Filling out the NHRA forms and doing the required drivers test in the car at the track with the required signature from the other drivers that witness your testing and runs
I'm a commercial pilot who has not flown in over 13 yrs now and I was surprised that NHRA and the FAA had loosen up the medical exam requirements several years back
You can call your local NHRA tech director to verify this information on when the medical will be required, it is not require for S/P, S/G and maybe S/C now

I knew about making passes in the car and getting chassis certified. I just thought you had to do medical like CDL. I still don't have plans for 9's want to keep it as cheap and simple as possible.

Are you going to try and go rounds or are you just going to play with the car? If you want to go rounds then you'll need to put a bunch of stuff into the car to make it reliable and consistent.

You need about 1 hp for 5 pounds to run 10.00 so that should be your goal. If the car will weigh 3000 lbs with you in it then you'll need 600 hp. If 10.0 is your goal then you can figure out how much power based on the weight. Once you know how quick you'll go you can figure out the MPH at the stripe. If you are running 10.0 then you'll most likely be around 135 mph. Once you know the MPH you can figure out engine speed and rear gear and tire size. As you work your way thru the numbers the car design starts to come into focus.

It shouldn't be very difficult to build a 3000 lb Duster on a budget. If you are going to run low 10's then you only need a 5 point roll bar so you can skip the full cage setup. If the car is 3000 lbs with decent weight distribution you won't need killer tires out back. The big tires add a lot of cost for body work since the fenders need to be reworked. Are you doing the body work and chassis work yourself or hiring it out? If you are hiring it out then you'll want to reduce the amount of work needed.

Not much reason to worry about the engine since almost any combination of good heads and decent compression will net 600 hp but you do need to figure out all of the little stuff like alternator, water pump, radiator, etc. If you have a generator then you can skip the alternator but that can be a hassle. If you need to run an alternator then the motor plate becomes a hassle. So there are lots of little decisions like that which you need to think over. It really just gets down to what you want the car to do. When you take it to the track do you want to hang out with friends and make a pass or two or do you want to spend all day in the lanes trying to win the race? If you want to win races then the car needs to be set up to help you go rounds.

Some of you guys are over-thinking this racing game. Keep it simple and on a budget and go have FUN. My kids stock cast crank runs 6.54 at 3200 pounds (10.20's-10.30's) and with an alternator, alcohol fuel, (165.00 for 54 gallons) he charges the battery once a month because cooling isn't needed at all in the pits. Frame connectors, caltracks, stock wheel-wells, 4.10 gears 8 3/4 rearend, 727 transmission, 750 alcohol carb done by APD, 11-1 comp, small 620 lift roller cam, Edelbrock heads and Victor intake I ported, 1 7/8 Hedmen headers, and 6 point cage, and the only fiberglass is a heavy 6 pak hood. Heck it still has the rear seat and a stock passenger side bucket seat (race seat for driver. Don't let guys BS you and say about all the EXTRA work running alcohol. Pull the seats on his car, fiberglass bumpers, aluminum bumper brackets and he's 10's. Don't over-think it.

This is not mine but kinda shows you how cheap it can be done. More pictures on the link.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/MoparDragRacing/



1971 Duster Street/Strip Roller for trade
$5,500
23061
Looking to trade for 68-72 B Body or 67-72 Dart roller with title.. 1971 Plymouth Duster, No motor or trans. Clean and clear title in my name. Was on the street a month ago pulled motor to freshen and decided to find something with a backseat for kids. Car is Mini Tubbed with narrowed 8 3/4, A.R.T Ladder bars and Strange Single Adjustable coilovers. (Could still go back to leaf springs, Inboard boxes and stock frames rails still in place.) 8 point Roll bar and frame connectors. 8 3/4 has 4.10s and spool. Drum brakes in rear, Wilwood disc in front, aluminum manual master cylinder with line lock. Brand new Pro Stars and tires. 15x10 with 275/60 ET street. Will hold a 12in wheel. 10 Gal. Fuel cell, Holley blue pump, 1/2 aluminum fuel line and 3/8 aluminum return ran. Body is in good shape, painted with Eastwood satin black, does have a patch in Right rear lower quarter and little filler, and driver floor pan been replaced. Nice AAR fiberglass 6 pack hood. Interior could use some TLC, factory panels, carpet etc. car comes with factory bench seat, no heater box. Car had small block and 904 trans. Will come with some hooker headers, radiator and drive shaft. All lights and wiper work. Looking to trade for roller in same shape to drop my motor and trans in. Or will sale for $5500 any questions pm me.



Untitled by John Cadamore, on Flickr

Untitled by John Cadamore, on Flickr

Untitled by John Cadamore, on Flickr


Untitled by John Cadamore, on Flickr

I agree with Pitts.. dont over think it. the 2 things I did was to make my
car lighter and I ran E-85.. around here I could buy it at most of the
stations around here so it was cheap and easy to get.. I ended up
running 8.90s with a SB.. 9.5 is when you had to have the NHRA cert
from a doctor.. I played that game with the NHRA but I had some other
medical issues also so I couldnt get a license the last time

I want to have fun and go rounds. 10.0 isn't a must have but everyone always wants to go as fast as possible. I have my 64 for messing around. I have the complete drive line that I had in 64 radiator, alt, pulleys,etc from 64 it ran 11 teens @3700lb. with a best of 10.88. I built a maxwedge cloneish. With new radiator alt, pulleys, distributor, ignition, motor with crossram new convertor, trans. The biggest things are chassis, brakes, suspension, roll bar. I'm planning on doing work myself with help from a couple buddies. Body and paint are not a big priority. Most likely flat black or something like single stage enamel. Pittsburghracer that duster looks like a hell of a deal. If I was wanting to go racing now that would be what I would be looking for. I'm still sorting out the 64 and that motor build was in 2016 so I don't do anything to fast. I'm hoping life will slow down in a few years. If not my kids will have a bunch of stuff to sell

Mr. P I agree with you lighter is better faster and easier on parts. The couple of cars I have raced were always a compromise between race car and street car. I like the idea of E85. It is available here, but I'm a ways away from deciding that.

I have always been a chassis guy and didnt bother a lot about making
big power.. I would tell you to make your ladder bars a bit longer longer
than the standard kit ones.. I went both ways on my stuff.. the 4-link
is the way to go.. way more adjust ability to them

Thanks

E85 or not is a good thing to think about. Personally I wouldn't go that way but perhaps it would work for you. If it was my car I'd set the engine up to run pump gas and then I'd use a Holley Sniper on there. The Sniper will tune itself for changes in elevation or weather so that is one less thing for you to worry about in the pits. Pump gas is cheap and easy to find and the O2 sensor will last a long time. If the car weighs 3000 lbs you only need 600 hp to run low 10's and that is easy to do with a pump gas big block. A set of Trick Flow heads and a mild street roller cam should get you into the 600 range with a Trick Flow intake and a 800 cfm Sniper. That should be a very solid and reliable combo that could go rounds for a lot of races. The Sniper also gives you a built in data logger which is nice.

My 2 cents. Make the car easy to work on, and low maintance. Build it so it can hot lap if you have to.

A car that repeats and prints time slips is a lot easier to win with than one that has wild ET swings because of a little DA change or some track starting line inconsistency

Go to your local track and get involved with what ever you have that runs, and get ideas for what you really want to build.

The definition of bracket racing people that spend a whole bunch of money to make junk Go real fast and then slow it down so they don't go too fast ... not sure I quite understand the concept

Most of us don’t play that game

Well sir some of us don't want to shove a lit JATO rocket into our butt and fly to the finish line while torching our wallet, we prefer a gentlemans game of chess at a 125+mph

You'd love watching racing over here then ....thats mostly all we do, brkts and 8 sec cars running SG, etc.

I know EFI is the future I like the data logging part. But I'm going to start with what I know. Having a car that can repeat is the goal. When I take the 64 to track the ET varies a lot. I know with more runs and testing I could get it better. That car is a compromise this will be track only car. The ET goal isn't top priority going rounds is more important. The ET will come. I know bracket racing doesn't make sense to a lot of people, but I want to give it a shot. I have be going to race tracks all my life but never tried seriously this is my chance. Thanks again

I started racing at a track in SO CA in 1964 when class racing was the only choice at Mickey Thompson Fontana Drag City
I remember when bracket racing started a little later and thought that was a bunch of bunk
I didn't do any more at the track racing until around 1972 and not many of the tracks in SO CA had a regular schedule class racing races, but they all had regular bracket races every weekend and some of them race during the week also
My message is if I didn't learn to bracket race I could only race class 5 or 6 times a year
We all get to make choices in life, my choices on drag racing are now limited by the market place