Tonight I went with my girlfriend and our sons to Lebanon Valley Dragway. I just bought the car at the end of June. It is bone stock so far, but has low miles and runs fairly strong despite the 2.73 gears. I entered the Pure Street class because I figured I would get more passes in than if I was in Test & Tune. They were just starting to run my lane when I got there so I didn't have too much time to think. The car was hot as hell from a long line in tech inspection and an hour trip on the hwy to get there. I ran against a girl in a white Grand Am w/chrome wheels. I cut a decent light (0.193) and beat her. On the return road I realize the AC was one during the entire first pass. I'm feeling like a complete idiot needless to say. I get my timeslip and I ran a 15.070 @ 95 mph to her 17.790. Then when T&T starts running a guy in a sick early 70's pro street Mustang blows his water pump in the staging area. The night was one of those nights from this moment on. fluid hitting the track, ricers snapping trans axles, and finally a girl in a 70 Nova got loose on someone's fluid and hit the wall hard. Luckily, she wasn't hurt but another really long delay. I got one more pass (no AC this time) I ran 14.4 Much more like it. By this time it was around 9:30 and they were just starting the brackets. Both our kids were getting tired and bored, so I told my girl friend one more pass and we will take off. I get paired up with a blue Z-06 Vette. It had cooled of nicely since my last pass down the track, and there was no humidity. SO I put 14.25 on my window, and I figure if I break out who cares. The Vette has 12.30 on his window, and long tubes with a pretty healthy sounding exhaust. I get the green light first and cut a 0.043 light. My car is running hard and I'm waiting for the Vette to scream past me. He never does. I shut it down and hit the return road. He blew a shift and ran 14.751. I ran 14.373 and knocked him out. So that is where my car is starting from. By next year I want to be flirting with 12's

 

Nice kill! Its great to get some timeslips in bone stock before the modd'n begins

 

I agree...

I think he still coulda/shoulda put it in another gear and continue on. Unless he actually dropped a gear. He should have still beat ya skipping a gear.
Who knows, but good kill and advancement nonetheless.

 

Thanks guys. It felt good just to get back out on the track. Money is tight but little by little I will add some bolt ons and get this car respectable. There was a guy behind me in line with an LS1 car identicle to mine in every way except the power plant and he had 3.73's. He had street tires also. Because he couldn't hook up he only ran about a second faster than me. Does anyone have a thought about 3.42 for my car over the 3.73? My old 93 Ram air Firebird Formula had like every bolt on upgrade (headers+SLP 2 on 1 side w/no cat, 58mm throttle body, Hi stall converter, trans go shift kit, etc) I couldn't hook up either. Even with Nitto DR's, I always spun. I understand why you want the deep gears but if you can't launch hard maybe you aren't going as fast as you could? I know many of you guy have way more seat time than I do. What are your thoughts?

 

When are you coming to Boise?

 

With an auto i would go with 3.73's. ET steets will have better traction than Nitto DR's but the DR's would be more suitable for a daily driver.

 

Well, if you know what dates youre going to be here, let me know. maybe we can meet up at the track or something. too bad the fox hunt is over at firebird raceway .

 

I beat my buddies 405hp stock z06 with my setup threw the quarter. If the track was any longer he would have me though. It alone takes about $3500 in mods (no N02) and I have a "heavy" vert.
Congrats on the win.

 

I ran a 13.9@101 in my ex-gf's 96 LT1 T-Top 2.73 geared F-Body with only mods being cai and a cutout before the axle. Im not saying that because its a better time and MPH but because if youre having trouble hooking up, gears wont really help much. Youll probably gain about 1.5MPH or so and .15 in the 1/4 if you get the same 60' time. I dont know how you have traction problems but with her car i could pretty much just mash the gas and it would hook up. Are you bringing the rpms up before the run? I would pretty much just mash the gas off idle on the second yellow.

 

Thanks for replying. I guess I wasn't clear. My old F Body wouldn't hook up with the 3.73's after all the mods I had on the car. So I know I will upgrade the rear end gears. I was just asking would the 3.42 allow me to come out of the hole quicker/harder than 3.73's with spinning tires? What I am getting from the posts on here I have read is I will go with the 3.73's and as cash comes in I can upgrade the suspension (LC Arms & stuff). Then either DR's or ET streets like the other guy suggested. Thanks to everyone who replied.

 

youll probably lose .6 MPH by not going to 3.73 and opting for 3.42. according to my ricer math 3.73's should actually be worth close to 2 tenths (given equal 60' times,but gearing makes 60' easier to improve usually) and 2MPH and 3.42 should give you ABOUT 1.4 tenths and MPH, this is just fuzzy math really but accurate enough . Certainly 3.42 w/traction vs 3.73 w/o = 3.42 winning.

 

It sounds like you have a good starting point, and something you can look back on to compare your modded times against. The nearest 1/4 mile track to me is around 90 minutes away, and I hear that you're lucky to get 3 runs in a night because it's so packed. I just bought an SA2005 full face helmet and I'll be going to the 1/8th mile races that are half the distance away.

 

Start with appropriate tires so you can accurately quantify the results of further modifications. It sucks trying to "guess" how much or how little tire spin impacted a pass.

 

Depending where you're going in Washington, there is "friday Night street racing" at the Spokane raceway, full 1/4 and the like. It's like $6. PRetty fun.
Many ricers.

 

Have you ever missed a gear, buzzed the motor and tried to get it back in gear? Not as easy as it sounds. But what do I know, I drive an auto.