That's a great story Angelo!
Forget leaving on the third one, you practically need to leave on the first yellow with a car that slow! haha
The import only events in Sacramento and Bakersfield used to be pretty easy pickins because none of the street racer Honda guys could cut lights (combination of inexperience and fwd with wheel spin on a bald starting line... ) Most of those kids who stuck with it have gotten a lot more savvy on the tree these days.
I once used a friends all stock '79 VW convertible as a 'back up' when my race car broke... I was dialing 19.50ish as I recall
I had no tach in that car so I used some strips of blue tape on the speedometer so I could at least shift at a consistant mph. Like you said, I found it real hard to race the top end with such a big difference in speeds.
one serious question; Where did you find a tach that reads 3 pulses per 2 rpm (3 cylinder)? My 3cyl. Metro needs one