I have the transmission out of my Dart so I could send the converter to Kenny Ford to see if he could help me any.

Since three of the four tracks around me now run "no box" instead of "foot brake" and the street car shoot outs I've ran allow trans brakes I've decided to install one while my transmission is out.

Most likely I'm going with one of Copes billet brakes and this is where I need your thoughts. His brake that can leave in first or second is only $25 more than one that only leaves in first. Is there any reason not to buy the one that I can leave in first or second? The track that is closest to me is notorious for poor bite off the line. Would leaving in second help me there?

Thanks guys.

I have not tried one of his, but it would seem, leaving in 2nd is for any car that has too much hp to launch effectively in 1st gear.

What typically comes to mind are those crazy 275 guys running way more hp than I ever thought a set of little tires would hold...or the class that does not allow wheelie bars, which is just nuts...

I can tell you I have accidentally short shifted past 2nd right to 3rd, and it barley kills any ET...Never launched in 2nd though, especially off a trans brake.

Do those have the LBA as well I think? I always wondered, which is faster in the 1/4....The none LBA or the ones with the LBA....

I have to disagree on the 1st to 3rd thing. Absolutely killed my car but I probably don't make the beans that you do. My car with a powerglide is quicker in 60' than it was with the low gear of the T/F. I don't know if it's just the less reciprocating mass or is it that it takes better advantage of the torque? Seems to me that having a choice of either gear applying the brake could only be an advantage along with a clean neutral.

I could always cut as good a light off the foot as with a brake. I ended up using the brake only when I had to, on a pro tree. That is just me, but I have met plenty of other guys like myself who found things" sped up" and hurried them getting up on the two step the shortest amount of time to not be hard on things and still concentrate on the tree. The foot slows things down for me and makes me more relaxed
Brakes are much harder on everything than the foot.
Give serious consideration to how much you race, how much you think having a brake will make a difference. And how much extra breakage it might cause.
Just my 2 cents... Lol

I have went first to third( several time on purpose, several times by accident) on a high 9 sec car. Pretty consistently knocked 2 tenths out of it.

Yeah, it's automatically OVER for me if that happened. Don't have to worry about that crap anymore...

I've left in 2nd quite a few times because of the index I was trying to hit, .25 for me. That was footbraking, it will definitely help on a bad track.