D.I. COLUMNIST
Tuned Up
with Will Hanna
THE LINE
B
y definition, in drag rac-
ing, the first car to the fin-
ish line wins. In my last two
columns, I touched base on prepa-
ration and record keeping. In this
column, we will focus on getting to
the starting line prepared to win.
Having a regimented staging
lanes routine and process is often
overlooked. There’s a lot of oppor-
tunity for mistakes here, and it’s the
last chance to make changes. This is
also where the driver and the crew
will get their “game face” on. From
the time the car is ready to go for the
next run to the starting line, win-
ning teams usually have a well-oiled
machine.
A checklist is a big aid in making
sure everything is done on the car
and you have what you need to go to
the line. Having a starting line tool-
box or tray is a big help as well. That
way the things that need to go to the
lanes and the starting line stay with
the tow vehicle. Some teams will
take their entire tool tray to the line.
That is often a little overkill, but at
least you will have tools. I prefer to
make a list of things you could pos-
sibly need to change in the staging
lanes, and have the according tools
in a smaller toolbox that always goes
to the lanes.
If you are a new team or have new
crewmembers, take a few minutes
to have a team meeting and go over
responsibilities. I have been around
teams that were either new or dis-
organized and it seemed like it took
10 minutes or more from the time
they were called (or made the deci-
sion to pull out) to the lanes and the
time they actually pulled out of the
pit. Inevitably after a few minutes,
people start hurrying, and that can
lead to mistakes.
Regardless of your routine, it
starts by having the car ready to pull
out of the pit. I’ll often see a team
that is standing around, but the car
is still up on jacks, the driver hasn’t
gotten their gear loaded up or got in
their suit. Get as much as you can
done so when they say it’s time to
go, literally you just need to push out
of the pit. It’s just as easy to stand
around and bullshit ready to go as it
is to do it before you’re ready to go.
Once you’re in the lanes, obvi-
ously there needs to be defined
roles for everyone. Ideally if you
have enough crew, whoever is tun-
ing the car needs to be in a position
where they can go to the starting
line before the car pulls out. The
more time you have to look at the
line, the lanes, etc., the more time
you have to make decisions. As the
rounds go later and the lanes move
faster, you have less time in the
lanes, so if you have the crew and
a good process in place, the tuner
should be able to trust the team to
get the car to the lanes.
Case in point – I was working
for a team last year at the Topeka
national event. We were racing sec-
ond round on Sunday around 12:30
p.m. Anyone that has raced Topeka
knows it’s a long haul from the Top
Alcohol pits to the line. The routine
with this team was once the car was
pushed out, two of the crewmem-
bers rode with me to the line in the
golf cart. It had been fairly cool all
weekend and I anticipated a track
temp around 110-112 degrees.
We were the last pair, there was
a small issue with something, and
we were a little late getting out of
the pit. By the time we got to the
lanes, we were literally three pairs
back from the line. I had a hopped-
up gear ratio in it, which probably
would have worked in Saturday’s
cloud cover. I barely had time
to sho ot the starting line temp,
which was 122 degrees and pretty
thin. Clearly, not what I expected. I
made a few quick adjustments, but
we smoked the tires instantly. Being
rushed, I overlooked a change that
may have got it hooked up. All I had
time to do was grab the laptop, drag
some timing lines down, save and
send the file and throw a few flats
on the barrel valve. After I tight-
ened the barrel valve, they told us to
fire up. Moral of the story: I didn’t
have any business hanging around
to push the car out. Had I been on
the line, I could have had enough
time to think about a better plan.
The result may well have been the
same, but I would have damn sure
had a better shot at it.
On top of making any tune-up
changes, you need to find your “line”.
At a national event, or any event
that frequently uses a tire rotator
or drags, you need to make a note
of where the groove is. At some
tracks, it’s pretty clear where the
down-track groove is. At a national
event, the rubber is often so fresh off
the rotator, it’s not clearly defined.
In a high-horsepower car, more of-
ten than not, the centerline of the
groove down-track is the best spot
to be. Grooves typically migrate to
the centerline due to driver’s natural
avoidance of the wall. Sometimes
you have to avoid a bald spot, but
rarely is it the best call to move com-
pletely out of the down-track line to
avoid a bald spot. Sometimes you
have to figure out what is the best
“damned if you do” decision.
In closing, getting to the starting
line is a very important process to
making successful runs. Every car
and team will need to have their
own routine, but sticking to that
routine should set the stage for pre-
dictable results. Next month, we’ll
take a look at what happens on the
track.
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