[Sledgehammer70]

I am not a race car driver, I have never driven on the drag strip with a car with actual power. It was new to me, but I had a crap ton of fun. I like to think I am pretty open and honest about my experience with things. Just like the rest of us, its fun to talk junk on friends and do street racing. But the real thing is a whole different story.

Many of you are seasoned well trained or know what the heck you're doing in regards to dialing in your cars, launching your cars, and having you, cars simply setup properly. I am learning... I never set out to build a drag car, and I probably will not go full in (yet). But I do want to get better and have seen why I should have listened to my performance shop. (Cunningham Motorsports)

From the get-go, CMS knew I was looking to build a city street bruiser, something that can be fun around town and back roads (do we have those in California?). They outlined a plan of attack based on my wants and needs, and we built it. I knew building into the power I wanted would lead to needing cooling, but for around the city or street, I didn't need much of it. But for drag and road course I needed a lot more if I wanted to get serious.

Well, here I am getting serious... I know the below isn't the best of times and I know I misspoke a few times about R/T's and ETs etc. We know the tune has an issue at launch with the torque management and we also know the new converter will help a lot. I also know the tire pressure we ran was probably too low (15lbs) and that running with R888's in the front probably was the reason I was feeling the floaty feeling once getting into 3rd/100 mph range.




My goal: Get into the lower 6's and get the car to a 1/4 mile track and see what she and I can do.

I want to note: I have a new respect for guys who drag their cars, this isn't easy, and man for the guys who have actually fast cars. Good Lord I want to build up my confidence to reach that level of competition.

[ULTRAZLS1]

Not too bad for first time out. Props for going

Given your 1/8 mph and the top end charge you will have I’m guessing your 7.0 run would be 10.6-10.8 on a full pass.

Mid to low tens when you get your 60 ft down.

Trans tune can take a while to get sorted especially at your power level. The car has a lot left in it I wouldn’t be too disappointed

[chrish70]

great for your first time out to the track, we wont get a chance now to race for atleast 6 months due to living in the dreaded snow belt

[DapperDan]

There ya go, no longer a dyno queen you got your manhood...lol stick with it

[Snowblind]

Good first time passes and Welcome to drag racing young grasshopper.

It's a whole new world for you, if you stick with it, you'll find a bunch of guys out there that just enjoy going fast and don't mind helping out the newbies if they are willing to listen....Ford, Dodge, Chevy, it doesn't matter, speed is the common denominator at the track.

Now stop slacking and go run some 6's

[parish8]

Can you save me 22 minutes and post up your slip?

[jw0287]

I watched this on YouTube the other day.

Your videos are the most recommended videos on my feed due to search.

I also spent my first time at the strip. 1/4mi. All stock 1SS got 12.5

I am learning like you.

Good luck.

[TEEZYSS]

Was 104 mph the best in the 1/8?

[Joe M 2012 2SS]

Don't get caught up in what your reaction time is. It has 0 effect on your ET. The clock does not start until your tires break the beams. The only time reaction time is important is in a heads up race, no clock, first to finish line.

[17CamaroZL1]

Good runs Matt! Thanks for the video and writeup. I love the look and sound of your car! I was really surprised by how loud it was at Camarofest when you revved it for Al O. It made my ears ring!

I would think you should be about right on your 15 psi of air. I'd probably start around 18 to 20 and work my way down from there to see what happens, but I'd say 15 should be really close to what you'd want. Only way to know is to play around with it though. Good luck and I'd really like to see you run it all out through the 1/4. You've got a quick ride.