Dale did a massive burnout across the line while I did my little second gear only warmup, then I purged the nitrous into the engine a few times and rolled towards the beams. The 428 had sounded really crisp with the plug change, but I was nervous so I thought my way through what I needed to do.

"Listen. You are going to get treed, it's going to happen. You need to put the tach on 2800, and when you leave, be ready to grab the button twenty feet out. Not when the front end is safely back on the ground, that's too late. Not when you see the Gremlin leave on you, that's too early. Concentrate!"
"OK, we got this", I muttered into my helmet and lit the bottom bulb.