Guide I wrote for another forum I am on:
Before the track, there are some things to do.
1) Wash and wax, this will prevent debris from your car from getting on the track and will also provide a slicker profile reducing drag.
2) Take out unnecessary weight. Removing the spare tire and jack is one of the easiest ways to shed a few pounds. 100 pounds of weight is the equivalent of gaining 10 horsepower, which equals one tenth of a second in the 1/4 mile.
3) You want to run about 1/4 of a tank fuel or even less, gasoline weighs about 6.25 pounds per gal keeping an extra 13 gals out will help you out .07 seconds.
4) Check all fluids before you leave. The worst thing is to not have enough oil or coolant in your car. Coolant is very important for racing, since a cooler engine is a happier engine.
Time for the track
Numbering and Tech inspection
Most tracks number the car for you and will put the number on your rear window after tech inspection so it is easy to see from the tower when you are staging.
Tech inspection is different for each car. A mostly stock car with just a couple bolt-ons will get a basic safety inspection (battery hold down, no leaking fluid, etc)
Prep At the track
Once you passed tech, you will want to put your car into your staging lane. Tracks usually have one set of lanes for the higher classes of cars, and one set for the lower classes. At most tracks the first number is the lane you are assigned to for the night (this means car 301 would go to staging lane 3) If unsure where to line up ask the tech inspector before driving away.
1) Once you are in your correct lane park your car and put the hood up. Putting the hood up will allow the heat built up underneath your hood on the way there to escape and it will reduce the temperature of all intake parts.
2) Adjust your tire psi. Street tires do not like very low psi, and if they are underinflated, you will have less contact patch than required. For your rear wheels you want to run an amount of pressure in the tires that will give you the best traction on launch, but will still be safe at the top end as underinflated tires are not the greatest for stability.
For non-drive wheels you may want to slightly overinflate. The tires will crown and have a smaller contact patch, providing less rolling resistance upon launch.
3) Before you pull up to race, make sure you remove anything else you added (ice, drinks, tools)
4) When your lane is called move forward to the race lanes.
Important note: turn off tract control and any accessories.
5) Make sure all of your safety equipment is fastened or being worn. NHRA and IHRA require that any car running 13.99 seconds on the 1/4 mile (8.59 seconds on the 1/8 mile) or quicker, that the driver be wearing a Snell M90 or higher approved helmet. There are also some tracks that require you to wear a helmet no matter how fast your car is. All tracks require at least a lap seatbelt, but pretty much anything made after 1984 have 3 point shoulder belts. Have your seatbelt and helmet on as soon as the engine is started, and make sure all windows are closed. If unsure about safety requirements call the track in advance.
Starting Line
1. Burnout
If you are running street tires a burnout is not necessary, and can actually hurt. The reason being that when street tires are heated excessively, such as during a burnout, they tend to marble up and build little balls of rubber on the tread. However, a light spin of your tires will get off all of the debris you may have picked up. If not doing a burnout go around the water box.
Of course, if you are running drag slicks, none of those rules apply. Slicks need heat. If you are running slicks spin them to build up the heat required for a good launch.
2) Staging
This can be as simple as lighting up the 2 top yellow bulbs, or you can go into staging duals, shallow, or deep staging.
The top set of bulbs, under the "Pre Stage" designation light up as you pull your car within 6-8 inches of the stage light. This is the easiest step, and now it can go one of three ways to stage.
a) You can and bump the car forward about an inch at a time until the second set of lights ("Stage") barely come on.
b) You can roll further into the Stage beam so that it is fully on and you are about 3-4 inches closer to the starting line, which will speed up (lower) your RT, but will raise your ET, due to the smaller head start distance.
c) There is another choice, called Deep Staging. If you are going to deep stage your car, be sure to mark that clearly by your driver number on your car, by simply writing the word "DEEP." Deep staging is a popular idea for improving RTs significantly, because it puts you as close as possible to the starting line, but it also slows down your ET because of that reduced distance. A deep stage is one in which you roll your car first into the prestage lights, then you proceed forward to the stage lights. After you have both sets of top bulbs lit, you slowly and carefully roll your car forward until the Pre Stage bulbs turn off. This means your wheels have rolled so far forward that they are no longer in the beam of the pre stage lights. This puts you about 2-4 inches away from the actual starting line beam.
Note – it is common courtesy to not begin your staging until the car in the other lane is done with his burnout.
Now you are staged, the lights are going to start the race. The three amber lights will begin to countdown about 1 or 2 seconds after you are done staging, so be ready as soon as you are staged.
3) Get your car up to launch RPM. This will take nothing more than practice to decide which RPM is the optimal launch point for your car. Too low of an RPM and you will bog off the line, too high and you will spin.
Again it’s all a matter of trial and error. Automatics will generally stall as high as possible with one foot on brake, one on gas. They launch by releasing brake while flooring gas. Manuals take some practice and may involve slipping the clutch.
The rest is up to you to run the track, slow down after the finish line, and turn off of the track at a safe speed. Most tracks have the booth to get your timeslips right at the beginning of the return road. DO NOT SPEED ON THE RETURN LANE. You will see the posted speed limit, obey it. I have seen people kicked out for speeding on the return road and feel it is a justified action for the track to take.
Don’t be afraid to ask question on anything you are unsure of. The majority of people you meet at the track are more then willing to help out and give tips.
Note – another courtesy is that the driver on the side of the return lane is always allowed to exit first.
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