Why not shift out of 4wd on during the 1/4?
One, because it really doesn't buy you anything in bracket racing. Two, you can shift the lever out of 4X4 and nothing will happen because the drivetrain is under significant tension and won't release anyway. On the highway at 50-70 MPH, I will can shift into or out of 4X4 (dry, wet or snowy), and it won't engage/disengage until I equalize the driveline pressures (i. e. , neutral the tension by easing off the go pedal until the force into the xfer case equals force out) a time or two. Try it. Dodges are 50/50 front/rear; on a straight road (dry, wet or snowy), you can't hurt anything *under normal driving conditions*. Try this: curl your index fingers and pull them together so they form an 'S'. Pull hard, and see if you can slide the fingers off each other. Then remove the tension and see how much easier it is to slide the fingers off each other. If you've ever driven a stick, remember that you can't shift gears while accelerating, but as soon as you let off the go pedal, it slides right out of gear into neutral. The xfer case is much the same way.
Now that I think about it a bit, y'all might want to mash down on the stop pedal to slow down, then release it before disengaging 4x4 on the strip. Why? Hard braking will reduce the radius/diameter of the front tires (the weight has shifted onto the front tires and off the rear) increase that of the rear tires, thus changing the tension on the driveline. This may help offset the reverse condition that happens whilst accelerating. And this may explain why 4x4 sometimes wouldn't disengage until after I'd turn onto the return road, and futzed with 4x4 some more.
Whatever you do, *don't* stop on the track to disengage 4x4. You'll rarely have to make a hard, sharp turn to get onto the return road, so unwanted stresses on the drivetrain are reasonably minimal. While you wouldn't want to drive around town in 4x4 on dry roads, the occasional sweeping turn off a drag strip won't be that bad. Always get off the strip before stopping to disengage 4x4 or make other necessary adjustments.
Oh, and if you ever have a malfunction of any kind, always pull over to the side of the strip immediately and stop as soon as you safely can. You'll minimize potential fluid leakage and minimize cleanup time. Nothing's worse than a one-hour shutdown to clean up a 1,000' oil/coolant spill. Even if you don't have a leak, everyone else will thank you for stopping to check.
You know, thinking back, my asthmatic '98 12V would spin my 225/70/19. 5 tires a little off the line (maybe 10'), but it never made *that* much difference in my ET, before or after the purple parts were installed in the trans. Until you get up into the 12-15 sec range, traction isn't *that* big of a deal. And in bracket racing, it really doesn't matter. So what if you ease off the line. What matters in bracket racing is that you ease off the line the same way every time.
Oh, and don't pay too much attention to all the HP junkies who will try to talk you into high power. Take advantage of your low power and learn to be consistent first. "Grasshopper, I know. You want to race with the wind. But Grasshopper, you must learn to crawl before you can stand, stand before you can walk, walk before you can trot, trot before you can run, and run before you can sprint. When you can sprint in a typhoon, then you will be racing with the wind. " Remember who won the bracket race at the Hayes race at Hotlanta in '01 or '02: our very own lead moderator Steve StL, in a stock 1500 gasser (TDR's 3rd-gen test mule). He'd pull up to the line, stand on the brake, mat the gas pedal, break out the day's newspaper and read it, then launch. He was 0. 001 off his dial. Runner-up was 0. 002 off *his* dial. Consistency is the key. As in anything (e. g. cabinet making, softball, sex), learn to do it well before you try to do it fast, and you will enjoy it that much more.
Last check list items: close your windows and fasten your seat belt. And *never* run your A/C before or during a drag race, unless you explicitly run the condensate inside the cab into a catch bottle: water on the track is spelled D-A-N-G-E-R, just like oil and coolant.
Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
