With the year winding down I was determined to get the car out to a different racetrack surface before winter arrives, it was one of my goals this year especially since I didn't get to do Hot Rod Drag Week. So, on Saturday morning 11/7/25 I street drove the car about 110 miles from my house, out to Maple Grove racetrack. Wet roads, skinnies up front and drag radials in the back, car packed with tools, but the drive out there was great. I had no nitrous but was lucky enough to be able to grab a bottle from Townsend as I drove out of NJ. The weather at the track was decent, with a little bit of wind, but the D.A. stayed between 1200-1400 all day. I had 94 octane Sunoco in the tank, and did not use any race-gas octane booster at all during the whole day.
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I had a non-working laptop with me, so I never had any opportunities to look at datalogs in between passes or even make any changes to the tune. Kinda flying blind on this venture. I also wanted to revisit letting the transmission shift 1-2 on its own since it seemed to do better last month. Torque converter lockup has become iffy, so I was a little uneasy using it on the nitrous runs. Sidenote- the scale at Maple Grove was working so i weighed my car and with me in it, total weight is 3610 pounds.
Pass 1:
All motor
I always do an all-motor pass to start the day so this was one of two. Rear MT ET street SS drag radials were set to 18.6 psi each. Both rear shocks were set to a very soft 1.0 setting and I took all air out of the rear air-bags. Ignition timing was set at 35 deg and target AFR of 12.8:1. Footbrake launch from 1412 rpms, and it flashed the converter to 4787 rpms. I left the 1-2 shift to the transmission and it shifted at 5560 rpms. I shifted the 2-3 shift at 6165 rpms. Went across the finish line at 6085 rpms and checking the log I was only about 90-93% throttle. This was a good pass, in fact it was my 3rd best all-motor pass ever! Actually the best all-motor pass on these 28" tall tires (the 11.47 and 11.50 passes were on my smaller 27" hoosier bias plys), so I was off to a good start.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qtnX9PDUe8
Pass 2:
All motor
I switched lanes but kept everything the same on the car. However, my buddy John who was there told me to make an OPEN loop pass so I used the handheld programmer to turn off closed loop (busted laptop). Footbrake launched at 1689 rpms and it flashed the converter to 4792 rpms. I left the trans make the 1-2 shift again at 5496 rpms, and then shifted the 2-3 at 5962 rpms. Looks like I grabbed the lockup button at 5729 rpms in 3rd gear, and went across the finish line at 6017 rpms. AFR numbers were a bit lean at 13.2 and 13.4 during the run, which is why I still typically leave closed loop on during most runs. Still a good pass, and a better launch too.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmOWS9W_8Os
Pass 3:
Nitrous pass.
Kept the shocks and tire pressure the same. Unfortunately I had a bad burnout because I think the drivers side tire didn't get wet enough in the water puddle so it only spun the passenger side tire during the burnout. I then backed up and did a small dry hop type burnout but didn't want to hold up the guy in the other lane so I got staged quickly. Footbraked the car to 1559 rpms and the tires spun at the hit, and started driving to the left. Converter flashed as I was pedaling it, and it also shifted 1-2 at about the same time. I got back into it and on the nitrous and I made the 2-3 shift at 6226 rpms. Climbed 3rd gear and then hit the nitrous system's rev limiter a few times at the 1000-foot cone, so I pedaled it slightly and got off the button, going through the finish line at 6192 rpms all motor.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPIxRcgboqk
Pass 4:
Nitrous pass
Switched lanes, lowered the rear tire pressure from 18.6 to 17.6 psi in both tires, while keeping shock settings the same. Decided to leave the line from a dead-idle, which was 952 rpms. Converter flashed at 4789 rpms and I had stayed off the nitrous in 1st gear to hopefully prevent it from spinning. It made the 1-2 shift at 5426 rpms and then I got on the nitrous button, making the 2-3 shift at 6201 rpms. Since lockup was becoming iffy, my only other option was to stay on the nitrous but shift it into 4th gear (overdrive) at 6205 rpms. Instead of loosing mph, it felt like it just maintained speed for the last couple hundred feet, until I crossed the finish line at 6004 rpms.
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side-by-side Video:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JgL_mJuCA8E
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLMwEjd78lc
Pass 5:
Nitrous pass:
Kept the rear tires at 17.6 psi. Knew it was going to be my last pass of the day and I was really hoping for a decent 60 foot time and a clean run. Footbraked the car to 1803 rpms and the converter flashed to 4892 rpms. Right after that, I got on the nitrous button and the car made the 1-2 shift at 5766 rpms, the 2-3 shift at 6085 rpms, and then I shifted it into overdrive (after chopping the throttle at the rpm limiter) at 6174 rpms. Still on the nitrous and in overdrive, I crossed the finish line at 6011 rpms.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBPtHkOvx94
Packed up all my tools and aired up the rear tires, aired up the rear air backs and cranked the rear shocks up tight. Drove home another 110 miles and got home 12.5 hours after I left. Not a bad day at all!
My Sick the Magazine GPS tracker has worked great all year; glad I have it. Occasionally it will check-in when I'm on the strip
too.
I might be able to get two more weeks of street driving the car around before taking it off the road for winter. I have some ideas for upgrades this winter that I will explore here in the coming weeks before getting things going. Most notably, a torque converter adjustment, drag race rear shocks, and I do need a tough/inexpensive laptop for this car now that my old one is out of lives.