new racer, help!

[majorfan88]

Hi guys. Now this may sound silly, but I've loved driving ever since I could (putting at least 4k miles on my cars per month since my first car) just driving around for fun. I've always thought if I could, I'd really love to race, but the catch is I don't actually know much about cars. I can't afford to go out and buy a finished race car, and I couldn't re-do one (wouldn't even know where to start), so does anyone happen to have any ideas on how I could get into this? I'm a musician who just happens to have a passion for cars with no actual knowledge and the more I try and find out through the internet, the more confused I become. Help!
Thanks :)

[MEMRACING62]

what type of racing are you looking to get into, if its drag racing a great place to start is locate your local drag strip and find out when there test & tune days are and take your daly driver car there for a day of fun & see if its for you. when your there talk to the guys there to get an idea of what you want to do.good luck & welcome to the forum. :)

[majorfan88]

Yes, probably drag racing. Do tracks like that stay open this late in the year? How much am I going to be laughed at bring my daily driver (chevy aveo 5 speed...)? I'm so excited to go out to a race! Thanks :-)

[slowmotion]

Let them laugh. Practice, practice, practice. Then go a back on a bracket night and put a few of them out. I won a ton of money with a 17-18sec Cutlass. Even tack champ one year.

Besides, as long as you are having fun, who cares what they say?

Here let me get the first one out of the way.

Racing an Aveo is like "dating" a fat girl. It's all fun till your friends find out. :shock: :D

JK, go have some fun!

[MEMRACING62]

whos going to laugh at you....the guy in the ford focus lined up next to you? go have fun! if you can get consistant with your aveo you can bracket race it & even make a couple bucks for fun.

[482]

AVEO ? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

If you could have seen the stuff I have raced through the years, it would
make you feel GOOD about your Aveo :oops: :cry:

Besides if your looking to see who's laughing instead of concentrating on the business at hand your gonna get on the wagon (or drive home) real early.

Relax and have fun!

[zipper06]

Yes by all means go to your local track, KCIR is close, test and tune learn the basics of the tree, make a few passes, no matter what car you have, just have some fun.

Prime example my Nephew is now 24 yrs. old, never been to a drag strip. I took him to Twin Cities in late 2009, he's got a Chevy Colorado estended cab, one of the ones with a Ricer 5 cylinder motors. He made a couple passes in the low 17's and had .700 plus lights on the tree, he was hooked. He came home and sent the trans valve body off to get it modified. About a month later, we went again, and there was a kid with a Ricer front wheel drive, fancy paint and all. The kid must have had every friend he had there, maybe 30 people around his car. So it just happens that he lines up with my Nephew, and my Nephew burned him bad with his Colorado ran 16.20. now here is the funny part, he didn't stop talking about it for a month, not even realising the the engine in his Colorado was a Ricer engine also. He's now slowly building something REALLY DIFFERENT, an AMX Gremlin with a sm/blk and i gave him a set of slicks for his 24th B'day. Our local track was closed in 2010 but is supposed to reopen in 2011. I can't wait.

Zip.

[slowmotion]

http://www.dragzine.com/features/editorials-opinions/top-10-tips-for-your-first-time-at-the-dragstrip/

http://crossbonesracing.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=101

[majorfan88]

Now I'm really excited, thanks everyone! But...I am a little bit more scared after reading the "top 10 tips". Do I really need to have those extra parts and whatnot for my car? I wouldn't know what to do with them...
The other things is I checked out KCIR's website and rules and I had no real idea what most of it meant. For instance: "All must have neutral safety switch and reverse lockout." Would a basic car have that?
It's just all a little bit confusing to me...but I think I'm going to watch a race this saturday (if it's not rained out), then perhaps race myself next saturday! :)

[majorfan88]

I guess what I'm asking is do I really need a mechanic there with me to keep looking my car over? What are the chances ill break something when my car only has 15k miles on it and seems to be in perfect condition?

[slowmotion]

All cars come equipped with a neutral safety switch. You'll be just fine.
All you ahould need is long pants (No Shorts), a shirt with sleeves (short sleeves are fine) and close toes shoes (no sandals or flip flops).

You can just drive the car through on the first pass. Go as fast as you are comfortable going. You can always pick up the pace on the next pass.

Watch the other guys to see where the starting line actually is. It's not right up by the tree.

Courtesy staging- You pull up and light your top yellow. You should wait for the other driver to light his top yellow before you slowly move up and light your 2nd yellow.

Leave on the last(3rd) yellow. If you wait for the green you'll be way late.

The finish line is the last foan block in the middle of the track.

Your Reaction time does NOT figure into your elapsed time.

Think about or find out where the turn offs are at the end of the track BEFORE you make a pass. NEVER, NEVER back up or turn around on the track.

If you get there early, Tell them it's your first time and maybe somebody will walk you through it.

[slowmotion]

Be sure to let us know how it goes. Good or Bad.