As a consultant , I have helped many teams on short-term deals to help them figure out a problem . It shocks me how little records some teams take . One team hired me to come in and try to help them figure out why they couldn ’ t make it down the track . They told me they had run a 3.66 a few races back . OK , where ’ s the notes from that run ? “ Um , well , yeah , that ’ s one of our problems .” Recordkeeping goes beyond the basics of time slip data , weather data , and track data . Essentially , the more records you can keep , the better .

With a clutch car , it ’ s critical to keep notes on the thickness of the discs and floaters . I try to keep a pack thickness as close as possible to a target number . Just putting a pack together and “ zeroing ” it is not a path to consistency or success . As I told one team that was new to Top Alcohol Dragster , when it comes to doing the clutch , the first step is to have a “ program .” Make an operating procedure and try to religiously stick to that program . Take notes and try to duplicate things from run to run . You can have a fair amount of success with most any “ program ” if you are able to consistently replicate

what you do and how you do things . In the case of Top Alcohol Dragster , you can get into the 5.30s with just about any “ program .” When you try to make the jump into the 5.20s and better , that ’ s when you start getting into whose program is better and what it may take to get to that next level .

While m a n y cars today utilize a torque converter , it ’ s still very important to keep track of how many runs are on your trans fluid . Fluid going away will definitely affect performance . It may also lead to parts failure .

I also like to log measurements from rod bearings when we change them . The bearings have a story to tell on what is going on in the motor . What I have found over the years is that detonation of any kind will try to close the bearing up . So , if you were looking at the bearing from the side as a “ U ,” it would start closing the top of the U together . For

instance , a Hemi rod bearing will come out of the box measuring 2.52- 2.53 ” across the top of the U . If the bearing measures 2.499 or less after a run , it is either detonating or may just have too many runs on the bearing . Not only will I try to address the issue with the tuneup , I will discard any bearing that measures below that .

When things are going good and smooth , it is tempting

to slack off on recordkeeping . More than once , recordkeeping has helped me quickly fix a problem when it arises . One time we had a bearing issue out of nowhere . By having logged measurements of every run , I was able to go back and look at that cylinder to see if it had been picking on the bearing in previous runs . Since it hadn ’ t , I was able to look into other areas . Without detailed records , it may have been tempting to blame it on the tune up .

Not only is it very important to

keep track of tune-up data , it is as important , if not more , to keep detailed notes on the amount of runs parts have on them . Without detailed notes of how many runs parts have on them , it ’ s very easy to lose track and have a parts failure that likely could have been prevented . I usually try to do this after the race is done before the car is loaded up . This helps in knowing what parts may need to be replaced and / or ordered for the next race . The weekend is fresh on your mind , so better notes can be made .

While many people keep track of their tune-up data on paper , I prefer to use an Excel spreadsheet . This allows me to look at more runs sideby-side rather than flipping back and forth on paper . It also isn ’ t that hard to create formulas to automatically populate split times . Most data loggers have options to log info , as do some weather station programs . I prefer to look at several things on one sheet , so I use Excel . When it comes to parts , I prefer to take written notes in a binder while working on the car .

Smartphones can help as well . When racing a dial-in class like Top Dragster , I will write the weather on a time slip and take a picture of it . This gives me a “ quick reference ” log book for making the dial-in call in the staging lanes .

When someone buys one of my Top Alcohol crew manuals , I supply them with my log book templates and an Excel file . As a courtesy to DRAG ILLUSTRATED readers , I will make these files available for download on DragIllustrated . com . DI