Ok So I finalyl went to the drag strip for the first time ever this weekend.
Gateway International Raceway in St Louis, MO. It was 90+degrees at 10pm and humid as hell. I had stock tire pressure and have a 04 stock touring 6 speed. i ran a 14.6 at 97mph and a 2.2 60ft time, this was also my first run on the drag strip ever. Supposedly the times were .5 to 1sec slower than normal. Is this a bad run for my first time.

Now my ?'s
What kind of tire pressure should I run at the track?
What should I launch at?
Should I speed shift (keep the gas down and shift) or just shift normal?

Also any other ideas or tips woudl help as well.

i think i am going to go to my local track that is 1hr away in a few weeks to try this again as there i only got 3 passes in 4 hours so it sucked. The place i will be going to I should be able to get a lot of passes in one night.

 

It just takes practice.

Start off by cleaning off the tires with a couple of quick spins before you pull up to the line. Then start your launches at around 3K rpms, and work up from there, feathering out the clutch. Always go for it on the last yellow, as you will start moving after the green doing so, due to reaction time.

Make sure you wait for the last yellow though, do not anticipate it, or you will redlight.

Set your shift light at 6,900 and shift as soon as it lights up, as quickly as possible. This also takes practice if you are not use to shifting fast.

If you can get your launch down, and follow these tips, you will knock off a lot of time on your passes. The main thing is that you work on the launch, and the shifting, as shifting to early drops you too low in the rpms on your upshift. You want to make it just shy of the limiter, thus the light being set at 6,900.

Try it out, and see how it goes.