by Tetge » Mon Dec 12, 2016 10:57 am
I somehow missed this post until now. As is the custom, let me congratulate you on your advance to the "retired from drag racing" circuit. Some years ago, I took the retirement path, and, i have never regretted it once. It saves equipment and money and time and bother, since, we all know that drag racing is hard on machines. And, as time has passed, I have also slowed down on the street and finally, after some years, I never exceed the speed limit or even push on the throttle pedal too much. I am all about fuel economy and tire life now, and I get zero kick from the sound and feel of a 350+ RWHP modular engine twisting up some RPM in anger. Who needs that?
All that said and with congratulations given, I shall miss you next season at Willow Springs, since I always liked to defeat a mighty and legendary SVT Cobra. Of course, Willow Springs is not really drag racing due to the short track with zero prep and the lack of a 60' time to allow better tuning of the all important launch. I am not even sure if Willow stresses a car too much as it is very much like driving on the street. So, when I return to Willow next Spring to gather some numbers, it will be a shame that I don't have a nice sonic blue Cobra victim to hammer. But, time marches on, and, it catches up to all of us. And a 2003 collector's car is getting long of tooth and not so easy to repair at 15 years old. But, it will still sound good, unless you are also intending to detune it to further reliability by lessening the stresses on all components including the engine. I mean, if you are not racing, why run all the speed parts since the car would still drive around nicely in stock trim?
You see? I am just trying to be helpful. Also, I can attest to the fact that if you are a sheep for long enough, you sort of come to grips with it. Why pack an 11 second punch, when a high 12 second punch works just as well and totally avoids any issues with smog and random smog checks and also reduces stress on the entire car? Hell, about now, I'd settle for a low 13 second in the 1/4 vehicle and it would seem pretty quick.
You can trust my advice and wisdom on this matter since I have retired numerous times already.
