The Art of Backpedaling

By Norm Weekly

In the thousands of online drag racing discussions, I am surprised nobody has brought up backpedaling. The Orange car never really did good until I learned to drive that way. When the car would light the tires, I would slowly back out of the throttle until she quit free wheeling and then slowly eased back into the throttle. I learned this by accident. We shared a shop with Porter and Ries and one night I heard Steve tell Herb that at the Beach, or Lions, that was how he drove the car because the track was so slippery. I tried and it and it worked like a charm. 

Of course I never told them that I had overheard their conservation (wide evil nasty grin). Never went to the brake handle deal until the slider clutch came in. Also with the slider clutch, when I would fire the car I would engage the clutch just a little and get on the brake hard after the car was running to get the clutch hot so it would slip more. I am sure I am not the only one who did this.

Norm
Storminnormin@rraz.net