[Tommy]

My understanding of transmission gears in general is that wide ratios were more commonly used for street use and close ratios were for road racing use. Close ratio transmissions typically have a big jump in gear ratio between 1st and 2nd, allowing 2nd, 3rd and 4th ratios to be closer together. On a road track where you only start from a stop once and seldom slow enough to use anything below 2nd, it allows the driver to more easily keep the engine RPM in the peak torque range.