Craig
I had my 245 45 17's radials on the front which are just about as wide as the 8" slicks. My buddy made a few suggestions. Try narrower front tires, lift slightly rather than completely off the gas, and most importantly, do not try to correct with the steering wheel, just hold it straight. We drive on ice and snow for several months every year and the first thing we learn is that you must keep the front wheels pointing straight ahead when the rear end begins to move. However this is the wrong thing to do with slicks since the soft side walls are simply letting the car move sideways a little bit but the contact with the road surface has not been broken so the slick is actually going straight forward. I found it tough to do but it did work.
12.73 was my best run but that was leaving the line at about 3000 RPM and I didn't power shift. Absolutely no adjustments were made to the car, not timing, carb, valves, nothing. This was "as is" off the street but with slicks and my shorty exhaust pipes. It was also a hot and very humid day resulting in many cars running 2 to 3 tenths slower than normal. My friend figures that coming off the line on the rev limiter, power shifting, and a cooler day would result in very low 12s, or possibly..........oh lets not go there.
He was very impressed with the traction my Johnex exhibited, transferring the weight squarely on the slicks and forcing them to bite.
As far as the trophy goes, it was for the best in class in the show, in my case that was "Special Interest". There were at least 3 other Cobras in the class but I don't know how many other cars were also included.
As I said initially, all in all, it was a good day.
Wayne