I am 68yo, been in the circle track world most of my life, mostly dirt, but spent a couple years at the local NASCAR affiliated short track. I have some back and neck issues which attributed to my leaving racing, I thought for good.
I found myself at the local 1/8 mile track a couple times and thought to myself "that looks like fun, I bet I can get an inexpensive car and enjoy myself". I can hear you laughing!
I'm a Mopar guy, but I've found Mopar stuff is about 1/3 more expensive than GM, so I found a Camaro that was already built, "just needs a motor and tranny". Don't worry about the rear, it's good, it wasn't! A 10 bolt isn't worth rebuilding so I went to a 9". Had so much trouble with the torque arm that I built a 4 link for it.
Was given a Jasper 350, which needed freshened and of course a bunch of new parts, and was still only going to be around 300-350hp. Decided an LS was the way to go, start out at 350hp and even stock should do good. Found a motor from a "concept" car, very low hours on it, looked almost new. Found it had a spun cam bearing. Fortunately, it didn't hurt the block, and I got it all back together, with a little cam and piston upgrade. Scratch the cheap motor thoughts!
Found a Powerglide trans, then found out all the things I had to do to get it bolted to the LS and make it work.
A friend had a Predator carb that he gave me, which opened up a whole new can of worms. But after many, many attempts I think I got it working, I hope so anyway.
So, I finally got it out of the garage to test it in my driveway, found out I had no trans-brake, and the shifter I had was not going to work. Ran super, would light the (stock) tires up immediately.
Luckily the trans-brake was just a fuse, and a friend had a nice ratchet shifter for me.
So, I'm down to mounting the "new" shifter and a small Predator carb adjustment and it should be ready to rip. I plan on getting it to the alignment shop to make sure the rearend is square, weigh it to get the balance right, and get it on the dyno to tune it.
This could have been longer if I related all the things I had to do, but I tried to keep it short.
PLUS, I wanted to thank all the folks here who helped me with advice on my journey into this realm. I'll try to keep you updated on how I do.
THANK YOU EVERYONE.

Welcome to the forum here. There is a lot to learn to be competitive. It is not easy, some may think it looks easy because it is a straight line racing but it is not easy. You will find there is a thousand ways to lose a race and we have all done them, more than once. Lol. And sometimes it is frustrating because there may be 75 people in your class and then buybacks which in effect makes it much more than that and there is only one winner. And way most payout is Winner gets most of the money available and runner up gets a little, a Semi-Finalist may get their entry back. I have seen may people spend money, work on the car go race a few times and not win then get frustrated and quit. You have to get seat time, you have to lose rounds and LEARN from why you lost so you do not do that again. There will also be races where you have an really good run and someone will pull a rabbit out of a hat, make a perfect run and beat you. Do not give up as you get better you will have more and more of those type runs go your way. And once in a while you will have a run where you flat missed the tree or something and your opponent breaks out by .001 and think how did you that happen he had you covered? Point there is you work hard and as you get better you will win more and more but there is always some times when you shake your head and say how did that happen?

So here is my advice.
1. Do not get frustrated and give up.
2. Take good records of weather and how it effects your car.
3. If your car is not running same number run to run in same weather then you need to find out why.
4. Get that car consistent (See #3)
5.Test. Some of best days to test is when air is really good and when it is really hot and bad. That gives you some data what car is going to do and you can then use weather to predict what car is going to run. Then it is simple math to take the weather data and predict the run if car is the same.
6. Try to avoid changing things every week, if you do then you never have a baseline and weather data to predict the performance. When you do change things you are starting from scratch on weather data and performance predictions. That is why it is often better to start with a known proven winning car.
7. I prefer the Holley carbs (or mechanical fuel injection) and get carb set up right and leave it.
8. On your converter if you are not sure exactly what you need then get one on looser side as it will be more consistent, more forgiving and faster. I am a firm believer in Hughes converters, many can build a good converter but I have had best results with thew Hughes converters and they have got the stall exactly where I wanted it the FIRST time. Some you may have to send it back 2 or 3 times to get it right. Converter is very important in our cars.


There a lot of things for driving and once you decide what class you are going to run and how your car performs then we can help you here. At this point I would concentrate on getting your car right and some seat time then concentrate on driving to win.

And racing is cool but winning makes it fun.

I would also add get you a good weather station and only use it. I have seen 1500 feet DA difference between 2 good weather stations. That does not matter if you use the same one every time. But if you use a different one every time you never really know where you are at.

Same with tire gauge, at 10 Lbs some will read 1 Lbs different. Fine just use same one every time so you have consistent data.

Curly has good suggestions. He and I have known each other for a long time and traded licks at the track on many occasions [smiles for you, Curly]

From your post, it seems you have already begun enjoying the building and problem-solving. That is a big part of the fun. Old fellows who like cars and things mechanical need shop time. I know, because I am 79 and have two cars under construction!

I expect you will enjoy the overall experience. Please keep us posted.

Curly and Larry’s comments are spot on.

Racing can be challenging and sometimes frustrating but there’s nothing like a weekend at the track turning some win lights on and spending time with the track family.

Good luck, take the challenges in stride and enjoy the ride!

There are a lot of former circle track races Drag Racing, not as many quarter (and rocker) panels to replace every week.

Bob

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RPROGAS,

Fact: In 1995 there was an add in National Dragster for a Ruaer&Morrison (SP) Motor with 40 runs on it near me. I needed a motor for something we were building so I went to take a look. Man had a whole new set up, complete car and trailer all new...Turned out he had been a dirt track racer and after 6 trips to the drag strip he had not won a round, not one. He was so disgusted that he sold me everything for $30,000 cash.
Anyway as most on here know I am past my 85th birthday and still racing. Leaving Tuesday for 6 days at Bristol. Only thing I would do different is to buy a proven race car built right and save 1/2 your money + time sorting out a new one. Good luck

Torque arm, I'm guessing you bought a 3rd gen Camaro. I would have warned you to buy a different body, as you can see by my pics that's what I have. They can be a pain to work with for drag racing.
If you did the circle track thing you'll find that drag racing can be a smaller hole to throw money in.