Racers with Drag radials--Help

Different brand tires seem to require different pressure. I have Nitto's on mine and started with the pressure at 18 like many guys said to do. Wouldn't hook at all no matter how I did the burnout. Raised the pressure to 22 just to see what the effect was and it then hooked with some spinning but nothing nearly as bad as before. Raised it to 24 psi and it hooked better yet, just a little tire spin now. Since that worked I went up more to 26 psi and it spun bad again so 23-24 seems to be the # my Nitto's like. BTW: I have no traction devices on it at all and have stock rear springs. I have 3 way adjustable C/E shocks and had them set on 60/40 rear and 60/40 front. I didn't have tools with me to adjust them to their drag setting or I would have tried that. Currently working on building a set of home made CalTracs in hopes they'll help it get the last bit of spinning stopped.

Note: I also roll through the water box and stop then start the burnout in 2nd gear and about 1-2 seconds after it starts spinning I let off the brake and ease off the gas so it doesn't hook real hard after the burnout. In all I'm spinning the tires about 4 seconds.

BTW: With a torqueflite you should always start in 2nd. Starting in 1st can overspeed the Sprague and do damage