[casper]

Aubrey ... heres my .02 from what I have learned from my car ..67 Camaro F/S .. you have seen it in the Hat before . You stated :
"There are 11 full "turns" of the adjuster bolts, from nothing to max.
This is set 4 1/2 "in". .... if you have 11 turns available , and are 4 1/2 in from full out (which is max pressure) then that is leaving you at 6.5 turns "out" from base ... which is probably too much . That static pressure, along with counter weight pressure is more than likely contributing to blowing the tires off ... In my car , with 6 turns (out)in the clutch I can 60' in the 1.55-1.57 range and spin the tires on the gear change. With 2.5-3 turns "out" I can 60' in the 1.48-1.51 range and the gear changes are a little smoother ... so-to-speak.
There is a fine line between "going fast" and "going rounds" as any stick racer will tell ... Rob Youngblood has too much of my money for "freshening jobs" .. but thats a different story.
Tire pressure .... in my car (3215 lbs.) leaving at 6200-6800 I can get away with as little as 10.5 lbs .. but 12.0 seems to be the best. Some of those B/S 396 cars can run low pressure and get away with it .. so you should be able to get down there without running on the rims.
my best advice to you would be to buy a Autometer Ultimate II tach that will give you data about driveshaft speed and engine RPM. At least that way you can visualize when, and for how long the tires are spinning, or not spinning.
If you are going to be at Medicine Hat , stop by the trailer and I can show you the data I've collected with my tach... show you the difference of a 1.50 60' verses a 1.59 60'.

Mike