I got the bug again to make my car more strip than street. (The dream of an all out strip car - cage- towed to the track - front wheels in the air - is on hold) I drive my Skylark around town a little and to dragway 42 (the garden spot of tracks) which is about 30 miles one way. The car has 325/50 which I think are 28" tall. Currently the motor is a stock 455. 12 bolt posi 342 ratio Turbo 400 trans I mainly do not want to spend my money in the wrong spots.
We run 3:42 with 28" tires. I have heard that going to a 3:73 or more gear does not help the strip times with the BBB.
You have to determine whether your using slicks or not. If you are carting your slicks you can go 3.73. The 3.42 will be great if your not swapping tires because really any ratio will just go up in smoke at the track with any health engine or esspecially Big Block bore motors with gobbs of low end torque like the Buick. If you are going to REALLY race this car you should work on some sort of way to get the power to the ground. Slicks are the best way. Some people use a Drag Radial but if you really want to get the 60 foots your car can do and the E.T. you NEED SLICKS! Period. It will take a normal person about 15-20 minutes to swap the tires and you will not even need a big tire. 27-29" x 8-9 " wide slick will more than do the job on any steel rim. Slick will improve your ET by about 1 full sec in most High torque cars. So if your doing 14.00 you will do 13.00 because of all the time you will make up in the FIRST 60 foot of the track. Good luck in your choice. Hit the swap meets and look for some used ones they will go from 200-400 for some already mounted. That is money well spent. Make sure they are NOT dry rotted. If they look OLD they probably are. Take a set of newer half used slicks over some NEW old timer slicks . jim
