Said well by someone who has obviously never raced seriously. I yanked the AC on my 88 mustang, and later on the entire heater box.
A drag car will be taken apart frequently for modifications, repairs, ect. The simpler it is to work on, the better. If you are at the track and break something, time is CRITICAL. Anything that un-necessarily slows you down could cost you the race. Even if you have plenty of time, the AC is just another thing that's in the way anytime you need to pull the engine.
As for performance, the only benefit as others said is the 20lb weight loss. No measurable hp gain as the compressor switches off near WOT. But what if you pull the AC system, heater, HVAC box, misc. insulation, sway bar, cruise control, washer fluid tank, ECT, you can easily add up to 100lbs or more. Some skinnys, tubular front suspension and you are talking some serious weight loss. And this is weight loss from the FRONT. Ever drag raced? Weight you pull out of the rear of a mustang tends to have no effect on ET because you loose traction more easily. I ran my first 12s pass just before leaving the track once... loaded my tools, spare parts, and other junk in the trunk and made the 12s pass at a lower mph after making about 10 low 13s passes for the night.
What the OP is doing? I dunno, but it's his car. Maybe he has a master plan. Gotta take one step at a time.
I didnt mean anything demeaning by what i said. Its just literally a waste of time and effort to remove the ac on a street car if it works! Even on my car which is setup for 600hp, i would NEVER remove the ac. It simply just doesnt make sense. Why remove it? To pick up hp gain? Well there is none to be gained. The only thing he gained was the loss of cold air when its 100* out! Now, if the car was running 9s and he was trying to shave every ounce of weight off to pick up ET and mph at the track then sure but there are even 9 second cars with ac..... He litrally would have noticed more a difference by removing his spare from the trunk.
