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wholeheartedly agreed Lou.....i actually have always been a drag racer, had my 1st drag race in my own ride that i was chief cook n bottle washer in 1963 on July 5th...a 1959 98 Olds convert, purchased over 2 years time working for an uncle( who was also my 1st race; and i lost, 5 of my last 7 bucks with his new 1963 Buick Riviera GS 425 2 x 4v, uncle left me on the launch n jus kept goin as long as i tried to chase em).
This taught me a few things: 1) never under estimate the comp or over estimate urself. 2) Tire spin, wheelstands etc are great for spectators, bad for racers. 3) The best working combo always wins the race and the most important ingredients in same r the driver n chief wrench. 4) about ur race ride, keep ur hood and ur mouth closed among competitors and or potential competitors.
As u might gather, my 1st race was a street race and though i have a vast amount of experience going to and racing at the track i yet prefer and do most of my actual racing on the street, mainly because for a little guy racer it pays better and i do NOT RACE FOR FREE, even if i sand bag and purposely loose i still bet( i do that quite a bit sometimes, mostly when and if i race someone at the track). I have on board timers for my rides that tho not completely acurate are quite consistant which serves the purpose of lettin me know if i have made an improvement or not and maintrain consistancy.
Now Street racing is ILLEGAL and contrary to popular belief there is absolutely nothing that law enforcement can do to u when caught that they could not always do. What happens if and when ur caught, as always depends on how the officer writes up the offense and that is dependant upon where and when ur caught and mostly ur demeanor and attitude with the officer. Also, there is a vast difference between a Street Racer and what most THINK is a street racer. The fast n Furious/Biker Boys movies gave rise to a vast number of STREET FOOLS and what we generally call STREET FOOLISH. IF u street race, u must assume the same responsibility for urself and others that u PAY the track to b responsible for and even then IF UR CAUGHT u weren't carefull enuff or considerate enuff of the circumstance of what ur doing; However, done right ur no safer at the track than on the street unless the track is next door to a big hospital with a great trauma unit.
In short STREET RACING is ILLEGAL with good reason as well it should b since this offers at least a measure of control of same. But don't kid urself, the only folk who make money at the track are the track owners and operations personel, everyone else, including the sponsors only SPEND money since ur never likely to make more than a mere fraction of ur investment back as a racer UNLESS ur a HEAVILY SPONSORED TEAM where ur actually not puttin much of anything out of YOUR pocket into the race car, EVEN if u have a driver and u drive to and from the track by the time u get home u've spent a bare minimum of 100 bucks or more especially if u actually RACE, and if u win u have beat hell out of ur ride all day makin any number of passes often to win no more than a 100 bucks clear if not just a trophy and bragging rights, if ur unlucky ya didn't win anything and if ur really unlucky u broke ur ride to boot. Don't Mistake all this as a justification for racing on the street, in my mind the only justification for doing something illegal is if its what needed to save ur life and or to feed ur family and or urself...this is just my reasoning and it isn't for everyone. In fact if i see some fool with the fast n furious crap going on im the 1st to call the cops and the only time i hang out at the local Street Race gathering spots is to play wolf in sheep clothing cull out some unsuspecting potential victim take em off n fleece em.
EVEN still, its all about the best working combination and that means the best combination for YOU and ur ultimate goal with ur ride, as u say, weight, gearing, even the rpm power band of the engine are all factors that must b accounted for. Ur Buddy or someone u read or heard about may have one hell of a combination going, maybe even in the same basic type of ride as u have, doesn't nessecarily mean thats going to work as well for YOU...besides no racer is going to tell YOU EVERYTHING!!!!!! not if they r smart and a winning racer is smart, simple as that.
As i said in other posts, even among so called pro racers, they all want to win but damn few of em want it to b a race and u'll b quite surprised at what they r willing to consider as a win. one of their buds says their ride looks or sounds faster than urs, thats a win. They propose a bet that ur unwilling to match, thats a win. ur ride breaks and they win, no mattter where u broke in the race they consider what they won by as if u ran ur best and didn't break( which is why whatever issue i have in a race i do my best to convince the competitor that was the absolute BEST i could do, that way u get a chance to avenge the loss.)
Something else i expect u have noticed over time is how many folk waste so much money tryin to go fast by constantly changing their combo w/o ever actually flooging out and maximizing the combo they already have, and bigger more expensive is NOT NESSECARILY always better.( In fact it most often is NOT BETTER, usually cause its a mismatch in ur combo) For Instance, i often run quicker with flat tappet hydraulic cams than do other folk with big solid roller cams, simply cause i have as better workin combo than they do. In point of fact, but for the TA all my hot rods are hydraulic flat tappet, and even the TA tho solid lifter is flat tappet...this because many things found in track race cars and in magazines do not lend themselves well to a street oriented vehicle. I have had ONE track only race car, way back in the early 70's, never had or wanted another one, in fact the last time i ran one of my rides uncapped exhaust was 76 and haven't had 1 that didn't have tail pipes since 81. I have built and or tuned and driven a number of turbo charged as well as supercharged hot rods but have never had or wanted one for myself, MY MOTO, keep it simple and as cheap as possible, another lesson learned early on back when my race budget was a whole lot tighter than it is now, yet for the past 21 years i have had winnin seasons where i actually made more than it cost me to field and race whatever number of rides i have raced during a season....on average i clear above expenses 4-7k a year without betting more than 500 on any one race out of my pocket. Another thing i learned a long time ago, BIG BETS result in BIG problems when ya win. some guy looses 100 or 2 and tho they may have some issues its not a real big deal, make that same bet 1k or more and when ya win there r all sorts of issues they r gonna have, then too a big bet in a street race is invariably gonna draw a BIG CROWD of spectators, many of whom are gonna b clowns and wanna b racers causein all manner of unwanted attention to, during and from the race.
As with spray i do not recommend street racing, i simply try to impart some of the wisdom i have gained over the years to anyone else who street races or is contemplating it. Also, all that ya may hear bout how street racers are scared to go to the track is BS, i have raced at tracks all over i have yet to race at one where it took half as much nerve to race as it does at the most safe and secluded spot on the street. At the track u don't have to know a whole lot about the comp goin in, all ya gotta do is watch the clocks to know who u can and can't deal with or whether or not u need to have a handicap to have a fair chance of winnin. At the track u don't have to worry about watching for cops. At the track, traction is goin to b optimized. At the track u don't have to worry about whether UR ride is safe or not, let alone the other guys ride, the techs are gonna insure that for ya, on the street these are all things u have to do for urself and THAT takes NERVE and expertise. At the track u only need to know as much as u can about whatever brand u may choose to run, on the street u better know nearly as much about what u compete against as u do what u compete with. No matter what comes up u have to have a good idea what the potential is and assume that the competitor is goin to achieve just that, if not better.
All in all, ur thoughts about hot rodding are succinct and wholely logical, as u say we have much the same outlook on it jus diff expressions to define it and somewhat diff concepts of how to achieve it...its always good to converse with someone like that, unless ur jus dense ur bound to learn something no matter how much ya THINK ya already know......keep the faith....