The Drag Racers' Parable

Two men, two cars; and a common goal: to go faster than anyone else ever has or ever will in the space of a quarter mile. They competed with each other and all others who dared to come up against them. They had been doing this for years and were well on their ways to becoming the best.
The first racer, Hector, did many modifications to his "Blue Beast". He finally came to a point that he was ready for a supercharger. He went to his local parts store and bought one right off the shelf. The results were amazing! "Why didn't I get one of these things sooner?" he thought. He soon came to realize that all the extra power and torque was there, but his racing times weren't that much better.
Hector began experimenting with different camshafts, exhaust systems, torque converters, gearing, etc. All the changes he had made over the years previous to having this supercharger were now, somehow, all wrong for his car! He continued trying many different combinations. Some changes helped, some didn't. Hector learned a lot over the next few years.
Meanwhile; the second racer, Larry, continued modifying his "Racing Inferno". He found many things that worked very well on his dragster. Larry enlarged his motor displacement. His dad always said: "Bigger is better." Larry believed his dad and made his motor as big as he could. He also reduced the weight of his car and did much work on the suspension.
Both racers did well. Sometimes Hector would win; sometimes Larry did. No one else was even close to these guys! Each racer continued to look for ways to improve.
One day, Larry came to the point that he was ready to put a supercharger on his car. He had heard that Hector had a supercharger on his "Blue Beast", and decided to ask if he could take a look at it. Hector agreed, and the two racers got together. Larry liked what he saw! He was excited as he ran back to his own shop. He ordered a supercharger online and soon installed it on "Racing Inferno". The results were amazing! "Why didn't I get one of these things sooner?" he thought. He soon came to realize that all the extra power and torque was there, but his racing times weren't that much better. Even with this new supercharger, he was pretty much neck-and-neck with Hector and his "Blue Beast".
One day, Larry was talking with his friend Bernard, who told him: "Dude, your tires are spinning halfway down the track! You need traction bars and slicks." Larry thought about this. It did kinda make sense. He decided to call up Hector to see what he thought.
"Hector, did you have problems like this? What did you do to fix it? My friend says I should try traction bars and racing slick tires. What do you think?" In response Hector said :"I tried traction bars, they didn't really help that much; and slicks just wear out too fast. I think you should put a little weight back on your car. "Racing Inferno" is just way too lite for all that power. Then let off your gas pedal a little to keep your tires from peeling out so much."
Later that day, Larry was talking to Bernard. "There ain't no way I'm gonna make my car heavy again! That's where I got most of my best performance gains." Bernard then asked him :"Why don't you go ahead and try the traction bars and slicks?" To this Larry replied :"Nope, it'll just be a waste of time. Hector told me that traction bars don't help that much and slick tires just wear out; so stop bugging me about it. What I will try is just not over-gassin it. Maybe that will help."
The next race meet, Larry tried his let-off-the-gas-a-little technique and it worked! He was now making faster times; although not as fast as Hector.
After the races Larry thanked Hector for the advice. "Your welcome, but I noticed your tires are still peeling out down the track. Did you add any weight?" asked Hector. "No, but I don't think I need to. I'll just let off the gas pedal a little more next time." responded Larry.
"Good idea." Hector said with a smile. "Good idea."