WideOpen; the reason I suggested a 1.80 gear was he had trouble with tire shake so I thought the 1.80 gear would help getting the tire up to speed at the hit. More gear is a torque multiplier , so it multipies the HP, again more power helps with tire shake. Another option is to go with a lower [ bigger number] rear gear.
when I 1'st started JF racing I too met that "old guy from Kansas, he turned me onto a 1.68 1'st gear to slow up the tire speed some , now most of the jF guys are running 1.68 or 1.69 gear with one team running a 1.54.
Jon