You need a driver and a crewman to work together until the driver can do it him/her self properly.
1. Make sure there is enough water, not just dampness, tell the guy to spray some more water if you have to.
2. Roll thru water and stop with back tires 2-3 feet past water. Some guys "blip" the throttle going thru the water, I never do this. It spits water inside your wheel wells.
3. Put trans in 2nd gear, hold line lock.
4. Wait for starter to give signal to burnout.
5. Mash the gas pedal 1/2 way, get RPM's up to max (7000 for me). It's OK to hit rev limiter.
6. Shift to 3rd, release line lock, ROLL out of the gas pedal as you move forward. This is where people get in trouble, you can't let off quickly, nor can you tromp down again.
7. Make sure car is lined up in the best groove.
8. MOST IMPORTANT: Stop 3-4 feet from staging beams, put shifter into 1st gear, roll forward to stage, this resets your sprag.
9. If in eliminations, do not stage until you see your dial-in on the score board.
10. If you should suffer driveline breakage of any kind, (axle, gear, wheel studs) the trans has to come out and the sprag inspected.
The guy that blew the trans at Milan probably failed to do one of the above, or maybe the guy that drove the car before him failed.
As far as starting in first gear with automatic tranny do not revved it up over 4000 RPM in first unless you have the shifter held in first gear
You can manually shift with a automatic as long as your throttle is not wide open, you want the tire speed up to get heat in the tires as soon as possible
Your best bet is to change the front drum to a billet steel or aluminum to protect her or any one else who drives that car
