[Pro Stock John]

What I would do:

Learn the starting line
I'd hang out at the starting line so you familiarize yourself with where the staging beams are, and how the starters manage the racers. A common newb mistake is not knowing where the beams are and staging too far out.


Waiting in the lanes
Try not to run the engine too much, your car will heat up and you will run slower. If you run AC too much, condensation will drip down on the track. They don't like that.


Water box rules
Street tires? Drag radials in back, and stock tires in back? Don't drive through the water box. You will drag water up to the line with your fronts and you will spin. You can also get chewed out by the starter. Drive around the water box. If you are running sticky tires, back into the water box, guided by the starter, a friend, or I will just pop my door open and guide myself. I roll a foot into the front of the water. I do my burnout and roll out and let off the gas smoothly.


The groove
Another thing to look as it the groove. Those are the two lines of rubber typically in the middle of the track. You want to be in the groove. If you launch and get way out of the groove, you might experience a big loss of traction. If so, not a good idea to be a hero. Maybe abort until you get more used to racing, and try again. Every time I hit a track I don't know (I also crew for a 7 second car), I always check out the starting line area.


Staging
Okay, how to stage. The tree has a lot of lights on it. I'll assume a .500 sportsman tree. You and the other car both will have to light up the two small sets of bulbs at the very top. Courtesy staging is preferred. If you light the top bulb first, wait for the other race to light up his top bulb. After that you can light up the lower set whenever you want but its considered bad form to light up both sets of bulbs right off the bat. Not only is it not cool, but sometimes that can trigger the automatic tree and rush the other guy. You can try shallow staging to get a better 60 ft, then you would just barely trip the second bulb. That could mean the other guy has a few inches head start but it will drop your ET a bit. Okay so both cars are staged, there were be a 2-3 second interval, and then the starter will manually trigger the tree. The ambers of which there are 3, will light up in a downward sequence. If you can try to leave on the third amber or just a hair after, you might be able to cut some good reaction times. Takes practice.


Launching
Stick? I'd turn off the traction control and leave stabilitrak on. Try holding the rpms at 2500 and then rolling out. Shift easy your first time. Let off after the big billboard displays. Auto? I have two-footed and not revved up the engine. If the track is bad I get into the gas fast but not stomp on it. If the track is great I get into the gas really fast. I run in sport mode, no paddle shifters.


Return road etiquette
Good idea to know how the return roads work. If for example the return roads are on the left, the car in the left has dibs to turn first even if he's behind you. if he's really far behind you, you could turn first across his lane but you need to be careful he could be barrelling down. I always wait but might go if I can see he's super far back. Don't drive fast down the return road and the pits, most tracks have a max 5 MPH rule. Use common sense. Don't forget to get your time slip.


Weighing at the scales
If running a class, they might require you weigh the car, if so, don't skip the scales or you get dq'd.


I'll post this and add some more.