My local dragway has street nights throughout the season. All my buddies are planning on going. I know i'm not gonna beat the gassers, but if anyone has any experience at the dragway, or any advise to get a few extra mph on a 2017 powerstroke it would be nice to beat some other diesels in the group. also I'm just going for fun, not looking to spend thousands making a drag truck lol.

 

Not much will help with stock tires on a prepped track. Just ease it out of the hole....

 

I took my prior truck to the drag strip near Denver (Bandimere) and it was a blast. I was a total newbie but the guys around me and the track folks were very helpful. I was in street trim on street tires. There was so much rubber at the starting line that there was zero slip. My first race was against a Subaru Outback. I looked at it and naively thought what's he doing here? I blew him off the start and about at the 1/8 mile mark he blew past me. He was supercharged. Lesson learned. I did end up beating two cop cars, badly. I beat everyone off the line except for a guy in a hopped up Chevelle.

Go on the (last?) yellow light, not the green. There are web sites that you can practice your reaction time against the tree. Do that so you're not left flat footed on the line staring at a rear bumper.

There are guys that will launch in 4x4 if they can't get traction. I would try 4x2 first. I never needed 4x4. Plus, you'll lose some power to the front differential. You may want to power brake so that you give the turbo a chance to spool up a bit. Don't do it hard or for long so you don't damage or heat up the transmission. I'm not sure if this is a good idea in our trucks.

When you get back in line idle for a minute and then pop the hood to reduce the heat soak. Our staging line was downhill towards the start line so we could make it to two spots prior to the start without starting the engine.

Do some weight reduction. 1/4 tank of fuel, nothing in the bed or under the back seat. Lose the spare tire. Air the tires up to max PSI. No passengers.

My son attached his GoPro to various places on and under the truck. Here's the video:

 

Go on the (last?) yellow light, not the green. There are web sites that you can practice your reaction time against the tree. Do that so you're not left flat footed on the line staring at a rear bumper.

There are guys that will launch in 4x4 if they can't get traction. I would try 4x2 first. I never needed 4x4. Plus, you'll lose some power to the front differential. You may want to power brake so that you give the turbo a chance to spool up a bit. Don't do it hard or for long so you don't damage or heat up the transmission. I'm not sure if this is a good idea in our trucks.

When you get back in line idle for a minute and then pop the hood to reduce the heat soak. Our staging line was downhill towards the start line so we could make it to two spots prior to the start without starting the engine.

Do some weight reduction. 1/4 tank of fuel, nothing in the bed or under the back seat. Lose the spare tire. Air the tires up to max PSI. No passengers.

My son attached his GoPro to various places on and under the truck. Here's the video:
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Good stuff thanks man. I should probably have mentioned I did race before in my old truck, a 5.7 toyota tundra. My worst problem was getting it to launch, I had a ton of axle rap. I like the 1/4 tank of fuel. Thats alot of weight with the size of the tank on my truck.

 

 

 

When I was at the track it was 94 degrees out. Nobody was running their A/C...except for the guy in the Nissan GT-R. He was sitting in his car with the engine running enjoying to A/C. And he still dominated everybody. That was one fast car.

 

Traction bars

GL and have fun!

 

 

Oh, one other thing: Turn off the traction control. There is a thread around here somewhere that goes into the details of how to get it into "Sport" mode as I recall. I'm a little fuzzy on it since I have yet to use that button. Turning off the traction control may help keep the truck from retarding the engine and applying the brakes when it detects wheel slip.

 

Lower your rear tire pressures, raise your fronts...as little rolling resistance as possible. Two feet at the line...hold the brake with the left and get ready with the right. I believe these trucks are throttle by wire and they don't like you having the brake and throttle pushed at the same time...but it gives you a couple seconds before cutting power. You may want to test this on a road before hitting the strip, because if you can (even briefly) get on the throttle to wind up the turbo...that will only help you on your launch. Most of all...have fun!