THIS YEAR

Freak show this saturday, worked out a deal for a ride running a buddies car. Car itself is a time proven winner so guess it falls in my lap to get the job done, only problem is it's a footbrake set-up and I have'nt footbraked for years and logged thousands of passes off the thumb Got a custom 2 step box built for the car that can be easily installed/removed and set his car up with a button and 4 wheel line locks....just like the ole days LOL!!! Goin out Fri to hit the tree 3 or 4 times so I can dial the car into my R/T and then give'm helll Sat. afternoon/night

Gonna be a killer set-up for bracket racing, actually an idea we've all pondered bench racing, but this car is it due to victim of circumstance. He blew the rear end up and just threw his old 2.73 geared set-up back in the car (posi naturally) so it comes out of the hole like a dog, but then once she's wound up hold onto your hat!! Our track switched to 1/8th after he fragged the rear so we dont know what 1/4 will do but he did go from 96 mph in the 1/8th with 4.11's to 98mph with the 2.73 so hopefully it will ET slower than dirt (hoping for mid 12's) but run a really high mph out the door. Should easily screw up less than seasoned racers (and maybe even catch one of them off gaurd) since they will easily catch me by the 1/8th mile and then "my" car will come on strong and walk away, so I hope to hear alot of whoomp whoomp when they first catch upto me cuz I'll be and they'll need in the form of Mr. Frosty to fix their mistake

wolf in sheeps clothing for sure...mph is where it's at huh...that's why the supercomp guys run 8.9's at nearly 180mph! 180mph is good for 7.6's for sure!

mph IS where it's at!! LOL, bench racing food of thought is the Tim Taylor "needs more power ugg ugg" but we that race/d know alot different. I'll take a soft leaving car that will smoke the back half of a track vs one that kills it off the line....we all know what summer heat and rubber stacked starting line equate too. Too much tq is not a good thing when going for consistant numbers We were throwing out ideas one night on combinations that would run mid 12's at 140mph I watched one night race where these guys were tinkering with their S/C car and were literally running 12's to 15's at anywhere from 130-154mph, took off like it was tied to an anchor but once in high gear she was out...literally. Granted they were just shaking the car down, but idea is still the same.

The S/C guys typically index race though so most of the guys I know also bracket race with the throttle stops as well to stay in shape for national events they'll know where to set it at for the weather, but you know first hand how hard it is to judge a car at high rates of speed, they cover soo much ground so quickly one second they're way behind you and the next instance they blow by you like a freight train LOL!!!!

hehe, why do you think i'm building a turbo motor! i want something that's gonna leave hard enough to dangle the wheels a bit, but is REALLY gonna run hard on the top end...10's at 140+ is what my goal is...don't know that that will happen with my 305...but the hair dryer is the way to go, i know that!

good luck

I'll pass that along to the poor soul that get's drawn to line up with me I just need 4 passes to dial the car and hope not running since last Oct has'nt slowed me down too much on da tree LOL!!!

LOL. I am back to the track in a week. Havent raced since jan. I got some new mods. TH400, neal chance converter 5000stall, qa1 rear shocks,and spohn lower control arms. I have never used the t-brake so should be fun.

You really going to like the way you can now use your chasis to maximize for crappy tracks and be able to add and use more power since it's not all bound up like when footbraking, plus being able to fine tune your reaction time with staging rpm is a HUGE plus....I promise you'llwonder what took you so long to do it, cannot imagine ever going back to foot braking and trying to be competative...I'm sure I could re-adjust like anybody, but the brake has soo many more advantages.

We do have some crappy tracks down here. I was looking at your web site. You build some awesome garages. Iowa looks beautiful. So could you come down to florida a biuld me garage for $16 a square foot.LOL

Iowa is a chit hole filled with corn and big women....we just say they're "corn fed" just like our cows and pigs are LOL!! Low cost of living cuz there is'nt anything here really for good wages...especially locally thus the low cost of building. I talk to alot of contractors on another forum and when we speak prices on things I look at their regions and drool since they get 3-8 times as much for the same job I do (but have much higher costs of living), and they baulk and state they would'nt get out of bed for what we get in this area LOL!! With all the licsencing needed to contract in Florida, heck it'd be a year or two before I could pull the permit to even build it

It's pretty fascinating the difference in pricing around the country, namely houses, here $150K will get you a very nice new home, other places that same $150K will get you an old azz 1 or 2 bedroom shack that should be demoed LOL!!

lol. your right about lic. in florida. it took us forever to biuld a fence. Iam fire fighter/paramedic and can not afford a decent house. $150,000 in south florida is a joke. I got approved for 200 and looked at some houses. Most of them did not have a garage and where in crappy nieghborhoods. But, with all the hurricanes your new house could get destroyed anyway. So ill just keep renting. Ive been considering moving somewhere else.

I've gotten to know a couple good guys that are general contractors in Florida over the net and they're still cleaning up messes and fixing homes from 3 hurricanes ago, so I guess work is plentiful, but that is also why Florida I guess adopted such a stringent licsencing program since they were getting alot of storm chasers leaving behind nightmares that cost insurance companies and homeowners alot of money after they jumped town.

For me I would love to move a little further south so I can forget about snow and snow plowing, work year round no matter what without freezing in -? temps, but I would not want to live anywhere close to "tourist" spots since I'm spoiled with the somewhat slower pace here and zero traffic jams excpet in the fall when farmers are harvesting and "buring up" the road with the tractors/corn/grain wagons LOL!! 4 lane hwy's as big as we got for most of our hwy's and that's fine with me....raced in St-Louis years ago and them friggin super hwy thing 6 lanes plus PER side are too intimidating to me LOL!!!

Yea there are still alot of blue tarps on roofs down here. I live at work for a few days during a hurricane. We run the city pretty much. God damit there will be no storms this year. lol Anyways there is racing year round. The winter time is the best time to run. Summer time its so humid out you feel like your in a sawna(sp).

On a positive note. The car scene is awesome. Tons of fast cars. On friday nights there are serious street racing. Alot of really fast cars that should stay at the track.



http://www.snapoffracing.com/videos/...ompilation.wmv

i still don't get the point of this

just general BS...anything wrong with that?

no i mean the garbage ET w/ the high trap...seems kinda ric*rish don't it

If you've bracket raced much it makes perfect sense, no starting line issues since that is where 80% of the varience in your dial in comes from and big mph to help go the same rate or faster than most of the cars spotting you so by the finish line it'd be ALOT easier to judge the other guy so you can either hit the brakes or stay in it....would let both of you know who had the tree not to mention the "brain fart" you'd occasionally get by other drivers thinking since they caught you by half track they can play with you the rest of the way only to suddenly see you starting pulling away hard after half track.

oh hehe, um, yeah, like IHI said, it's the ability to have the option of driving the other end of the track instead of all the variables having to be right on the bottom end of the track.

good luck josh

what ever floats ur boat

LOL, obviously alot of time watching NHRA on TV and not actually participating in actual true to life bracket races held around the country, FYI 80, no make that 90% of drag racing that takes place around the country is shoe polish racing where it be index racing or handicap racing. VERY few guys actually compete at the heads up level due to the extreme costs for equipment and maintenance.

So once you've raced handicap and if you ever expect to have a shot at winning anything you will learn a fast car, while nice to have for bench racing bragging rights is not necessarily the best combination for CONSISTANT racing. We're talking about setting your car up to run the exact number you predicted that is on the car's windows. You spend the most time on a drag strip before the half way mark and thus the biggest variences in ET come before the 660' mark and most notably in the first 60' is where 90% of an inconsistant run start. Many guys think when they post time slips here running a 1.80-1.90 60' in 5 passes is consistant, take it upto the level of a no box class and if you vary more than .02-.05 in a days time there a good chance your going home if you dial honest. Building a car to be soft off the line takes away the spin/slip variable in the equation and then give you better opportunity to play the game at the finish line when everything is "settled down" and you can concentrate on where you competitor is at in relation to you so you can take the finish line .01-.05 before he does.

One other thing to realize, if you ever go and see a true bracket race event almost every car out there is literally detuned and running slower than what they can actually run, I ran consitant 11.30's on a race tune but with a simple timing and jet change easily ran consistant 11.00's.....why do we do this??? because you dont win races/money/points by being fast, you win races/money/points by running the same number over and over and over etc...

This weekend is going to be 97* ambient temps with humidity in the 85-90% range, the starting line is in the sun ALL day and we're talking track temps easily hitting 150*+ Guess what happens to the starting lines under these conditions....traction sucks, so then add a car that has great 60' times and pushing chasis set-up to the max and your left with a car that will not repeat a number to save it's life and you might as well have stayed home and threw $3-400 for the days/cars/tow vehicles expenses in the fireplace. Goiong/being fast is cool, no doubt, but there is a time and place for it...bracket racing does not lend itself well to cars running on the ragged edge.

I completely understand and agree with you on the extreme cost of almost every class, from pro street to hot street you need cash . Only problem is i was never big on bracket racing, i like the im faster than you mentality even if you (the other guy) know exactly how fast (or slow) he or she is to the 10,000th of a second. Only problem w/ that is usually the guy w/ more money wins. I can't speak for Iowa but round here and im sure a lot of other very densly populated areas it is not hard to find a race. While I don't condone street racing you'd be stupid to say it doesn't happen and that it's not easy to find a race. Start going faster and faster and people start racing for more and more money. Only problem really is the safety issue, the legal issue, and the drama that happens every time somebody looses a chunk of money. It's a shame more of this doesnt happen at the track, everybody knows where the finish is, everybody knows if somebody jumped, no he said she said. I'm probably way off track already but like I said thats cool to bracket race if thats your thing, not really mine. If I had my way id have enough money to compete in heads up classes, but I don't so ill stick to the locals. Good luck and keep us posted IHI, god knows i owe ya a beer for all the help you gave me on this build

well, then there is still racing for those of us who love heads up racing, but not enough money to do real heads up (you know, 9.2x's and quicker, depending on the class). have you considered running any of the .90 classes? like i know that the Ontario Street Car Association has 7.90-13.90 classes. heads up on a pro-tree, but you can't go quicker than X.90. index racing brother. i know that it's still not "true heads-up" but is a good starter for us that can't afford real heads-up stuff yet, but it keeps us on our toes and not in the brackets. IHI, i gotta be honest, i've been to quite a few Drag Race Results Bracket Series races this year, along with TONS of local bracket racing events, and i'd rather watch paint dry. it's not exciting to watch. it's a different story entirely if you're racing or watching a buddy...but watching bracket racing JUST to watch bracket racing, well...it sucks.

Jesasourasrex, i'm sure the PSCA has something like that ...

Ya thats what I was looking at, PSCA does have that as well, they have a 10.6 index class and a 9.6 index (quick street) class which would probably be loads of fun and should be easily doable with the current set up. Maybe in 07 when i have some extra cash

and that's the kinda racing i like honestly. because it's obtainable to the average joe, but it's still what i would consider a step above bracket racing. IHI, please don't take offense cause i bracket race too, just not as seriously as you do. i just like the index classes, ESPECIALLY the fast street car stuff. Street Legal drag racing is where it's at yo!

Ya, that is one down side to the index class, there is basically no rules except for you can only run this fast. It's amazing how many big tire, big block, open exhaust cars there are out there that trap in the low 120s. Guess its your car and you can do what ever but common, if I can trap 130 through 2 mufflers and an air filter w/ a small block on 91 octane shouldnt they be shooting for something a bit more? Not tryin 2 rag on anybody or anything but while yes the index class is kool and probably as good as itll get for us on a budget it still doesn't feel fair running against guys with 100 more cubes in some back halfed 60s/70s runnin 110 gas. It's probably got something to do with me never being happy
but seriouslly, what is your guys take on it

I dont frown or look down on any type of racing except street racing cuz that kills/injuries people that are'nt even involved with the actual race when things go bad, too many spoiled kids get a car that's over powered and have no experience in a vehicle with well above stock hp and things happen sooo fast even an experienced driver can lose a car. It's well known to all entried into a true run what ya brung heads up format would draw little entries simply because most of the general public cannot afford to go that deep in debt for a car so it's fast. The index classes and open comp type races (along with other names) are literally as close to heads up as one can get without a multi million dollar budget to be king of the hill....but it still involves consistency since you want to cut a light (like brackets) and to win run your index with a 0 much like bracket racing.....same style, just different format. I've competed in all 3 types with all 3 trees and personally like the bracket style....cuz I've made thousands of passes doing it and have done well, just not enough seat time in the other forms to become profiecent at it. Either way as long as a person is out there having fun, who cares

Results from tonight, spent first 4 passes trying to quicken this dog leaving car in for reaction time, I was still on kill with consistency once I made some adjustiments, .052, .052, .053 in a row but those were as fast as I could get the car to leave....1.825-1.829 60's in 8 passes all 12.237-12.26 at 112mph 4 of which were in the gamblers that I made the semi's and lost when I took waaaay tooo much stripe LOL!! Ran a 9 second car and figured he'd be coming harder than he did, waited until last minute, tapped the brakes and broke by .004 if that is'nt bad enough.....I took the stripe by .109 LMAO!! can you say rusty at the big end game Won a little money, enough to pay for tomorrow's entry so that's a plus, car is a consistant SOB so it's all on me.

Already got my slicks on this car, gonna pull my shorter front tires off the bird in the morning and throw them on the chevelle, 1" shorter so hoping it will quicken my up at least .025 in R/T since it'll break the beams quicker. Got rear psi maxed out so tires are not wadding, timing is maxed out for his pump gas motor at 40* so cant "turn in" more bottom end, and I bumped his rear air shocks to 50 psi so I started with .162 and .160 (.662 and. 660 for the ..500 tree guys) and after changes to tire psi and shocks got it to the .05 range, just need at least .03 quicker to be competative tomorrow and hoping the front tires will net what I'm hoping and will win more $$$

Funniest part of the day, I'm only going across the finish line in 2nd gear at 6300rpm....the car has a TH400 LMFAO!!! makes it nice and consistant though with only 1 shift at half track like a glide!!!!

congrats so far, next year i think i'll try the bracket racing game with my blue car.

kool, sounds like ur havin fun there IHI

quick question kinda off topic, i was just playin around with those online calculators trying to figure out tire height and gear ratio if i threw the bottle on here, had to guess for what it would trap but what ever. Anyways after much foolin around i went to go play with the converter slippage calculator. Thought it would be fun since I have a standard tranny and figured what the heck. Entered my info, tire height, gear ratio, trap, final gear, rpm. And it calculated 3.81 percentage converter slippage. I was kinda stunned for a second, seems kinda weird. Could this mean my clutch is slipping like crazy, guess it seems kinda possible (10.4" clutch, center force dual friction, car traps 130 so its got decent power) but i donno...what can you make of that?

hehe, lol! 12.2x's at 112mph! classic brother! good to hear you're having fun with it!

Well, wish I had a better story to tell but I dont. Started this morning by taking my tires off the front of the bird since they are 1" shorter than what was on the Chevelle (his 28" to my 27") since they say 1" roughly equates into a .02 difference in R/T. First 2 times runs I lit the stage bulb like always and did a single pump to get in deeper for both pre elimination time runs and slips an hour apart were exactly identical except finish line ET 1st TT was a 12.123 and second run was a 12.125 then elimin's started. R/T dropped from previous nights .550's to .530's, nowhere near good enough to win so figured first round I'd go in 2 pumps since I could bye back.

First round of elimns I went 2 pumps into the beams after lighting the stage bulbs and was running a 9 second car so knew he'd charge hard at the top end, by the 1000' mark I knew he'd never catch me so I glided it home dragging the brakes and took the win. Slip showed my .012 R/T to his .193 so it was done at the tree, pass showed I was running .03 slower exactly at every increment so I chaulked that up to going in deeper when staging and fiogured next round I'd do the same and slowed down my dial accordingly.

Second round and I pair up with a 11.69 car so I had a slight head start, by the 1/8th mile we were literally staring each other in the eyes the whole back half of the track waiting to see if either one of us would dump or if it was a drag race to the finish....crossed the line and he got the light. I knew I did'nt quite get the double deep double bump in stage position I needed for a good light in this slow leaving car and slips proved it with my .050 to his .051 R/T and then between the 660' and the finish line the car lost .03 so I ended up running a 12.18 on a 12.15 dial, he ran his number with a 7 so it more than made up for the tiny difference in R/T. All I can think of is it was cloudy then sunny all morning and then before our second round the sun was beating down for a good hour, guess the track got a little tackey thus resulting in a .03 loss in the back half of the track

Oh well, was still fun and obviously I was'nt in the true killer state of mind since I was'nt too pizzed about losing so it never would've happened going to the finals anyways. The show itself was a joke to say the least, all the outlaws chained down the front ends so they left like pro-stockers, had 2 out of 12 cars that pulled wheelie's and they were no bigger than mine used to be so that was very pathetic to say the least. Makes me want to get the bird going again since I know that ar and knew how to tune it for kill, but we'll wait till i can build what I want so it does what I want.