Geri
Deceased, But not forgotton
this is exactly why I use the Aacell duel point dist from the 70's it has two leads going into the distributor, the black lead has a quick disconnect in it. this is to the lead set of points. it was common then to disconnect the black wire -run two leads to a toggle switch in the car (mine was on the shifter-) the contact closed until high gear then opened that lead which retarded the timing 7 degree's. as I shifted to high I'd flip that switch to open that circuit . the difference it made was excellent given the little amount of effort made to make it work. I had a 440 powered willys, which ran in the low 11's around 128 when the retard was used, without that it ran closer to 11.60/70 speed down to 124 or so. pretty sure any duel point dist can do the same with two leads to the points. but I'm an older -old time racer and that worked at that time.I have wondered why MSD has not made a variable distributor? Especially with so many boost and fuel options? Typically a high compression or high boost motor likes more timing at idel. But then asks for timing to be retarded as pressure increases. A poor man's variable timing kit? I know there are some serious variables to hurtle. But a locked down distributor that controls ignition timing electronically? Timing curves not only adjustable. But a computer could actually detect and adjust?
Of course the big boys would be interested in variable valve timing. That would require a timing chain redesign? Ummm.