Dragweek 2017 Questions

Drag week starting and ending at Cordova a hour from my house, so finally have the funds and time to try an enter. Not sure what class or car I will take, looking for the fun and experience.
Have a few different car options but a couple quick questions.

What is required on a drag week registration form?
Can you switch cars if you keep same driver?
Whats it cost to have a extra driver?

They ask stuff like your name and adress, what car, licence plate #, insurance co and policy #, what class, what ET will it run, and info about the car that the announcers can talk about. Like the story behind it, how long you"ve owned it, the modifications.

When you get to registration, you can change car, change class, but you can not change to a different entrant/driver.

Use to be $50 for a extra driver

Thanks for quick answers.

Read race section almost daily, just not much of a poster.

Plan is to have the wife(Kim) drive it, got some parts laying around and time to put something simple together. Thinking in the 11.50 index
Wanted to make sure we could take a different car, if time runs out.

Right now we are thinking about doing a theme style car.
Going back to the glory days of the Dukes of Hazzard, and if Kim is driver thinking Daisy Duke.
That leaves the 71+ yellow road runner/satellite or a white jeep.
Got a couple lead going on a 71 RR roller and also a stock 73 satellite with a 400. Any other leads would be appreciated
These will be a low buck build for fun.
I do have a stock 400 motor and trans and a 1200 hp fitech efi, some old tti headers, nitrous and exhaust stuff laying around.

Sounds like a good, fun plan. Just remember that you need drag tires on the track.

Ok add that to the check list. Will have to find another set of wheels for my back up car.

What other simple stuff is easy to over look?

Pictures of Kim in Daisy Dukes would help us visualize the theme

Would it change your mind about not going this year?

Probably not. I can spend 5 days in bobbie bar and spend less money

Not shorts but close enough.

Getting registered will be the first hurtle. The registration process can be frustrating, so try not to get discouraged. At some point Hot Rod will announce when registration will begin and they will list the info you will need to register, it's not too involved. My advice is to have it all written out ahead of time so you have it right at hand. Getting the actual link Hot Rod provides to work can be an issue for some people ( myself included ), sometimes having a second device ready will help, like a computer and smart phone for example, if one doesn't work try the other. If you don't get registered before the event fills up they will have directions to get on the waiting list, make sure and sign up on the waiting list - so far anyone who has been on the waiting list and has shown up on the first day ( registration day ) of Dragweek has been allowed to enter. The waiting list participants just have to wait until all the pre-registered people are checked in ( assuming their waiting list place hasn't already been called up before Dragweek starts ). I think Hot Rod has the Dragweek rules and class descriptions linked on their website, so you can check that out now if you want. I'm hoping to be there again this year, hope to see you. Good luck.

Lucky man, good luck at Drag Week!

If you don't get registered and just show up you will still get in. They have yet to ever turn away anyone that shows up on registration day.

There are many people that register and talk about going but in the end its all hot air.
If you are serious about it get right on it, don't make excuses and figure out a way to not go just before hand.... take your car on a few long drives and ensure it can sit in rush hour traffic for long periods of time.

It is one of the most fun things you will ever do in your life, also one of the hardest. Hope to see you there!

ThatDarnCat

Heard the process can be frustrating. Thanks for the tips, will plan on having at least three devices ready.

johnnycuda

Thanks Kim grew up in a junkyard so been around cars all her life.




Trying to figure out the engine combo now if the 71 roller works out.

Thinking take the 400, and do new pistons, have a lead on a 383 steel crank. Sidewinder heads and smaller cam. Trying to keep the motor smaller so don't drink a ton of fuel and want to use it as a daily cruiser after dragweek.
Would be fun to do a simple blow thru turbo got the fitech efi, but have to keep the time on schedule and cost in budget.

I've entered a couple of times but failed to
make it there.. trans has been a issue in the
past.. I went through 3 trannys in 2 summers
and last year the injection didnt want to play
right.. I wont even try to register.. if my junk
is running right I will just show up.... I have
been on it 3 times with my buddy and we had a
great time.. it is a bit^h but fun

Nice. That will work

Just a note, to my knowledge there is no 11.50 index class at Drag Week, unless they are adding a new one this year. Sadly, you will likely not make the quick 32 for eliminations in Street Machine Eliminator with an 11.50 car.

No 11.50 doesnt cut it in SME class... and no
there isnt any 11.50 class...just the point
where you need a roll bar unless its a new ride
but I'm not sure if DW follows that rule.. but I
think they do

Didn't think there was a 11.5 class looking to avoid a roll bar. Trying to keep my site set on something reliable.

My first drag week and just making it thru will be a win

I'm going to pull my old 72 Scamp out of the snow bank soon and get it on the road this summer. I would really like to make it to Drag Week as it's not that far this year from Winnipeg.
When I go to register what would be the class that it would run in? The car is tubbed and the springs are moved in and I have a 340 ready to drop in ....would I go in Modified Small Block N/A or Street Race Small Block N/A....if anyone knows thanks!

Your gonna have to read the rules.. it could
be in a couple of classes.. I have 2 choices
either unlimited or SME.. not sure what I want
at this moment BUT thats if it runs right

Started looking at pistons options for stock stroke 400 all I can find is Keith Black. Anyone know of a forged piston?

Spped Pro L2266F can be used, will be positive deck and weigh a ton.

What's the slower class? I will be running a 450hp 340 in a 72 scamp.

Diamond Racing 52006 or 52007 are .030 for stock stroke and 1.094 or .990 pin.

Diamond are for the 451 stroker combo.

Speed pro lot of positive deck, need some thick gaskets for it.

SME... thats Street Machine Eliminator.. its the
slowest class but on the last day the quickest 32
will be picked and then they run a bracket race..
BUT what ever your average was for the week they
knock it down by .1 for your dial in for the night

SME has a 10.0 minimum ET.. you have to have
a legal 5 point minimum roll bar to be legal
in the class... or 11.50 for no roll bar..
but this past year I think all 32 were under
the 11.50 times.. so if you want to even get
into the 32.. yo better have a roll bar... JMO
or just enter into SME and dont worry about where
you finish.. just have fun and see if you can finish
the week.. its not easy
EDIT
You have to have all the stuff legal for 10.0
to be legal for it

Street Machine Eliminator is way below an 11:50 I was 33 last year with a 11.236, was moved up to 32 for the final because some one above me broke, I could not go either because my last pass I scattered the wounded motor that had been slowing all week. I had made an earlier pass on the last day so I had a time slip to turn in. I finished the week but did not run the top 32. This is the second time in 4 years that I made the 32 car field but couldn't run, one of these years I will make it!

The class will get faster next year for sure.

Some interesting stats about class selection. Last year, out of the 292 finishers, one hundred eighteen cars finished Drag Week with a five day average above 11.50.

61 of those chose to do so in SME, or Street Machine Eliminator, despite knowing they wouldn't make the quick 32.

57 of them chose to do so in another class of their choosing, despite knowing they had little chance of placing in the top three of said class.


Pros and cons of running a class vs running SME.

The first run session of the day is class cars, for about an hour and a half to two hours. So if you are an early riser who wants to be in the first twenty cars down the track, maybe a class is for you. The caveat is, you are in the lanes with 6-9 second machines that do long burnouts across the line, and often break stuff, so those sessions may leave you in the lanes longer, and severely try your patience!

The SME session is second, generally about two hours after the gates open. So, if you like to sleep in at the motel, and hammer their continental b-fast before arriving, SME may work out best. These cars are all supposed to be slower than 10.00, so by rule, don't do long burnouts, and these sessions go pretty smooth, which means less time in the lanes.

67autocross
The whole mopar springs moved in things allows you a number of classes to chose from Pro Street even, if you choose a big tire. Possibly Modified with a small tire,but definitely Super Street.
The problem is, Pro Street and Modified do not split between BB or SB, it's just one class.

So for your car, either SS/SB/NA or PA, whether or not you add nitrous, or SME.

Thanks so much for the reply Billy, my car is not built yet so I have no idea what it will run. Ultimately I just want to enter the event and try and finish. The car will be built with lots of used parts and a budget of $10k Canadian ( $7200US ) sort of a back to basics project for a change.
So if it was you what class do you recommend for a first timer?

I tell everyone who will listen, build a car you like, and will enjoy. Drag Week is once a year, and there are plenty of other things you may enjoy doing with the car, so don't get wrapped up in building a car to a specific class.

You are going to be in this car for forty or more hours, driving down roads you never even knew existed. Some considerations should be given to comfort.

1. A good exhaust system. You should be able to talk to your co-driver, or converse on a cell phone, but most importantly, it needs to keep spent gasses out of the car! Sealing the firewall also helps.

2. Dyna-mat isn't cheap, but you don't have to do the entire floorboard. A few well placed peices where the exhaust runs under the car, and under your feet will help with heat and noise.

3. Cooling system, for water, trans, and even engine oil if running a filled block. Do not scrimp here, a well designed system, with proven, reliable components will make the trip, and car, more enjoyable.

4. Go conservative on compression and camshaft. A valve spring eating, 13.5 to 1, pinging, overheating monster gets old quick, and valve train issues are the number 1 killer on Drag Week.

My daughter likes racing with the SME cars, less pressure from her perspective, and a great group of friendly people, but in the end, it's really just 350 street cars with different letters on their windshields.

I have not found much for a off the shelf piston. What the most anyone has sprayed on KB piston?

Of course that depends of the heads. Anyway, you proapably have to make valve reliefs, and while at it, you might also turn the piston tops down to get zero deck. There is no lack of material there... If you have factory open chamber heads you can open them up a little so that the piston doesn't hit the edges, or you can modify the pistons not to hit. With unmilled piston top and valve reliefs you'll get about 10.5:1 CR with unmilled factory heads. Done that, and the cast crank stock rod 400 run 10.6's in a light '73 Valiant.

Originally was thinking about sidewinder heads, depending on budget. Maybe the pistons and factory open chamber would work better for a cheap combo.

If you go with Diamond pistons they will move
the pin height for very cheap.. I had mine moved
and it was $35 for the set.. then I had them dish
the pistons to lower the compression..that was $35
also.. if you make more than 3 changes they call it
a custom piston and the price changes

I’m just putting the car together with parts that I have left over from other projects or current cars that I’m upgrading. I figured instead of selling stuff off and getting nothing for it I would put the parts in my old 72 Scamp and get it back on the road. So it’s not about winning or what to do with the car after, more about what I have in the shop that I can use.
The drag week Idea started a few weeks ago when a friend asked me if I wanted to join him and some friends on a trip to watch Drag Week, I figured if I was going to go that far I might as well participate so I proposed we dig the car out of the snow bank and do a Joe Dirt re- build and take a shot at it. One of the guys agreed to ride with me as long as I put good seats in the car so I now have my teammate!
I will likely run turn downs on the exhaust before the rear axle but I will take your advice and buy some good mufflers to keep the noise down, do you have a suggestion for something decent….and don’t say flowmasters.
For Cooling I’m going to go with a champion rad and some type of electric fan, it gets hot and humid here in the summer so I will make sure I do some driving in the heat to make sure everything is staying cool.
I have the engine built and it is a basic 340 with stock J heads and a solid lifter cam and 9.5 compression, I don’t think that it should give too much trouble as it is pretty basic…but who knows. I also have a fresh 727 with Cope forward manual valve body and good sprag for the car, it’s fresh also.
One thing I’m thinking of doing is changing gears between the track and the driving portion, use a 4:10 on the track and pop in some 2:94’s or the driving portion. Like I said I will take any advice as you have done this a few times and would rather show up ready to finish.

We are registered for dragweek!!

Looking at one of two possible cars tomorrow.
Wife is excited to be in the event.

Sold out in 6 minutes.Raced or attended every year since 09.Going to pass tis year. Have fun and you will have a blast.

We are really looking forward to it

Enjoy and keep us posted on your adventure, before, during and after.

My advice is to follow Billy's advice and also bring a spare electric fuel pump and everything in the ignition system along with some valve system spares. Probably little need to bring things that are easy to purchase along the way.

I am not sure changing the rear end every day is something you will be glad you did by the end of the week. I would go with the 4.10s and get the tallest street tire you can and deal with it. Some will not agree but I would also run a street (rain) tire on the road.

I won't be running with my son this year but we are both coming to St. Louis to spectate and see a lot of friends.

Good Luck,
Bill

How do you register without knowing what ar you are using? I had to fill out a bunch of information about the car I was taking when I signed up... it would have been easier to pick the car later. Thanks

Just show up with a car, thats all they care, there is lots of people that don't bring what they planned on.

Got a car yesterday. Pics to come after work today didn't get home until after midnight

If a stroker crank isn't out of the question, that can help you in more than one way.

Lots of piston choices plus you can make decent power with a farm tractor reliable package. 9:1 will get you 500 HP/600 FT/LBS naturally aspirated by 5000 RPM. It makes a highway friendly 3.23 gear work with a mild converter and regular gas.

Add spray or boost to taste.

Kevin

67Autocross
Bill has a good point. If I were you I would forget about changing the rear end. Time becomes gold on drag week.

I agree on the gear changing, don't do it. Or if you are really dead set on it go out and change them twice everyday for a week and see how you feel about it before you commit to doing it on drag week. I get cranky changing tires twice a day so I might be the wrong guy to ask lol.

I have run 3.91 gears with a 26" tire on 5 drag weeks. Just find a compromise between your motor cruising happy and your ability to hold your foot in that position for hours. My 416 was happiest at 3000RPM last year and that took such a small amount of throttle it was uncomfortable after about day 3.

I will find a set of tall rear tires instead for the drive, I have a 4:10 spool or 3:91 sure grip to pick between. The car is getting a 340 with a solid lifter cam that when I had it on the dyno a few months ago would rev past 7000 so maybe I won't need to touch the gears.

That is the approach my buddy used with his 67 Valiant with a 440, 4.10 gear. Short drag radials at the track, tall mud and snow tire for the drives, 10.90's.

Another friend ran his 69 Dart with 408 W-2 engine the entire week with a 4.56 spool out back, and the same set of drag radials the full trip. 11 teens.

but he left you guys for dead everyday as he chased Ray out in the morning to make time for the 'leisurely' drive (or maybe to catch the blue plate special in the next city), right? :P

A couple pics as promised. Storming yesterday with high winds so only pics i have was ones he sent me. Already has a 440 with iron heads and mp590 cam

So you just bought that sexy thing and you're bringing it on Drag Week? Cool! That's like bringing Kate Upton to meet the church basement ladies!

I'll be running a 4.10 gear with a 518 OD
trans... thats with a 416ci.. I can keep
the street rpm at 2900 and run 75 mph... if
I make it there

Has a 4.89 gear so will change to a something milder no swapping rears at track for me. Hopefully be home before dark and get some pics of it

Are you going to make it? Seems like you never have but sure talk about it a lot, is this year going to be the year?

3.40 rear gear, 33" tall tires and a gear vendors OD = 15-1700 RPM cruising at 65-75MPH.

Most driving is between 45-65 MPH for 75% of the drive, go drive it on a hot day at 60 MPH and see what RPM it seems happiest with.

That is a great looking B-Body, but will it fail the lettering rule?

•Lettering or logos greater than 6 inches tall on the side or front of the car are limited to a single sponsor,
company, or name. We are trying to prevent Drag Week cars from looking like professionally sponsored race
cars. Any retro lettering on Gasser class cars is allowed.

If all else fails can cover with magnets for dragweek

I don't see you having any issues with that lettering. Its not like your flying a sponsor's name on it. That is cool car!

would like to change the morris to Mopar its all painted on. Paint looks great for 25 year old paint job

Thats the plan as of now but ya never know
whats gonna happen

Need to figure out the seats for dragweek. Need something more comfy and a passenger seat.

Anyone use summit brand seats?

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-g1130r/overview/


Any recommendations?

I am still looking at putting in those seats..
they look nice and might be comfortable ... I
just havent pulled the trigger on them yet.. I
have a few other things I'm working on
EDIT
I like the 2 holes in the back.. they will keep my
belts in proper location

Leave the seat and put some granny house cushions on them. If I didn't see it in person I wouldn't of believed it!

i have thought of that also but was looking for a little adjustment when going down the road. after a hour figure it would get uncomfortable

I'm still running the factory seats but I want
something better shaped

those look comfy from what I can see.

They are but they dont have the bolster to hold me in
like the sport seats

No need for bolster if you keep it straight

I like the idea of bolsters also. Wonder what summit ones really weigh

I looked at the web site that makes those seats
and it showed the weight but I dont recall what
it was.. it wasnt bad at all... but if you think
of it this way.. a light seat doesnt have a lot
of cushion to it but a heavier one MIGHT have more
but also the material that is used now days tends
to be lighter weight and they tend to use foam as
the item to give it shape(which is light)
EDIT
the seats are made by Pro car/Scat and weight
ranges from 25#-30#

I thought about making my own seats but figured
I could buy a nice set cheaper.. I use to make
seats for some of my toys... I did the interior
for my boat and a couple other boats.. I made all
the bags on my hoover craft.. I own my own industrial
sewing machine and I like playing with it.. but I dont
have the time anymore

Seat weight not bad. Trying to keep the car light figure its a 11 flat car, ran 6.9 in 1/8. So need to change the gear and add weight, Kim is 100 lighter so hope to run same times in drag week form.

I'm not that talented to make seats

I am a little late to the party, but figured I'd drop my $0.02 after my first drag week attempt last year.

If I can sum it up, it would be to keep it simple, and bring a proven combo(maybe not an option since you just picked up the car...haha).

I was in the 11.50 and up category who ran a class, but knew I wouldn't be competitive.

I was going to run 4.10's with 28's at the track and 30's on the street, but I decided that I didn't want to swap tires every day, plus space was limited as the trunk has a 22 gallon fuel cell and a battery in it. I only have 10" wide rims for the back, and it is surprisingly difficult to find 30" tall tires that will fit a 10" rim that aren't super swampers. So I ran my 3.55's and 28" drag radials with a rain friendly tread. As EFI Dart stated, most of the roads have slower speeds anyway.

I added V-band dumps to my headpipes that I would uncork at the track, I would empty the trunk, remove the hitch carrier, adjust the tire pressure and make a pass. Let it cool, load everything up and hit the road.

DF likes to joke that DragWeek is the largest group of cars that weren't running the week before, but avoid this if you can. I logged ~3k miles and 30 passes on my car last year prior to drag week. Not a lot if you are a weekend points racer or have a daily driver...or live somewhere that snow doesn't exist, but the car was proven. The only issues I had all week were a melted zip tie on the plug wires and dealing with mid-western cuisine, but I am used to that by now.

Also, I tried to eliminate aftermarket parts where possible. I replaced my Barry Grant pump with in-tank walbros that you can get at the parts store (actually, I have 2 pumps in tank, so if one fails, I flip a switch). Anything aftermarket or specific to your car, carry spares. If you have an LS, chances are someone will have what you need, but the same cannot be said for a BBM.

Also, I run the plastic bucket seats with vinyl covers. They aren't super comfy, but fine for me...

Summit seats set tall!, with the brackets provided or sold by Summit...... You will go boald rubbing your head against the roof.........

I wont be using Summit brackets.. I have my set up
already for mounting but its a fixed mount(cant
slide back and forth) but I'm back all the way
and I'm looking at a somewhat shorter seat.. 30"
tall with the head rest

http://procarbyscat.com/seats/Rally-Canvas

I agree with Outlawd, drive it drive drive it drive it some more. Put yourself in some bad traffic scenarios because idling in your driveway is different than idling in traffic after you have been driving 3 hours. The few times I have had to stop and let the car cool on drag week has been from running down the highway for hours and then having to come to a stop, something about my system just can't keep up with that.

I'm going to run Scat rally seats with the black cloth cover, mostly because I have a new set and also the guy riding shotgun with me at drag week had one request...don't make me sit in plastic buckets for a week.

This is all I know about the combo, seems like a nice basic setup. He was going rounds so was consistent.

440 10.1 compression
Steel heads with a pretty good port job
Crane Rockers
590 Mopar Solid Lift Cam
950 hp carb with a aluminum intake
Mallory Distributor

Will be driving it as much as possible. Thought about trying a 1150 dominator and a FITech see how they do. Like the simplicity of staying carb, but with locked out distributor the fitech can add some timing cruising



Dragweek tracks workout well, farthest one is 3.5 hours from home. Closest is about 1 hour. Hope to crash at home one or two nights depending on the routes. Already have hotels at the farthest tracks reserved.

Plan on racing as is for baseline. Then going to change gears and add bigger transcooler, rewire all light, make side windows pop out, get nitrous hooked up.

Tires are next thing has Phoenix slicks 12.2x31.25x15W
Tread Width: 13.40
Section Width (Actual): 16.50
Overall Diameter: 31.80
Circumference: 100"
Recommended Rim Width: 14.00


Big tire and love the way car looks but not rain friendly. Guessing I will be changing tires back and forth.

Sounds good!

Is the 950 dialed in at part throttle. My 950 out of the box was great at WOT, but part throttle was so rich I was worried about washing the bores down...I needed to adjust t-slot and PV restrictions to make it cruise well.

Sitting in rush hour traffic is killer and hard on everything.

My cooling system was amazing as it never got past 183 in Chicago rush hour. This is also where heavy oil comes in as it doesn't quite turn into water.

Outlawd is 110% correct.. drive the car as much as you can before drag week as it will help show your weaknesses in a hurry.

One thing with any Mopar it seems is bring spare rocker arm adjusters as they take quite the beating. In 2015 I helped out a fellow Mopar guy who broke a T&D one and happened upon me at a hotel parking lot looking. I keep a bunch with me so when you check the valves you can catch one going away or chunking. Same goes for pushrods, nobody stocks anything for Chrysler pushrods really or get a make your own set as spares.

Only thing I had troubles with was exhaust hangers after so many hours of vibration, a starter that was getting weak which I had a spare and having intercooler pipe inside the car making it too damn warm.

Still needs exhaust but seems rich at partial throttle, great at wot.
Track opens in a few weeks after the base numbers the changes will start.

Will get spare rocker arms and push rods, extra electronics. Check the cooling system out this summer works great when 40 degrees out lol

Have considers lot of options like budget aluminum heads. Seems like the port work on the stock ones must be decent. The wallace calculator puts it close to 500 hp for the 1/8 mile et and mph.
Not sure what the mopar 590 cams potential is.

Hi guys. I also got into Drag Week this year for the first time, and I have a few questions. My car is a 1975 Coronet station wagon with a 489ci stroker making 630hp, and 645TQ, 10.9 compression, Indy EZ heads w/ max wedge ports, Indy single plain intake, and I am going with FiTech fuel Injection mean street, and it has a Bullet roller cam with 610 lift. It's followed by a PTC converter and a Cope built 727 with low 1st gear set up, gear vendors, 8 3/4 with 4.30 gears and a spoll on 31" tires. Im using an MSD 6AL box, and distributor, also an Aeromotive dual 340 stealth pumps in an aluminium 20gal cell.

Questions:
I thought I read some where that we had to run slicks this year. Is this true, or can we still run drag radials?

If we need slicks, my class is allowed 11.2" wide at tread, can anybody tell me a tire size that will fit within that while mounted on a 10" or 12" rim? looking for first hand experience instead of calculating and guessing.

I have friends coming just to watch, and share motel rooms, what can they or cant they do for me to not get DQ'ed? I know they cant work on the car, but he will be following just because he knows us. If we break down and stop, and he also stops, can he run us to a parts store if needed, or nothing at all, just don't want to break the rules?

I know drive, Drive, Drive, but what type of parts does everyone bring? Not planning on doing trans swap on the side of the road if something like that happened, I'd be out, but where do you draw the line?

Thanks for any and all input.

Are you planning to run both fuel pumps at the same time, or is the 2nd a backup? A 340 is the max flow the FITech regulator can handle.

You have to run drag tires. Drag radials or slicks are OK. Just no regular street radials. Every tire will sit differently on the rim, but the tread should measure the same, no?

I brought:
Oil/filter
cap/rotor
plugs
coil
MSD
alternator
air filter

I drew the line at major component failure, but a guy had his car burn down essentially and put in serious work to get it running again...so it all depends on how determined you are.

I am planning to run 1 pump, having the other as a backup pump.

I have drag radials, I just thought I saw somewhere that we had to run slicks. If we dont need slicks, that saves me some money on not having to buy new tires.

You are right, I was just curious what peoples actually measured.

Thats a good list, I had not thought of a few of those.

Yeah, my navigator and I have drawn the line at major catastrophic repairs as well.

Just no street tires

The 31X14.5 M/T ET Street was our go to tall bias tire that fit within the 11.2 rule, but it is no longer available.

We used the Hoosier QTP 29X13.50 on two cars last year. I'll probably try the Hoosier QTP 31X13.50 to replace the ET Streets on the BarnYard Viper.

The best tool is a loaded smart phone. Network and collect phone numbers during Sunday's all day registration process.

There is a secret group page on face book called "Drag Weekers". You have to be invited in. During the event it is an awesome real time live resource for help, news, route corrections, road problems etc. Roadkill's Elana Scherr, Announcer Brian Lohnes, Race Director Lonnie Grimm, Hot Rod's Phillip Thomas, and Tech Director Keith Turk are all members of that page, so it's like the nerve center of everything Drag Week.

From reading other post you can not have a chase car following you. You got a wagon plenty of room for passengers lol
I would email Hot Rod and get official answer.

It would be in your best interest to not have your buddies take a different route and meet you at the hotel. Most every competitor will try and stop to help someone that is down. I had to replace an MSD box on the road in 2014 and one of the guys in our group stood at the side of the road to wave guys on because everyone was trying to stop.

People can go buy parts for you but are not
suppose to work on the car unless they are in
DW(fellow DWers are allowed).. if you break down
you can have a wrecker pick you up but has to drop
you off in the same place

MoparBilly, what size rims were you guys running, 10" or 12"? Thanks.

Dart451, he is not to be a chase vehicle, he is just a friend that wants to watch the event, and will be taking his own vehicle as I have no back seat, and as a friend if I had to stop, so would he. But you always here how so and so got a ride to where ever to get something fixed, or to pick up parts. Im just wondering what the difference would be? Thanks.

think you would get in trouble just my guess but i'm a newbie also
Cut and paste from the rules

WORKING ON COMPETITION VEHICLES
•Drag Week competitors may borrow or buy parts, tools, supplies, or fuel from each other and may help each
other with manpower only on an impromptu basis.
•Vehicles entered with the obvious intent of supporting another competitor with parts, tools, supplies, fuel, or
manpower subject both entries to disqualification at the race director’s discretion. It is not our intent to keep
friends from helping friends but to prevent entries from acting as support vehicles for other competitors.
•If an entry receives regular, daily assistance from any person who is not a registered passenger in that entry’s
car, that person is considered illegal support.
•If an entry uses parts, tools, supplies, or fuel from another competitor or another non-competition vehicle on a
daily basis, that is considered illegal support.
•Helpers may not lead or follow in separate vehicles.
•Ordering parts and having them delivered during Drag Week to fix unforeseen problems is allowed.


NO TRAILERS, NO SUPPORT VEHICLES
•Vehicles in competition may not be led or followed at any distance by support vehicles of any kind. A support
vehicle is one used to supply, or with the intent of supplying, any rescue efforts or to carry anything for a
competitor, including luggage, tools, fuel, repair parts or spares, and helpers or crew. Support vehicles towing
just-in-case trailers are not allowed.
•Racers may not be followed by motorhomes for overnight accommodations.
•All vehicles must be driven under their own power during the entire Drag Week competition and may not be
towed, trailered, pushed, or hauled at any time. The exception is in the event of an emergency in which a
vehicle needs to be removed from the roadway or other dangerous situation, in which case assistance may be
used to move the car a short distance to a safe area, for example, to the next highway exit.
•A Drag Week phone number will be supplied to participants. If an entrant wishes to forfeit the competition by
loading the vehicle on a trailer or otherwise enlisting an illegal support vehicle, the number must be called to
immediately notify the staff of the forfeiture.
•Violation of the support-vehicle and crew rules is cause for immediate disqualification at the race director’s

Dart451, I saw that, and thats why Im trying to figure out what not to do, because I really wanna just finish, and dont want to be DQ for something dumb that I did.

I agree with you, all I want to do is finish and that will be a win

crazytrain, Dart451.
Those are in place to try and keep the big time players from having a professional crew. Drag Week is about an adventure and having fun.

As Drag Week as grown, so has the entourage of people who want to follow along, so unless your buddy is four foot off your bumper the entire trip, no one will pay him any mind. Last year one guy followed his brother in a 359 Peterbuilt! As Clark suggested, have him run ahead of you, or behind you, and meet up at food stops, checkpoints and motels.

The caveat is, don't let him carry parts, fuel, or tools.

We have 12" rims on most of our cars.

Thank you all, this has been very helpful. I have done a little racing with some friends at test and tunes, but never anything to this exstent.

MrPbody, that is a good suggestion, and nice to know about the tow truck.

So, this being the first big event for me, should the drag radials be screwed to the rims, or just mounted normally, considering 630hp/tq and a 4200lb car?

If it would be suggested, what is the best method to do this?

You wont need to screw them on.. they will stay
put with the pressure you will put in them

Ok, thank you Mr_P_Body.

Hope you make it this year, I really like the looks of your car and would love to check it out.

Be careful about this advice, I don't think you are allowed to have a wrecker pick you up and drop you off for repair, even in the same spot.

From the rules:

"•All vehicles must be driven under their own power during the entire Drag Week competition and may not be
towed, trailered, pushed, or hauled at any time. The exception is in the event of an emergency in which a
vehicle needs to be removed from the roadway or other dangerous situation, in which case assistance may be
used to move the car a short distance to a safe area, for example, to the next highway exit."

Pretty sure if they catch you on a tow or haul (other than the noted exception) you are out!

I seen it in person a few times.. they picked
up the car and they dropped it off in the same
place.. hot rod didnt have a issue

Mike, I wasnt there to see what you saw, but it sure sounds like grounds for disqualification to me. If a car goes on a trailer, a flatbed, or a tow truck it is done. Unless it is to be removed from a dangerous roadside situation for repairs. If you can pull off to the side of the road and fix it there you have to do that. If there is no shoulder, no place to get off the road, then yes you can tow it to the next exit or safe area but you have to work on it there. You can't tow it to a garage for anything.

OK.. but I know who it was and seen it.. but if
you say its the rules... ok... are you allowed
to change a block now days

•Swapping engines so that one is used for the dragstrip and another for the on-road drives is not allowed. One
long-block is to be used for the entire competition, barring the need for impromptu repairs.

In 2016 Jeff Lutz burned up a spindle on the Strange strut on the Pro Mod Camaro about 2 miles from the hotel, which was less than five miles from the track. Jeff and the Camaro sat alongside the highway all night long waiting for parts to get there in the morning, then fixed it and drove to the hotel for one half hour of sleep. When we were leaving the hotel at about 8 a.m. Lutz was just rolling in and had not even slept. If it would have been legal for them to tow the car to the motel parking lot, sleep while they were waiting for parts, do the repairs there, then tow it five miles back to where it broke. I'm sure he would have done it

So, Im just not going to chance calling a tow truck at all then, unless Im completely out. Just not worth the chance of being DQ'd to me.

I've always taken the rules about towing as written and have never seen otherwise. The Hot Rod team has given us the advice that you can "drive" off the route, to get parts or repair or hotel, etc., as long as you get back on the route at the same place you got off. Likewise if you make a navigation mistake. I will say that If someone has to drop out due to being towed and they get their car repaired, Hot Rod will allow you to keep making passes at the rest of the tracks and finish the week, but they are out of competition. That's why you see some people that were towed still at the tracks later, but if you look at the results they will be listed as out. Good luck this year.

Thank you all. Hope to see you all there.

Well, spill the beans! Enquiring minds want to know.

Remember the red 55 T-bird... he was running with
a few guys from the group I was with... he was
running with Doc Fox.. this was a couple years back

They update the rules every three years, and often make new rules based on specific circumstances. They used to allow commercial tow trucks to be called, but Bill Fowler used one about five times one year, so "The Fowler Rule" was adopted.

After we took Darren's Charger through tech on a trailer in 2012, they adopted a rule that all vehicles must start on their own and run in tech. It's "The Gebhart Rule"...embarrassing!

Thanks for clearing that up

I think Maschmeier has had more rules named after him than anyone. LOL.Wish Monte were here to clarify that.

It was before my time but from what I understand Maschmier's car caused quite the stir the first year he ran it.

Still considering going with the fitech for dragweek. What would be a good reliable inline fuel pump for 600 hp?

Bosch 044? (overkill)
The inline 255 from FITech?

Most EFI components are rated at 43.5psi, FITech runs at 58psi, so be aware of that when looking at flow and current ratings. The FITech regulator can only handle 1 340LPH pump, I am using Racetronix pumps in-tank.

Good fuel pump comparison:
http://realstreetperformance.com/Fuel-Pump-Comparison-Test.html

That's a interesting comparison. Thanks for link.

For Dragweek, I just picked up a FITECH 800HP mean street setup, and an Aeromotive dual 340 stealth setup to put in my cell. I will only run 1 pump, but if something happens, all I have to do is move the power wire and feed line and I'm back on the road.

Will check them out, sounds like a interesting option

Do not get an Fitech.. they are still having quite the problems and I still get them coming across my dyno quite often the majority do not work properly. Most is to do with transient fueling issues.

The Holley is a better system and has a lot more engineering hours put in as they seem to work better out of the box.

A GSL-392 walbro 255 inline supports 500~RWHP and an 044 bosch is around 650-700 RWHP. Never hurts to carry a spare!!

Efidart, which Fitech systems are having the issues, the lower horsepower ones, the dual throttle body units, blow through, or all of them?

I would second avoiding the FITech...I don't hate it...but it took a bit of work to get it right, and it's not really better than a tuned carb.

Mine ran reasonably well all last year, after a ton of tuning time, then the spark just quit working...Something seemed to corrupt my cal, and the tech support really leaves alot to be desired. You get what you pay for (Chinese hardware and no support...ha)


here is what I did for a fuel system:

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbt...tml#Post1921168

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbt...tml#Post1939051

I bought a 1200 hp power adder system last spring (was thinking blow thru turbo build) Any experience with that model?

Thanks for links.

More fitech user problems not liking the sounds of that. Have to admit its hard to give up the simplicity of a carb

I have the 1200HP on my car...not blow through, using it to control N2O.

I have 4-5000 miles on the unit. I have dug into it a bit and modified the VE tables to get it dialed in closer. Any questions feel free to ask

I never did the blow thru but was thinking about using it for dragweek with nitrous for drivablitiy. My distributor is locked out, want to use timing control to help with partial throttle

That is the one major benefit, is having timing cranked up to 42 while cruising...it cleaned up part throttle and tip-in.

I would verify your N2O timing retard accepts negative values before you spray it...

Has been both the lower and higher HP systems.

For the trouble that they provide if you can afford an aftermarket multiport system it is quite the leap ahead vs the Fitech.

I run 40-44 degrees under light cruise and get it nice a lean. Nice thing about an aftermarket ECU is that you have unlimited control of every parameter vs set values + or -. Then if you get a tuner involved, might as well spend the money towards something that you can get more benefit from.

Plan was to keep it simple and be able to swap back to a carb if problems happened.
There is a different engine combo after dragweek that will go multiport.


Might just sell fitech and stay old school, get a more adjustable carb and vacuum advance distributor.

Looking forward to getting car to track for base runs
1st base runs
2st I want to rescale car and get the ride height set and see if 60ft times can be improved
3nd see how bad exhaust changes et
4rd regear for more street friendly check et
5th try fitech? (glad to know there is some help with tuning fitech on moparts)

Also need to rewire car, add passenger seat, bigger fuel cell and trailer hitch, probably rescale car again lol

I'm still working on my Holley injection.. I
should have it done next week with the help of
Trendz.. I needed a set of pliers to crimp the
small pins on( I didnt have them but will buy
a set)he is loaning a set to me.. once I get the
pins on I will be done with the bulk of the hard
wire stuff.. my crank senor mount will be here
tomorrow and I can get that done(I have the
sensor already).. then just put in the dist sinc
and do the software stuff.. hopefully it'll be
done in a week.. by then I hope the weather comes
around so I can get on the road to test
EDIT
Before I started the coil stuff this engine came
ALIVE.. it revs quicker than it ever has.. I sure
want to see what it does later on.. it sure is way
different.. that was just working on the fuel

Got a few test passes in this weekend. Wife loves the transbrake/two step

10.92 at 119.8



Test Pass Passenger Side


Test Pass Driver Side

Glad to hear your getting some passes in.. I'm
playing with injection wiring.. still

I still need to rewire the whole car so I have lights and signals. Hopefully you get some test hits soon