I have used the 3:09 box in a drag car years ago, there is almost no wind restitance or drag on the 1-2 gear change so the car never saw the problem your thinking of. One of the most common aftermarket custom gear ratio for the NP833 had a 2:98 first gear ratio back in the day berfore all of the aftermarket drag race only transmissions came out in the mid 1970s, not far from the stock A body 3.09 ratio. The one bad thing about the 3.09 boxes is the size of the gear on the input shaft Not the strongest rascal availble