Tom,
I think we agree. Your auto-equipped drag car will be optimized with a non-stock gear ratio, non-stock stall speed converter, and I am willing to bet some kind of sticky tire, right? Do nothing but use the same rear end ratio in two cars, one auto and one stick, and true street tires and normal horsepower levels for the car (e.g. no big power adders, etc). I still think the stick will beat the auto when driven right. The auto will be more consistent.
I also thought the Lenco was a manual, which I mean to say has no torque converter. A manual with dog rings instead of synchros can be shifted pretty quickly, but probably not as fast as an automatic.
Then you have a car that needs 2000 rpm or more just to get underway in a parking lot and will need a trans oil cooler to drive on the street.
I also judge drag strip performance in part on trap speed, which I know is not true drag racer mentality. A car that runs 11s at 105 mph will beat me to the end of the 1/4 mile, but that's the end of it. The same car will be so floppy and loose that it will be a genuine danger to drive anywhere but in a straight line. I'll take my 12s at 125 thank you very much.
But vive la difference. I am very impressed by the skill it takes to consistently launch well and drive a car down the 1/4 mile with big horsepoer and wrinkle-wall slicks. I have tried it and am not that good. Me, with a day at the track, I like getting an hour or two at speed doing all the things a car can do, accelerating, turning and stopping, instead of maybe a minute or two blasting down the 1/4. I still like the occasional outing to the drag strip, but for me it is more of a social and gawk-fest, as the absolut fastest ET I have personally ever driven was something like 11.80, which is a big yawn for the serious drag racer. I just wishh the drag guys would come out to the road course wom time so I could get some revenge (SW of Austin excluded, who is very gifted in any venue and always trounces me).
