[Rev]

You have the same tranny as me. Ford thought people might like to start in second gear for smooth starts letting the torque convertor do extra work (goofy Ford), effectively turning a 3 speed into a 2 speed tranny. They made the Select Shift Cruise-o-matic with that option.

The big green dot in drive starts you in 1st. The little green dot in drive starts you in 2nd. There is hardly ever any reason to start in 2nd (little green dot). For normal driving leave it in drive (big green dot).

For racing, especially if you want to shift at higher than 4500 RPM, you have to do the "Ford shuffle". That is start in low and shift manually. After nailing it in low when you get to your desired RPM shift point, leave your right foot on the floor and shift rapidly to drive and back to low. That shifts into 2nd and will hold the tranny in second until you shift manually back to drive which lets the tranny shift to 3rd.

All sounds comlicated, but it actually works pretty well at WOT.

Rev