I was just curious how many of you guys push your car up the lines while waiting to stage rather than just keep the car running and driving it...im fairly new to going to the track and i saw alot of guys pushing their cars up the lines so i started doing it too... i was just curious to know if this has any effect at all on performance while going down the strip or is people doing it just because "everyone else does"....

Jon

 

This is pure show. I watch these guys week after week pushing their cars through the staging area. If you are letting your car cool properly after each run, starting it and shutting it off in the staging lane will not make any difference in the temp and even if it does there is nothing to suggest it will help your time.

Do the fan mod if you do want to contribute a bit to the cooling during this period. Open you hood let the heat out. Use nitrous it does a great job of cooling the intake.

If you want to look cool go ahead and push it. If you really want to look cool get a couple of friends to help you. If your car runs in the 10 sec bracket its probably ok as well, otherwise?

If you want to impress people wait until everyone is looking and let the air pressure off your fuel tank by opening the gas cap. Tell them it reduces your 1/4 time by .15 seconds.

Having a really loud muffler helps impress people too until they see your time. We have one guy that runs an open header, has decals plastered all over his car, runs slicks etc etc and does mid 17 sec quarters.

 

hahahahahahahahaha

 

Depending on how fast the line is moving, I just leave the car off and keep the hood opened. On slow days the car stays off.

 

Depends on how long of a wait I have. If I have a really long wait like over 45 minutes and I think conditions might be conducive to running a personal best I'll leave the car off the entire time in the line to keep the intake manifold as cool as possible. If weather conditions suck and I'm running .2 seconds off pace anyways, or if I have a relatively short wait ahead of me, I don't bother pushing, as the minimal cooling effect you do get from leaving it off won't make any difference.

 

I've never seen anyone with a 10s or slower car push their car up to the line.

Hell, if I ever did I think I'd have to go smack them...and I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one.

 

 

too bad I didn't see that @ st. thomas

 

I leave my car on now and run the AC all the way up to the staging...why sweat it right?

 

I'll help.

 

I usually keep the engine off and push it through the staging lanes until I reach the tower or about 2-3 cars from the starting line. Unlike most of you I have an aftermarket temp gauge and the difference between a 180*F run and a 205-210*F run is about 2-4 tenths and 0.5-1mph trapspeed. If I left my se-r idle for the entire time it would be heat soaked and the coolant temp hovers around 195-205*F. That is with the heat on full blast too. You guys would be surprised how much a 20*F change in coolant temp does for your ET.

 

Just wondering...how slow do your staging lanes move?

At my local track, once our lines start to move, they don't stop until they are out of cars...so you basically NEED to start the car once the line starts moving.

Is that not normal?

 

Ours moves a little slower than that but starting the car for 10 secs to move ahead every couple of minutes is miniscule. I have also tried back to back runs close together ie 10 mins or less and no difference in et. Each to their own I guess. But pushin ain't in my vocabulary.

 

I get on a kick sometimes and run my car 5-6 times right in a row...there are so many other factors that come into play that the temp is a small one. I do usually run my best when the engine is cold, but this last time I had my new personal best on the 3rd run within 3 minutes of the first and second.

 

Are these NHRA tracks you guys are pushing your cars at? At NED you can't push your car, hell you can't even be out side your car after a certain point..

 

Yes they are NHRA tracks, we are talking about the staging area though, not the burnout or tree area.

 

Ahh, I see, I guess they don't do it at my track's staging area because it's up hill . On occasion I catch folks folding the mirrors though, lol..

 

Last time I went, I ended up pushing the car. Felt stupid doing it, but it was like a half hour wait between runs. We'd move like 10 ft., then wait 5 min. and move 10 more ft. I didn't feel like letting the car just sit there and idle, had nothing to do with heat, just didn't feel like wasting the gas. Plus all the other guys were doing it.

 

I have tried both ways. As shadow pointed out, at our track it's a really long wait usually. I have tried turning off the car and pushing, and I have tried turning on to just move/hood open.

I have found that my best times comes with the car the coolest. I have done the back to back runs, I have done the 45 min between runs, I have done the 10 min between runs; I always run better times when the car is colder than when it's hot.

But that's just me.

 

Looks like we have a hung jury half of you think it does make a difference while the other half doesnt....at the track us west coast boys go to there is usually a 20 minute plus wait until you can actually reach the water box and we all know what summer time is so cal is like....we have another track meet dec 15 hopefully the temps will be cooler

Jon

 

might have a longer wait now.............. but man i hate pushing my car. i get lazy about half way trough then get in start it and move it up.
hhahhahahaha the funnest thing was when john seen you pushing your car and he started pushing his car as well

 

I would not be caught pushing my car. We have guys in our club running 10.9s @ 125mph and they run the car all the way up to the start. It seems the slow cars are the pushed ones.

 

You shouldn't do that either. Water drips off the condenser and gets all over the staging area.

 

IF the starter sees anything dripping from under your car, you don't run, plain and simple. Thats why rad overflows are mandatory too, for cars of any et. Water is ok for the waterbox but not for the tree.

If you have sat at the track and waited for 2 hrs while they clean up the because someone broke and spilled tranny fluid, oil, antifreeze and water etc you will understand how frustrating it is. It also helps a gread deal if you pull over to the side of the track when something breaks too.

You can run the A/C if you pull the relay, it will then run your fans full time which will help cool your car.

 

I usually see the heavily modded/non muffled/non street legal cars pushed.

I see it this way, if you push your car up to the line, you better back it up with a good time.

This what some of the muscle car owners laugh at. They see you push a car up the line and watch you run a slow time when compared to theirs.

But then again, you can have a 12 sec pass and they will still comment on how slow you are.

 

If you are going for a personal best who cares what some jacka$$ with a trailered in 11 second car thinks about your maxima.

 

i pushed mine during import/efi challenge races because i needed all the help i could get, and yes there is a certain temp range that the car does perform better.

heat soak the car and run it for bracket challenges. that way you know what the slowest time will be.

a cold car will will always perform better then one thats been running for a long period of time {IE sitting in line.}

 

Hell no I don't push the ride. Those things are heavy!

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

Well, you could play it safe and leave it running while you push it through.

 

I push my car to show how strong i am

 

And how far do you get?

 

Duh what????