True story: my Duster's 1st time out, runs 12.80 back to back to back. Not impressed, should be an 11-sec car but it was new to me. Stop for pizza afterwards, my buddy's telling me I got hosed on the car, and suddenly it hits me; so I leave my buddy and run out to the car, realizing I'd had its custom throttle cable bracket off before going to the track. Sure enough, not getting full throttle.
After fixing that, it was an 11.40 car. Cheapest 1.40 ever!