Oh No, I Entered a Drag-And-Drive!
Maybe you’ve been a lurker, a live stream viewer, a magazine reader, or all of the above and you convinced yourself to procure an entry into your closest or favorite drag and drive event. Great job getting in, because most of these events sell out in minutes and you’ve completed your first task. But now comes the next stage: panic. How the heck do you drag-and-drive?
Step One: Choose Your Vehicle
You can’t drag-and-drive without a vehicle of some kind. Maybe you’ve got a ride you’ve had in the garage for a long time looking for a path to completion, or you’ve got a drag car you’re going to convert for street duty, or perhaps you’re looking to buy something perfect for you. No matter how you begin the journey, don’t forget to have a plan, and to think street-centric. If you imagine some of the rat trap cars you’ve seen on the dragstrip, those 1320 feet will be the easy portion. Making that bucket of bolts drive a few hundred miles every day for a week is going to be the difficult part. Bringing us to…
Step Two: Build Smart
When you’re building/buying/ordering pieces and parts for this car, consider the longevity and heat cycling of parts. The typical drag car will have lightweight parts in places to make the car and engine components lighter, trading off heft and reliability for lightness and fragility. This is NOT the way to build a drag-and-drive car. Things like aluminum rockers, aluminum connecting rods, gigantic external electric fuel pumps, a teeny radiator with an electric water pump, and huge valve springs are going to play havoc on your program shortly into your week. All of these items are fine for your drag race monster that you call a street car to drive five miles to Cars And Coffee once a month, but when you’re all alone, 400 miles from your tow rig, your build choices may start to haunt you.
There are some typically “drag race only” parts that have proven themselves on drag-and-drive over the years, however. Pro gears (rear end gears that are made of a softer metal and with a larger pinion shaft) have proven themselves in many a drag-and-drive car. The use of a spool, a device that locks both rear tires together to delete any differential action in the rear end, has also been shown effective on a street car that sees miles.
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Step Three: Testing
Fast forward and you’ve built or bought your ride and the event is getting closer... it’s time to drive your shit (you know there’s a shirt for that)! Go put miles on it and shake it down. TRY AND BREAK IT! You’ll wish you had broken whatever weak link you’ve found close to home rather than a thousand miles away trying to fix it in some podunk town with a stick welder from a farmer. Tweak it as you go. If it’s running hot, figure out a better radiator or fan/shroud setup. If it’s miserable to drive, make changes now.
If you’re lucky, you might even get in some track testing. But often people prioritize track testing over the street, when it should be the other way around.
Positively the most important thing you can do though is to start to work out of the toolbox you’re bringing with you on the road. If you have to go to your home toolbox for a tool more than once, you need to plan on packing that tool for the road. Speaking of which…
Step Four: What To Bring
There’s a method to the madness of what to bring with you. A good rule of thumb is if you built your ride with anything NOT available at a typical parts store or even junk yard, you need to bring a spare. Use my old Army addag: “two is one and one is none.” Murphy’s Law is, if you have some wacky piece on your car, it’ll be the piece that leaves you figuring out a ride back to your truck and trailer on day three. Electric water pumps, one wire alternators, big ol’ fuel pump(s), crazy valvetrain components. Even if you have a semi-rare car that uses factory parts still, but they’re hard to come by, buy and pack a spare. Some folks (not naming names) will buy these weirdo items, take them along, and if they don’t use the part during the week, simply return it after they’re done (modern problems require modern solutions).
Bring your essential tools. A few comforts like a pop-up tent, cooler and chairs can make all the difference to your mood during the week.
That said, it is possible to bring too much. Trailer weight is a factor in transmission heat, so be careful.
This obviously isn’t an all-inclusive list, and many of these items will change depending on what you’re wheeling. Use your head when you’re planning the build and ask questions to folks that have a few stripes. Bonus points if they have a ride like yours, pick their brain! Most of them are not scary and are hoping that you complete your first drag-and-drive too!
Your specific event likely has a social media page for competitors, so ASK QUESTIONS! You’re not in the cool kid’s club just yet because you’re not quite having parking lot beers on the last day with people you’ve only seen in magazines before, but if you go as prepared as possible, the odds of you being at that hotel just looking forward to your final pass to complete your week will be much better if you do your due diligence in the weeks and months before your event kicks off.
Written by Adam Dorey.
