Seems to me like we get a lot of questions about DR's in here so I found this.

Scroll down through the article. It tells you how to choose, tire psi to use, how to burnout properly, etc..

Don't let the first paragraph about the Honda confuse you.

Its is long but a very good read:

http://www.discounttire.com/dtc/broc...dragRadial.jsp

 

And for you lazy bastards here are some of the key points if you do not use links:


Mustangs and Other Rear Wheel Drive Cars

The popular Ford Mustang continues to be one of the prime movers in racing, and its proponents account for the single largest community of drag radial users. Many bracket racing classes are defined by tire width beginning at 8.5 inch. A popular set up is the 3.55 or 3.73 axle ratio combined with a 275/50R-15 (10.83 inch width, 25.83 inch height) or a 275/40R-17 (10.83 inch width, 25.66 inch height). These two sizes account for the great majority of the drag radials sold today. But RWD racers have a choice of drag radials as large as 345/55R-15 (13.58 inch width, 29.94 inch height) or 315/35R-17 (12.4 inch width, 25.68 inch height). See our Drag Radial Specifications table for height, width and other good information on most drag radial sizes.



Wheel Width Considerations


Many times people will buy a wider wheel because the closer the wheel width gets to 100% of the tire's section width, the better the traction—for drag radials or any performance tire. It also looks cool.

Let's say you have decided on a 15 inch set up with 205/55R-15 tires for your Honda Civic. In this case the tire's section width is virtually 8-inches (205mm/ 25.4 mm per inch = 8.07 inches). See Tire Size Formulas for this and other handy formulas about tire sizes. So, our goal is to pick a wheel width between 70% and 100% of the tire's 8-inch section width, the closer to 100%, the better for performance. 70% of 8 inches = 5.6 inches (most popular size in this range is 6 inches). At the high end, the most popular choice is either a 7.5 inch wide wheel (93.75%) or a 7 inch wide wheel (87.5%).

Keep these rules of thumb in mind when selecting your package and you won't be disappointed in performance.

 

Maximizing Traction With TirePressure

Getting the most traction from your drag radials depends to a great extent on the tires' air pressure. One of the main goals of knowledgeable racers is to get the air pressure "dialed in" during test and tune sessions. Here are some parameters to keep in mind for drag radials. Thanks go out to Nitto and BFGoodrich for the pointers.


• Begin testing at 18 PSI for large cars and 20 PSI for small cars.
• Never increase or decrease air pressure more than 2 PSI at a time.
• 12 PSI is the minimum air pressure.
• Don't forget to inflate the tires to the appropriate pressure for street use after you are done racing.


Remember that if you leave the track with under-inflated tires, they won't have the load carrying capacity needed. The tires might possibly overheat and become prime candidates for a blowout, tread separation or other tire failure. Why take this risk? Just remember to check and adjust the air pressure.

Here are some helpful hints from the National Hot Rod Association on dialing in drag slick tire pressure.


• Use as much air as possible for track conditions without making the tire spin.
• If the track has a lot of bite, it is recommended to increase air pressure slightly to reduce chatter or shake which can result from too much tire traction.

 

Maximizing Traction With Proper Burnouts


Suffice it to say street radials lose traction when they get too hot—and burnouts make them way too hot. I'm quite sure this will have no effect, but I just had to say it.

Let's move on to drag radials. The reason for doing a burnout on a drag radial is to heat the tire to its optimum temperature for traction. This temperature ranges from 160-220 degrees fahrenheit, depending on track conditions and your vehicle set up—you'll need a pyrometer to tune by this method. Having said this, I'm sure most racers using drag radials will resort to trial and error and see what works best. Here's how you do a correct burnout with a drag radial to get in the temperature ballpark, as it were.

Burnouts


• RWD cars, drive around the water box, never through it. Back in until the tires just touch the water. Don't begin the burnout in the box because you'll soak the wheel wells and frame rails and drip water all the way to the staging area. This is considered bad dragstrip etiquette... plus you lose valuable traction. FWD cars, same idea but you'll have to back away from the water box. Some tracks just hose down a burnout puddle for you. That's the easy way.

• Now that the tires are wet, drive away from the water box or puddle and begin the burnout, allowing the tires to spin freely for two or three seconds. Smoke 'em, generating a nice solid cloud of blue-white tire smoke. Don't forget to consider the weather. Cooler days require a longer burnout; warmer days require a shorter burnout. Tuning in these factors often means the difference between winning and losing.

• You are ready to race. (If you have a pyrometer, now is the time to have an assistant check and log the tread temperature.) Drive to the starting line without dry chirps or hops. These macho bursts only reduce the traction efficiency of the drag radial, so be controlled if you want better launches and time slips.