Why are people scared of the drag strip?

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One of my favorites is, the wife says racing is to dangerous you could get hurt, and your car runs 15s, and this conversation is going on, while they are going down the freeway at 90mph with the kids in the backseat.
 
I have broken my car more times on hwy 90 from Franklin, La to IH 10 in Lafayette, La and IH 10 from the Texas border at the Sabine River to Beaumont, Tx than I ever have at the track. Or Idiots merging across 4 lanes of traffic and trying to hit me in Houston. The track has always been safer for me.
 
I know on this current build of mine the first few times down the track will be laughable, not going to do hard launches till I have more seat time with this car and combo.
 
My car has broke in regular traffic than at the track, and it's been really consistent in both.
 
When I raced my car it always took me 3 runs to finally relax, and start cutting a good light. Busy watching gauges making sure everything is up to par. It’s your hard money invested. When I run somebody’s else’s car it’s balls to the walls right off the bat!
 
I know on this current build of mine the first few times down the track will be laughable, not going to do hard launches till I have more seat time with this car and combo.

MY return for 2 runs after 10 yrs. in a totally new car was very laughable , not even close to a hard launch !
After second thot , was a down right joke !!
 
My oldest brother had plenty of excuses, here's some of them...........
-I have nothing to prove, i know my car would run mid 12s.
-Drag racing is too hard on the body, it flexes the car too much.
-I just put on new tires, i can't afford a new set just to run a few runs to try to be a big shot in front of you.
-My engine isn't broken in yet.
-It's too expensive to buy race gas, track fees, a helmet, and a fire suit.
-I'm not going to rev my 440 to 7 grand just to impress you.
-Why would i risk crashing the car into the wall for you?

B.T.W., his car was a '71 Challenger R/T originally a 383 with a re ringed 440, 906 heads that were lightly ported with the D.C. template kit, a 484 purple shaft cam, headers, electronic ignition, and a 6 pack intake and carbs.
It also had a column shifted 727 with stock converter and a shift kit, and an 8 3/4 3:55 sure grip with 15X7 rallye wheels and 255 60 15s on the back, all steel car, full interior, and weighed about 4,000 lbs if it weighed 1.
My guess would have been mid 14s at around 100mph if that.

My best guess was that he was afraid his car wouldn't run the numbers that he said, and knew he didn't have a clue on how to drive the car properly.
And with all of that, he would look like a fool for trying..............
 
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My oldest brother had plenty of excuses, here's some of them...........
-I have nothing to prove, i know my car would run mid 12s.
-Drag racing is too hard on the body, it flexes the car too much.
-I just put on new tires, i can't afford a new set just to run a few runs to try to be a big shot in front of you.
-My engine isn't broken in yet.
-It's too expensive to buy race gas, track fees, a helmet, and a fire suit.
-I'm not going to rev my 440 to 7 grand just to impress you.
-Why would i risk crashing the car into the wall for you?

B.T.W., his car was a '71 Challenger R/T originally a 383 with a re ringed 440, 906 heads that were lightly ported with the D.C. template kit, a 484 purple shaft cam, headers, electronic ignition, and a 6 pack intake and carbs.
It also had a column shifted 727 with stock converter and a shift kit, and an 8 3/4 3:55 sure grip with 15X7 rallye wheels and 255 60 15s on the back, all steel car, full interior, and weighed about 4,000 lbs if it weighed 1.
My guess would have been mid 14s at around 100mph if that.
If that...
 
If that...
Well, it was slower than my '69 Super Bee that ran 14.20s in Spokane.
It had a re rung 440, a 3:54 Dana, McCleod street and strip clutch, 4 speed, and weighed about 4,000 lbs at about the same time we bantered about it, so we street raced the two one night, and let me say, i kicked his ***............
So, i was being nice with the mid 14 second estimate!
Funny thing, he didn't have a problem going heads up light to light on the street, but no way would he put the car on the track.........
 
Wednesday and Friday night spectator/ test n tune nights are the most fun you can have with your clothes on. For 25 bucks you get to see the greatest cruise nights, coolest cars and talk shop with the gang all with the same interests. The ages run from 16 to 60 or more. You can learn how to drag race if you've never done it. No one cares about your time slip but you. You'll see diesel trucks, new Dodge Demons, vintage street rods and brand new Mercedes all run in a straight line strictly for the fun of it. You can make one pass or as many as you can get in....it's all up to you....no beating the crap out of your car. I've been there on nights when you could drive right into the box again after your pass and nights you had to sit in the staging lane for 30 minutes or more waiting to make your next pass. I love watching the kids...there's no alcohal and no drugs and no fights or arguments that I've ever seen. Great clean fun. No my insurance company won't cover me at the track...but it's sure loads of fun.
 
Wednesday and Friday night spectator/ test n tune nights are the most fun you can have with your clothes on. For 25 bucks you get to see the greatest cruise nights, coolest cars and talk shop with the gang all with the same interests. The ages run from 16 to 60 or more. You can learn how to drag race if you've never done it. No one cares about your time slip but you. You'll see diesel trucks, new Dodge Demons, vintage street rods and brand new Mercedes all run in a straight line strictly for the fun of it. You can make one pass or as many as you can get in....it's all up to you....no beating the crap out of your car. I've been there on nights when you could drive right into the box again after your pass and nights you had to sit in the staging lane for 30 minutes or more waiting to make your next pass. I love watching the kids...there's no alcohal and no drugs and no fights or arguments that I've ever seen. Great clean fun. No my insurance company won't cover me at the track...but it's sure loads of fun.
^^^ this...
 
Haven't upgrades the brakes from my / and I put in a big block. On the street I can bail at any time.
Secretly I would like to know what she will run!



Now I'm addicted! .003 bout 50 tries.
It is fun isn't it!
 
For real.

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I don't know about that guy or any other, but I'll tell you about ME and THIS particular situation.

I'm not building my car to blast......or slug down the strip. Though, it might happen. I AM going to build a pretty nasty N/A slant six complete with a solid roller camshaft and camshaft gear drive. So that also means to USE that camshaft, I'll need a nasty ported cylinder head with bigger valves. In other words, a lot of money spent......for ME. Honestly, the intent is to be a 100% street car. I just want to do the cam and gear drive to be "different". I don't want to break anything. Nobody "wants" to I guess, but some people are in better situations to recover. All I would do is remove the carnage and reinstall my 170 and keep on truckin. lol
I think this is Way Coool!
You need a license plate frame that says "I could of had a V-8" :D
 
I think a lot of it is fear of the unknown. It's a totally different environment being surrounded by serious car people who know cars and how to drive them fast. That's precisely why I absolutely LOVE the track, if I still lived closer to the drag strip I'd go there all the time just to watch and hang out in the pits. In contrast I can't stand car shows, everyone is just there to show off and spectate and BS about fantasy builds and bench racing. Gets really boring for me really quick. I don't like standing around and talking I like wrenching and driving!!

I'm a bit intimidated to go to an autocross/track day for the first time but I'll never know just how much worse my Duster handles than my car buddy's Miata which he won't shut up about how great it is. I have a feeling my car will do a lot better than everyone expects. If I can get around the track faster than at least one noob in a Subaru or Miata I'll be ecstatic.
 
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