[KiltedBanshees93GT]

I've been reading that my year had the shift pattern set so that when you are in "drive" which is marked by a large green dot you are actually starting in second gear, and when you select the smaller dot you actually start from first. (I may be bassakward, I'm about ready to crash out).
My question is what is the best way to shift a classic stang w/ a c-4 for the best performance. keep in mind, my car has an unknown shift kit, but it seems to be the HD setup (the car drops into gear hard , and shifts the same way.
Also, even when the car is being driven in the "d">"big dot" position, it still goes through 3 gears, so if its starting from 2nd, where is the extra gear coming from?
What am I missing here?
J