A few years ago we ran Rockingham and were the first race after a complete resurface. It was the best hooking track we ran on that year. So good in fact, Jeff broke his 1st input shaft then, and I ran my best ever 60 foot and 1/4 mile passes in the Dakota. Maybe we were lucky, who knows.
In Atlanta last year I thought the track was doing great until I read where Eric McBride said on one of these boards the surface was not good. At this event, I had the Mopar NHRA Pro Stock team running and all 4 cars mirrored their times from the earlier in the year NHRA Southern Nationals. So in that case, I had to assume it wasn't a track issue, but a car/setup issue for McBride.
I've raced Bradenton in April and had a good track only to return in August in the summer heat and have issues with traction.
When Jeff first built is modified, the exhaust dumped to the ground in front of the axle. I expected a hugh traction problem because if the soot. He had none, but it didn't look cool with this huge black cloud bellowing out from under the rear of the truck.
I'd still like to see some "test" done with the soot but so far in the limited stuff we have done, I have not seen it hamper traction. And I hope that is the case, otherwise we will not be welcome to race at tracks with others. If soot is an issue, it won't matter if it's pointed up or not as it will all fall to the ground anyway.
Just my thoughts on the subject.