OK, all this talk of 12 second SRT6's is getting me excited. Mind you, I've never gone to an "real" drag race before, but I'd like to take a stab at it just to see what me and my SRT can do. What do you have to do to make runs at these drag events?

You need a helmet, right? What else do you need? Are there special requirements for the car? 4 point harnesses and such?

TIA to all you experienced racers out there that will take it easy on a n00b.
Tom

 

Specific requirements tend to vary from track to track. I suggest you find the website of your local track and see what they say. I know at California Speedway in Fontana you don't need a helmet unless your car runs faster than 14.00 but at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego you need a helmet - period.

You usually don't get into the roll bars, harnesses, etc unless you've got a highly modified or stupid fast car - like 10 second range.

 

What does "No Electronics" mean?

 

Borrow a hemet from a buddy just in case or you can buy one new for $40-$100. As Mike stated roll bars and harnesses are usually for faster cars 10-11 sec range. Not sure about the no electronics might want to call them. They are probably not referring to anything in your stock srt6.

Your 1/4 mile times will primarily depend on your launch. Take a tank of air and a gauge so you can adjust your rear tire pressures accordingly. Start between 22-36 psi. I know thats a broad range but if your running street radials you wont want to go much lower than 22 and 36 is a litle on the high side. Remember after a pass your tire pressure will naturally rise due to heat.

 

I know that here @ Maple Grove, helmet for 13 sec and faster, roll cage for 11 and faster, NO2 only on sanctioned nights, if it's a convertible, TOP UP!!! Sucks, I know and pointless. The tech here isn't that bad.

 

Thanks guys! I have a motorcycle helmet, so it sounds like I have everything I need.

I can even take my compressor and my car adapter.

Sweet! Now all I have to do is wait until April.

 

Tire pressure will depend on the temp of that day. The colder your tires will drop quite a bit. Tire gauge is a must. I can tell you from exp. that lowering the tire pressure on our 19's didn't work and made my times slower. When I was using the stock conti's 32psi is what worked best. Find a helmet that meets your tracks DOT requirement. A motorcycle helmet should work. The helmet has to have a Snell Rating. You will notice certain helmets have this sticker in them, and usually a year is printed on it with a serial number. They will look for this sticker at the tech station where the inspect your car.

Electonics mean delay boxes or other cheating devices. In short bracket racers use them to slow their car down to beat you. I know, doesn't make sense. hit www.nhra.com and search delay box it should give you a better answer. There are alot of other cheating type of devices that make your car run exact dials like 11.99 seconds everytime. If your good with your reaction times. It's reverse math.

Back to the track. I try to have my gas tank at the exact spot I run everytime I go out. The weight of the gas will help with the launch. You need to find the balance that works for you. Like 1/2 tank, 1/4 tank or more. I like 1/2 tank to keep me consistent on the launches. Remember it's not a light the tires contest. It's a smooth launch and get on it contest. You will have great 60' times. If you have and needswings intake, you will no problem hitting 12's even with a higher elevation.
Have fun and be safe.
Cruzinquick

 

Tom, where are you planning to run your car, Thompson Raceway in OH.? (I think it may be the closest strip to you).
If so, it might be a cool GTG for the Ohio "gang" to meet up and have some fun too. Not to forget any Western PA. owners also.
Just a thought.

 

I'm not sure where Thomson Raceway is. I did a little searching on the net and found Quaker City Raceway (Salem, OH) and Pittsburgh Raceway (New Alexandria, PA). I see now that Thomson is on the Erie-side of Cleveland. That wouldn't be bad.

I was actually planning to ask my coworker's husband if I could go with him. He regularly pulls 10 second ET's in his "Honkin Hemi". Sad to say, I don't know what the car is - I've only seen pictures of it. I know it's not a Hemi Cuda, but it's a 60-something mopar with a hemi in it. (I searched and found out it is a 1965 Super Stock Plymouth)

Anyway, I figure it would be good to go with someone that knows the ropes and the track, and could give me pointers. He'll laugh at my ET time, but hey, I won't be driving some 600 hp monster either.

Oops. I take that back. I guess the Honkin Hemi is a little famous. He runs 9.5 ET's in it, and there's several pictures posted around the web of the car. It's owned by Carlon Hine of Hine Racing Equipment. Bill Pakula cares for and races the car for Carlon. Bill is a good guy, and owns Canfield Auto Repair Service. I would trust him to work on anything with wheels. So I'm hoping he'll take me under his wing for a little time at the track. I think he races at Quaker City Raceway in Salem, OH.

I did show my SRT6 to him when I bought it and had him check it out for me to be sure there were no surprises with it. He liked it, but was quick to remind me that it was 90%+ non-American parts.

 

Here's a photo of this rare hemi. Apparently there is another Honkin Hemi that is red, and uses the name with Carlon Hine's permission. The red car, driven by Tony Depillo holds the world record in the NHRA Super Stock classification with an ET of 9.09 seconds at 146.5 mph. Apparently, Depillo made it down into the high 8-second times in April of 2006, but was not racing in the NHRA anymore. But that's not Bill's car, though they are very similar cars.

 

I would also suggest that you ice down you intercooler or supercharger between runs, heat is the number 2 enemy of speed (weight is the first). I woud remove the spare tire, ahahaha ,jk. I would recomend you break boost (hold your break and press the gas and hold it there at about 2200rpm) that way you are in your torque sweet spot when you launch.

 

Tom, if I am not mistaken you are closer to all this than you might think, Hine Racing is in Kinsman Oh and over the years they have had quite a reputation for building Mopars and in a few record books as well. And you are right it would be nice to go with someone as experienced as that to get a few pointers. Thompson is where I raced many moons ago and from what I have seen they have fixed it up a lot in the last couple of yrs. It is about a half hour west of where I am, and the last I knew they still have "grudge" racing on Wednesday nights (once the weather gets nice of course) Sort of a Run what you Brung deal where you can line up against your buddy or enemy and have at it.
And thank you so much for putting thoughts of warm summer nights and drag racing in my head in the middle of this cold snowy February.

 

Yeah, I just looked outside this morning and there's 6 inches of snow! Brrrrrrr!!!!!

 

Tom, Quaker City is only about a 30 minute drive for me, and it's the strip that I raced at the most. Dragway 42 was the another strip I used allot back in the 70's.
I went to Thompson about 3.5 years ago, and ran my quickest time I ever turned in my AMX.
I still think it would be a great GTG for us to consider when spring rolls around.

 

Sounds great, Mike! I'm already looking forward to it.

 

Probably the best advice for you is to find someone experienced and take them with you.....barring that, you might just want to go to the track you've selected and watch for a while.

There's all kinds of diferrences in tracks and rules, e.g. tech inspection requirements, avoiding the waterbox, staging, catch can requirements, rules on exiting the track, etc.

Here are links to the 2 tracks near me......they have some good information. The lapeer dragway site has a pretty good primer for newbies.

http://www.milandragway.com/
http://www.lapeerdragway.com/

 

Thanks Apkano! That newbie guide on the Lapeer site hit the spot.

Methinks I'll go out and watch one Saturday and get the lay of the land. Then try it out the next week. We'll see after I talk to my coworker's husband.

 

Well, the time for racing is here! Not only is the track open now, they've started "Test and Tune" Saturdays for the next couple weeks. I'm planning on going this Saturday (Apr 19) and watch. If anyone wants to meet up, that would make for a cool afternoon. We can grab dinner in Canfield afterwards. I know a lot of nice places to choose from.

With racing in mind, I've been checking on the requirements of Quaker City Raceway. I emailed them for the skinny, and they replied very simply that they are an NHRA track and follow the NHRA rules. No extras, nuthin special. So I downloaded the 2008 NHRA Sport Compact rules. I've attached them for anyone else who is new like me and interested in what they need to get into the sport.

As far as I can tell, with a stock SRT-6, all you would need is proper attire (long pants, non-open-toed shoes, and a short or long-sleeved shirt) and a helmet. The helmet must meet Snell K98 or better standards.

To avoid a lot of confusion on the helmets, here's what the NHRA says about them:



Basically what that means is that you can go buy a new helmet, as long as it has Snell certification, you're good to go. In the SRT-6's classification (faster than 13.99 sec ET, but not faster than 9.99), Snell K98 or better is required, which just so happens to include the Snell M2005, which is the most popular motorcycle certification. So, if the helmet is listed as Snell certified, you're good to race an SRT-6 with it, and there are many helmets in the sub-$200 range that fit this category.

There are better certifications, such as the Snell SA certifications (SA2005 is the most current). The SA ratings are more for auto racing than motorcycle, and are tested with roll cage impacts and include fire retardant materials. The prices for SA2005 helmets are usually more than M2005 helmets, and quickly become very expensive. Fortunately, they're not required for those slower than 7.49 seconds in the quarter mile.

Beware of any Snell K98 certified helmets, as they can't be used in NHRA events after 01/01/2009. So you'd get less than a year out of that helmet. For similar reasons, avoid the M2000 and SA2000 ratings, as they will expire 5 years sooner than the M2005 and SA2005's.

 

Just found out the hard way...

if the track abide by NHRA rules, then if you have SRT-6 roadster, you'll need a rollcage or just drive slow and never beat 13.79sec, which I think defeats the purpose of doing 1/4 mile runs.

http://www.nhra.com/contacts/tech_faq.html

 

Good point! I didn't consider the roadster.