Four racing tips that can save you time, aggravation and $$$. Words and photos by Dale Wilson 5/7/04 Here are some more Quik Trix garnered from the Wilson household on how to race the right way, the safe way or the cheap way. It’ll take you only a matter of moments to read each, hence the name “Quik Trix.” They have helped us. Maybe they’ll help you.

LEFT SIDE, PLEASE

Check out this photo we took at the Grove. This savvy crewman has taken refuge behind the Grove’s full-length guard wall, well away from anything that might ka-bam or drop off the Camaro, far left. That’s the safest place of all.

I always mount my dragster from the left side, just like in mounting a horse. Now comes an idea from my chassis builder Tommy Harris of Fabrication Concepts in Douglasville, Georgia, the craftsman who is building my new front-engine bracket dragster.

Notice that the savvy crewman always stands on the left (driver’s side) of the race car when said is doing a burnout or being lined up in the staging beams. Why? There is a good reason for that --- since a running engine rotates counterclockwise, anything that might fly off, say a starter ring gear or a piece of flexplate weld, will fly off to the right side, resulting in an injury to the crewman. Stand on the right side and an exploding engine, trans or flexplate will inevitably head for that side, while in most cases, the flying pieces will miss the one on the left side simply because of inertia will direct the pieces to the

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right. We’ve seen one spectator standing on the right side near a dragster doing a burnout get hurt when a flexplate piece exited the underside of the car and headed his way, resulting in a bruised and bloody leg.

And the lesson here is an added bit of learned logic --- spectators should stay away from any car doing a burnout, regardless of which side they’re on.