[Alan Roehrich]

If you're looking for the car to be smooth and controllable, I suggest CalTracs bars, their split mono leaf spring, and their shocks on the back. On the front, a six cylinder spring, since you have a small block and fiberglass, and Santuff shocks. You need the Global West bushings and upper control arm shaft, and the Moog ball joints, you want the top ball joint to be 1" longer than stock. I'd suggest a set of 48" sprung wheelie bars.

You use the front shocks and bump stops to set how high the car comes up. There's nothing inherently dangerous of difficult about the car pulling the front wheels a couple feet off the track, provided you've done all the work and used the right parts. It will be consistent, reliable, it'll go straight, and be easy to drive.

For that engine, by the way, I'd use a 5.14, or better still, a 5.38. The car will work better, and be easier to get a good light out of with more gear. That is especially true for a footbrake bracket car, and even more so for a car that runs 1/8 mile at all.

The Hoosier radial is the tire of choice. It's consistent, does not require a hard burnout, it hooks, and it lasts.