Finish line driving techniques

[Mike Pearson]

Originally Posted by HR9121

I don't run it anymore but when I did I was in the 125-128 neighborhood and liked being the slower car. Look at it this way, you have the first opportunity to get there. Even now I run I/SA and 90% of the time I am the slower car. It always helps to know what you are running ET wise but the best advise I ever got was you cant be afraid of giving up the stripe every once in a while in order to make it tight. One other thing I always try to do is before the run is familiarize myself with my opponent's mph and where I think they should be in any given moment on the track compared to me during the run. In other words how the run should play out in my head before the race ever actually happens. Good luck.

Very good advise in this post. Racing at any of the NHRA events is tough. running over several day can be an issue if the weather changes so you need good data from all types of conditions to dial your car in. in your case set the throttle stop timer. When you are the slow car the best bet is to be better on the tree and run closer to the number than your opponent. I run a super stock car and am usually the first to leave on most runs. I rarely get to lift at the top end and maybe just tap the brake at the very end of the run.