Drag Illustrated Issue 129, January / February 2018 | Page 54

D.I. COLUMNIST Tuned Up with Will Hanna F irst off, I would like to thank Wes Buck and the entire staff of Drag Illus- trated for giving me the oppor- tunity to write this column. The transformation of DI from a start- up a little over 10 years ago to the premier publication in the sport of drag racing has been nothing short of phenomenal. While I have con- tributed things here and there over the years, I’m humbled they have given me this platform. With my monthly column here, and our new “Tuneup Tuesday” Facebook Live show, I hope to share some insights into tuning and rac- ing. I have been fortunate enough to tune a variety of different types of race cars. Right there with tun- ing different types of cars is tuning different cars in the same class. Whether it’s “cross-discipline” or ‘intra-discipline’ experience, it has helped me identify common themes and specific themes. DI didn’t ask me to write an auto- biography, so I’ll try to give a short background for those of you who may not be familiar with my back- ground. Well, it all started when I was 3…OK, that will be too long winded. I’m a second-generation racer who grew up mainly on the Texas Gulf Coast. My dad, Rick Hanna, drove an A/Fuel Dragster in Pro Comp in the late ‘70s, then wrenched on Jay Meyer’s Top Alco- hol Dragster in the 80s and 90s. I grew up at tracks around Division 4 in the 80s, back when your Funny Car had to have a cool name to have some “street cred”, as they say now. I raced Jr. Dragsters in the early 90s at Houston Raceway Park when Erica Enders was just getting “On Track.” I bracket raced a ’68 Camaro in High School at Lonestar Race- way Park, then signed up for the US Army as a tank driver, was stationed at Ft. Hood, Texas, as part of the 1 st Cavalry Regiment (Go FIRST Team!). I signed out of the Army on May 28, 2000, and went to work full-time drag racing later that day in Ennis, Texas, back when there were two national events there. While attending Brazosport College, I got aggravated at the lack of coverage the Top Alcohol classes were getting in the media and started what was then called InsideFMRacing.com – back when the classes were called Federal Mo- gul Dragster and Funny Car – on June 26, 2001. When the name changed back to Top Alcohol, we changed to InsideTopAlcohol.com. Not long after graduating from the University of Houston-Clear Lake, InsideTopAlcohol had enough traffic that I was able to make a full-time job out of running the website and tuning race cars. I have crewed, tuned, consulted and even driven for a lot of people over the years. I have tuned custom- ers to three NHRA division cham- pionships in the Top Alcohol ranks, as well as a FIA European title. I’ve also been second place more times than I care to mention (four). I’ve seen the highs and lows of winning and losing championships on the last day of the season. That segues into what I would like to cover in this first installment – preparation and gearing up for a points battle. Most of us racers are still in the offseason, unless you live somewhere in the Southern Hemi- sphere like Australia or New Zea- land, where they’re currently racing in the middle of summer. First off, for anyone trying to get ready for race season, “offseason” is definitely a misnomer. Second, everyone is tied for first place right now. I have learned from experience over the years that many races are won in the shop with preparation. I think the first step in championship- caliber preparation is eliminating “good enough” from your program. As my friend and engine builder Marvin Shaw likes to say, “Perfect is barely acceptable.” This is a univer- sal concept that applies to really any level of drag racing, but really comes into play in the heads-up world. I’m a maintenance nut. I like to strip everything down bare over the winter. This allows for a deep in- spection and cleaning of the chassis. Same with the engine, drive train and other components. Depending on how violent your car is and how much vibration it may experience, it probably needs to be rewired at a minimum every two years. Cranks need to be magnafluxed, blocks honed and checked, heads serviced, transmission checked, freshened, etc. There’s a lot of work and a lot of pain-in-the-ass jobs to do this time of the year. As much as I love working on cars, one of the things I hate every year is when you look at a bare car, parts everywhere, and have that thought, “where the hell do I start?” The bigger your budget, the more you are able to stock up on parts, consumables, supplies, and the like. It also allows you to spend more money on new parts. When you are on a budget and not able to just feed a car motors and parts, maintenance becomes that much more important. I remember be- ing a kid and watching Warren Johnson – circa 1985 – talk about having to “finesse” parts because he didn’t have the budget to replace them. I don’t want to be confused as advocating running parts past their known lifespan – that is almost always a recipe to spend way more than what the new replacement part would have cost. My point is, often times maintenance only cost s the time it takes to get out in the shop. There’s an old quote: “The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle.” I would say the more you sweat in the shop, but for most of us, it’s cold as hell in the shop right now. It’s nearly impos- sible to be “over-prepared,” but it’s a lofty goal. The guy or gal that has been working on their car all winter will probably beat the guy or gal who has their car still strapped down in the trailer from the last race, last year. DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI 54 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com Issue 129