Well anybody that says that because 69s have multi-leaf springs that they really don't need any additional traction devices must have brown eyes because they are totally full of bullsh.. I thought the rear end blew it was so bad. The Lakewood's are going back on this weekend. Man, that was embarassing. I don't see how you guys with the 455s hold those things down. My 400 chirped the tires hitting 4th gear at about 80mph(with street tires of course).
They call it Infineon Raceway now. Formerly Sears Point, in Sonoma. They run NHRA and Nascar there. They just redid the place a couple of years ago. It's nice now. Does get cold though. Practically had to kick my dad out of the car to take the pic last night.
Robert, I'm dating myself here, but my friends and I used to go Wednesday night drags at Fremont raceway back in the 80s, which was a drag race only track. The track was extremely slippery at the starting point. Anyone with street tires was sure to sit and spin unless you featherfooted the launch. Slicks was the only cure, but if you could get away with a dry burnout without getting kicked out, it would soften your tires and helped quite a bit. It wasn't just the big blocks that had this problem, it was anyone with a V8 musclecar.
The tracks I went to usually didn't have a problem with me going around the water, then backing up to the pad to light the radials up. Going through the water first would kill the 60' times. The water is really for slicks or cheater slicks.
Ironically the traction on the street was much better.
You absolutely have to have traction bars for a good 60 foot time with leaf springs! I have heard that Infineon Raceway is an excellent track. I would definitely stay away from slicks. On a frameless first gen the rule is 'Wrinkle Walls = Wrinkled Quarters". I got into the low 12's in one of my 69's with BFG drag radials and traction bars. OK, ok, I used Nitrous!
Really the only reason I backed into the water in the first place was to try to get a little tire smoke for the pic. No line lock tho so it aint gonna happen. Tires did warm up pretty good though. Of course everybody out there is running Slide-a-Links. No slicks until I save up enough for a new set of axles first. John, I think in the 80's they called it Baylands. I remember going there for "Fox Hunt" nights. I think it stopped being Fremont Dragstrip in the early 70's. Now who's dating themselves?
Had a chance to buy a pair of Hoosiers today(15x9.50) for $20 at the swap meet. Oh man that was tempting. They were used but still had plenty of passes left on them. I passed on them because I figured it'd be a PITA to swap tires at the track and then again to go home.
Talk about a PITA! I used to take my exhaust off, race, and then put it back on for the trip home. I'm an idiot! With the exhaust off I was soooo much faster, NOT!!!
I remember years back being at my friend's Uncles shop. One of his other friends was there with his 69' Chevelle (with a mild rebuilt 305) getting it tuned for a couple hours to race it that night.
We all went out there, and as soon as he got to the pits he was ripping of the exhaust. I asked my friend "isn't that going to throw off all that tuning they just spent half a day doing?" He just shrugged his shoulders.
Another story, two youngens in a early Nova. I was running my '93 Z28 that day (13.8s). At the track, the Nova guys uncorked the exhaust, and mounted slicks (I ran same street tires that got me there). They clicked off mid 14's. Not bad, but I'm guessing the exhaust was not holding them back (if anything it probably would've ran faster).
On the way home, they modified the 4 on their 14.50 dial in, to look like a 1. That kind of irritated me, so I got next to them and bugged them for a mile or so trying to get them to back it up (young and stupid). He wouldn't even look at me (probably remembered how fast my car was well)!
Last one I had my converter on my exhaust (same car) modified so that I could replace it with a straight pipe. Clicked off the usual times for a bit and then dropped the cat. Before installing the pipe, I just couldn't help but run it once with open exhaust. Without the backpressure it was loud and idled like a pro-stocker, but lost a couple tenths (which I figured). Put the pipe in and ran the same times as with the cat! I think I gave up some torque for top end power.
I have been in a 9 for 29 years, and I have never noticed any overabundance of traction, and something tells me that other owneres will say the same thing. Who said that the cars had plenty of traction?
I'd recommend putting a set of Cal-tracs on it instead of the slapper bars.
With me 469 there is NO traction even with 295 rubber on it. I need a set of caltracs and some sticky tires.....but will inevitibly need to new rear end shortly after.
Yeah but the slappers were free and already in my garage. Those other ones are about 350 bucks. Not worth it to me for a fraction of a sec. once a year.
Seriously??? If you happen to find a set let me know. I'd be interested in taking a look. There's a company that sells a set-up on ebay for 2 hun. They're the cal tracks design(no snubber action). Still too pricey for me. I might be into fabbing my own set though.
Thanks Drew. Think I'll start gathering some materials and put a set of these together when I get time this winter. Maybe sooner if I find it too much trouble to get around with what I have now.
Took a look at the front spring mounting bracket yesterday while I was under the car and it looks like there's going to be a bit of a conflict with the design of the bell crank and the bracket. Might have to adjust the piece some. Wish I had kept that spare spring and bracket in the basement now. */##@^!!!
.... and that's all I have to say.
Just power brake the heck out of it. Bill Its on BFGs 
