I got my junky 71 Grabber that I just bought cleaned up a bit, tuned up a bit and ready for some 1/8th mile racing in San Diego, CA. The last time I dragged raced was in 1987 when I was 15 with my 72 Grabber, but it was a 1/4 mile at Bandimere in Colo. My Grabber now seams to go really good, but is bone stock. I plan on just getting some times of the car as I bought it, stock and original so that I can compare in the future as I do improvements. It feels like a 16 second 1/4 mile car (sea level), but I have no idea what that translates to 1/8th mile. Should be fun just to open her up. -Erick
A 16 second 1/4 would give you around a 10.2-3. Most of us have a tendancy to expect more. Don't be too disappointed if it's a little slower. But you never know until you try! (save yourself some time and aggrivation by putting some drag radials on it if you have the luxury). Good luck, have fun getting back into the hobby and let us know how it went.
Yeah, I'm sure it will be pretty slow, but you gotta start somewhere. I grew up at the race track and 99 percent of the people that thought there car was fast turned out to go really slow. It takes alot of tuning, setup, equipment and driver practice. It's a fun process though. Thanks for the advice. -Erick
What a fun time. You were right, I couldn't keep the tires from spinning for a long ways. After some practice I was able to feather the gas and get it to go a 10.1 in the 1/8th at 70mph. Best reaction time of 0.534. I thought it was pretty amazing for a 33 year old car that is bone stock and has been sitting on a farm for 15 years. It still appears to have the original radiator hoses and clamps and there is still a dead spider and cobwebs next to the carb. I think I'll get some street slicks and change out all the point, plugs, etc. The other thing I was thinking of doing was changing out rear ends on my 2 Mavs. The one I raced has a 2.79 and my other one has a 3.00. It would be an easy swap but I don't know if it would be worth it because they are so close in ratio. -Erick
Not bad for a 33 y/o stocker. Do all those things you say and you should pick up 2-3 10ths. I agree with you on the gear change. If your'e going to go through the trouble of changing the gears may as well go taller (depending on how much you drive the car). Sounds like you've been re-bitten by the racing bug. Good luck and keep us posted on the progress.
