As my Duster gets closer to being fit enough for racing I am wondering if I could get involved in amateur drag racing at my local drag strip (Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, CO). I am pretty clueless on classes and such and I don't know what my car would fall under. I would also rather not do bracket racing as it doesn't seem like the kind of competition I would have fun with but from what I've seen it seems like slower street-rod type builds like mine don't have any other options. My car is a '70 Duster with a 360 I built myself which replaced the original 318, it weighs around 3300 lbs. with driver and half-tank of gas. I took it to a test & tune night and ran a best of 15.3 @ 93 ET and that was with crappy bald rear tires and stock 7 1/4" rear with 2.76 gears, I think it could hit low 14's at this elevation with the correct chassis/rear end setup and some tuning.
I grew up in Colorado, and raced at Bandimere until I moved out to Indy 6 years ago. I think there program is roughly the same as it was then. You can race in the street category of the Penzoil ET series on Friday nights, or Saturday (I forget which, possibly both). They used to have a category called run-tuff which you could also try (no electronics, no trans brake)...and Wednesday nights are test nights, pretty much run anything for time only.
I used to run King Street out there, which is 12.75 and faster, street legal, plated, insured, mufflers, dot tires, etc...my car was running a 360 on a 180 shot of N2O was running 11.1 @ 122 mph.
They also have an all Mopar day (or at least they did) which is fun.
If you are planning on racing, GET RID OF THE 7 1/4 REAR ASAP!! You will brake it as soon as you put some sticky tires on (or probably sooner).
If is helps, my old 360 combo without N2O ran ~ 13.8-13.5. That was 10.7:1 comp, 509 purple cam, Eddy heads OOTB, 4:10 gear. A lot of the folks from low altitude just don't understand how much slower cars run up there... especially if it is a hot summer day with a density altitude of 10,000+ feet
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