[Rev]

From the very first Ford-o-matics in '51, Ford thought that everyone would want to start out in 2nd gear and let the torque convertor do a lot of work. This was supposedly so the start would be "smooth". In those cars up up at least until '56, you had to manually shift into low to get there. I did have a'56 that would normally start out in 2nd unless you floored it. Then it would automatically down shift into low. Even in '66, Ford still was convinced that a lot of people would want to start out in 2nd gear, so they made the Select Shift Cruisamatic. All the small dot "Drive" does is just what you said. It makes the car start out in 2nd gear. It's best ignored. Just leave it on the big dot Drive for normal driving and shift manually with the "shuffle" when racing.

Rev