Whelp, the day has come to teach my 16 year old daughter how to drag race. Going to Quaker tomorrow night for her for first time on the track. She'll be running my daily driver (V-6 Mustang).

I've been racing for a while and understand the obvious racing stuff (at least obvious to me), but I'd be curious to hear any words of advice from the other parents that have gotten their kids racing too.

Keep your fingers crossed I don't have a heart attack...............

Start with the basics and the first one is staging. If you dont stage consistently it hurts both et and reaction equally and oppositely

Tell her to not be hasty when approaching the starting line. There is nothing more annoying to a spectator than having to watch some one back up to the starting line because they blew through the beams. Also, this is an obvious one, if anything, ANYTHING does not seem "right": let off the accelerator peddle, pull towards the wall (not into it), and stop the car.

Get there early...and walk her down along side the track...point out where the waterbox...stage beams...turnouts etc are. Just did the same thing with my 11yo in his JR debut....the track officials said he didn't look like a rookie....but I took the time to explain eveything in great detail rather than sending him down blind....GOOD LUCK

Put her in a SLOW car to start out. Oh, I see you have got that covered.

Go around the water, do one dry hop, keep car running for at least 20 minutes before run to ensure the clutch fan is running, don't stage until scoreboards reset. If she has fun, say goodbye to your daily driver.

I started my son out at an 1/8th mile track. He was 14 and was racing a Honda Civic he built. I'm glad we started on an 1/8th mile track (at Quaker you could have her lift at the 1/8th markers). He wasn't a newbie to motorized vehicles and was a very aggressive driver, raced motocross and drove equipment around our farm at a very young age. The most common mistakes he made were:
1. failing to courtesy stage
2. driving through the lights when staging
3. leaving at inconsistent RPM's - 2 step fixed that

It took only a few days at the track to get it straight. With all the commotion, classes, distraction watching other cars, missing gears, flipping on the n2o etc. can be a lot for a youngster.

I have to say kudo's to you for taking the time to get a kid started in the sport! My son is on his 3rd car (turbo import) and will probably end up handing me and my 10sec mopar a loss real soon...

When my boys wanted to race I told them to just stand by the strating line for a bit and watch how people do burnouts and how they stage their cars. This helped alot and then I filled in the answers to any questions they had. I was surprised as Ron Jrs first pass ever was in my 12 second Dart. He ran 12.44 on his first run. Not bad considering I only ran 12.43 when I took a pass in it that same day. He picked it up real fast. Good luck. Ron

Being it's a slow street car, I hope the track will let her ride with me for a run, then let me ride with her as she makes her early runs. We won't need a burnout so that should simplify things too.

She's been around the track some and understands concept, but she is blonde like her Mother.........

HINT: If she has been driving by herself very long she will very likely surprise you and probably out drive the old man. what the do behind closed doors - so to speak.
Like her both my kids had licenses when they turned 14, both had their own vehicles before they were 15.

^ you tell her that and you're dead meat!



Day 1 went very well. I had her practicing power braking and launching (1300-1400 PRM) at home before we headed to the track. I made a run with her as the passenger and then we made 4 more runs with her driving and me riding along.

1st run: she was very nervous and consisted of her almost blowing right past the stage beams. And then missing the lights coming down as she was worried about the RPM.s Her light was a 1.823

2nd run was staged better, but again missed the lights due to watching the tach again and cut a crappy light (1.233)

We then went to the back of the pits for more practice on inching forward with the RPM's already up against the convertor.

3rd run was much better. Pre-staged a little too fast again, but brought the RPM's up and then bumped in nice and slow. Light was much better (0.883) as she was finally trusting her pedal foot to hold the RPM's and was actually watching the lights. Her first pass with another car beside her. She was thrilled in smoking a Dodge Neon.

4th and final run was a good way to end. Much smoother staging and a 0.564 light. Nice smooth run. She was really ticked that the other car she was paired up with ('67 Mustang) beat her to the finish by a car length. I on the other hand was thrilled by because she tree'd the guy by over a tenth!

All in all a great start. She had fun. Dad had fun. Little brother had fun. And the car came home in one piece.

Unfortunately for me she was already wondering why the car only ran 16.20's and why can't Dad and Uncle Denny build her a "real car". My life is so over.



A huge "thank you" goes to the guys at Quaker for being patient with us and understanding that we had a brand new driver. They gave me no grief for having a passenger, and allowed us single runs for the first couple times to eliminate possible outside distractions and in general were very supportive and encouraging of her.

Great going! A couple more Thursdays of practice and maybe you can go on a Friday and run the Street class. See how she does with a dial in!
I'd run that car in No Box, myself. Those guys HATE slow street cars!