Well, last night I was once again disappointed to realize that I did not become an instant Mega Millionaire, so I did have to come into work this morning, but at least I get to do cool stuff like this blog to ease my pain. So, on with the bloggin’!

This question was sent to me via e-mail from Mr. Charles Lamb in Brampton, Ont. Rahn Tobler, crew chief on Doug Kalitta’s Mac Tools Top Fueler, was gracious enough to help me provide the answer for Mr. Lamb…

I have a question to ask regarding the starting line adjustment. At the last second before the car is staged, what is the crew chief adjusting and how much of an impact can that last little tweak make on the run down the track?

Thanks for the question, Charles.

The last second adjustment that you see the crew chief making to the car is a fuel system adjustment. It is a needle and seat-type screw. When the cars do the burnouts, there is not much fuel required, therefore; we close the screw down to restrict the amount of fuel that goes into the engine during the burnout procedure. As the cars go in for the final stage, the crew chief will open that screw up to allow more fuel to flow into the engine for launch.

It is usually a set amount that we turn that screw, but depending on the track conditions that we encounter when we are up there for the burnout, we may decide to alter that adjustment to suit the conditions we see at the time. The adjustment only affects the way the car reacts at the step of the throttle and has no effect on how the car performs on the rest of the run.

- Rahn

And big ups (in the parlance of today’s youth) to Mr. Lamb for this entry into the Inaugural T & B Alliteration Invitational (site TBD) – “Doug’s dogged determination dwells deep during dream drive, dispatching doubters, denoting destiny.”