I did this for a season, back in 2013. Starting in second, along with a myriad of other things to slow my car to run sportsman (12.0 was the bottom dial, and my car ran mid 10's). Worked great...but I did burn up my trans just before the division finals....had a friend rebuild it REALLY fast, and made the finals.
With that said, I'm not sure if I hurt it starting in second or not. The trans was about 8 years old, and that has been my typical life span for a transmission in my car.
If I recall, starting in second cut about 0.5 seconds off the ET of my car.
