and unfortunately I'll be forced to run on my 20's and nearly bald street tires but they do seem to hook up not to bad considering what they are.

Anybody got any tips for launching and whatnot?

Yeah, get better tires

Strip weight, make sure there's no problems with the tune, air down the tires of you're running street tires. If they're anywhere close to factory size, I've found that 15 psi works pretty well on my nittos. Find out how it's gonna hook on the first pass, then correct from there.

Depending on the track conditions, my truck launches best around 1700 rpm. I don't manually shift, I've found that my valve body and trans tune definitely do it faster. I start out in drive, left foot brake right foot gas, 1700 rpm and let off the brake about the time the tree hits the last bulb, then stomp the gas just a hair after releasing the brake. With mine, hitting the gas at the same time as releasing the brake yields big smoky 60' runs, but letting the truck roll almost out of the beams before flooring it minimizes tire spin.

For reaction time, remember the 20s are big, and take a second to roll the beams, so account for that and leave slightly earlier than you would expect. After a few passes you should develop a feel for it.

Some folks will say remove the tailgate and spare tire. Spare, yes. Tailgate, I've never noticed the difference. I made 6 passes with and 6 without one night with no difference.

My best time is an 8.94@71 with a 0.013 light 1.94 60' in the eighth mile. Good luck.

I would start around 24psi an adjust from there. I don't stall up I just leave from idle, normally I would try to leave when the second yellow goes out by the time you an the truck react it will be green(most of the time) I try rolling into the gas an then stab it, there's an art to launching on a street tire in a 2wd lol

I remember cutting a 1.92 60' in street trim an was shocked how well it hooked. Cause usually my tires aren't that great lol

Thanks for the tips I never would of thought about airing down the tires. Tonight is looking pretty good weather wise to.

Also since you have electric fans, in between passes throw your hood up and turn the fans on to let it cool down. Heat soak is your enemy, especially in the summer. I can't even run on the track until fall, because after the first pass my air charge temps are through the roof and it pulls timing.

Did you go?

Yup me and a buddy of mine with a ford lightning made the 6 hour round trip last night and we only got time for 2 runs each by time we got there lol.

Anyways here's my slips from last night I was number 854. First pass is on the left second run is on the right.



Truck ran good and hooked up not bad. Got a small bit of a chirp out of the tires but then they just hooked up and went good. Overall I'm pretty happy with the times especially since that was at full street weight on my heavy ass 20's with the hard tonneau cover still on.

Weather couldn't have been much better either. Air cooled right down but the track was still good for traction.

My buddies lightning also ran great last night. This was the first time he got to run it on his slicks and he ran a 13.79 then a 13.77




Overall was a very long but good night. Was almost 3:30 this morning when I finally got home lol we already made a deal that we'd plan our next trip a lot better and take a half a day off work so we can be there by 6 or so we can let the trucks actually cool down and be ready to go right at 7 when they start the test and tune.