1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

I've come up with so many questions about the strange 1972 Stock Eliminator season, I've decided to start this thread, devoted ENTIRELY to the '72 season.

Hoping for input from those of you who were eyewitnesses to Stock Elim racing, in '72.

I have lots of questions about that season, & will probably come up with others along the way.

Have read that, for '72, cars older than '63 models were not allowed. Headers, soft compound tires, & aftermarket cams were not allowed. And, the cars were supposed to be driven to the track, not trailered.

With all this in mind, here are some of my initial questions.

(1) Did most tracks actually enforce the rule about driving the car to the track ?

(2) I've read that Stock was NOT run at several nat events. Is there a list anywhere of the nat & division races where Stock WAS run.

(3) Is there an online list of div & nat event Stock Elim winner/RU, & class winners. Again, this is for the 1972 season, ONLY, and for the Stock Eliminator class, ONLY.

(4) I've seen pics & a video of some '72 season Stockers, which included a 455 Buick, among others. Have only seen a pic of one Pontiac which I know ran in '72, which was Truman Fields' famous "Hard Times" '68 Bird. That one year, only, it ran A/S. So, does anybody know of any other Pontiacs that ran NHRA Stock Elim in '72 ?

(5) What interesting Stock Elim stories or info do you guys have, about that strange '72 season ?

I didn't begin racing Stock, 'til '73, & then only at our local track. So, I didn't know about the odd '72 season until recently. Would like to now learn all I can about it, from those who were there.

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

I think it would really help this thread if somebody would post the '72 Stock Elim rules, EXACTLY as stated in the 1972 NHRA rule book.

I don't have a '72 rule book. Are any of you guys who have one, willing to post the Stock rules here, for us ?

If not, does anybody have a link to a pdf version of the '72 Rule book ?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/18425507162...UaAj5wEALw_wcB

http://classracer.com/classforum/sho...39&postcount=2

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

Have you seen this thread?


1972 NHRA 'Stock Class'

http://classracer.com/classforum/showthread.php?t=51198


Stan

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

Yeah, I've seen that thread. And there is some good info in it, for this thread.

But it don't answer all my questions. And it don't include the eyewitness accounts I'd like to get, of EXACTLY how closely NHRA adhered to those rules & how closely most smaller tracks adhered to those rules, especially the "No trailering" rule.

Several good eyewitness accounts should give us who weren't there, a better understanding of exactly what it was like for the Stock racer, in 1972.

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

In doing a search, I found this.

" I believe Kenny Horne set the A/S record...in a 67 GTO..."

I think '72 would be the only year a '67 GTO could have run A/S.

So, anybody here know of Kenny Horne or his '67 GTO ? :confused:

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

Tom Kasch has posted LOTS of lists of event & class winners, as well as nat record holders, from back in the '70's.

But, I just went thru the list of all his threads. Not a single thread title, that I saw, mentioned 1972.

So, again, does anybody here know where to find a list of Stock class winners and/or Stock nat record holders, for 1972 ? :confused:

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

Found this in my search. It's a post from a guy who was an NHRA tech, back then.


NHRA Junior Stock

OK, he said the '73 Stock rules were the same as '72. The class weight breaks were different, but rules the same. So, in this post you can read the Stock rules from the '73 rule book.

NHRA Junior Stock

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

Here's a quote from another article I read, about the '72 Stock Elim class.

"...if you ran a Stocker in 1972, not only weren't you allowed such basic amenities as headers, slicks, racing cams, and manifolds, but you also had to drive the car to the track instead of trailering it..."

I also thought this was interesting. I'd mentioned that all the class records were set to a minimum, at the beginning of the '72 season. It seems that they were quite soft. Don't know if this was a minimum, or a record a racer had set.

" Some of those early 1972 Stock Class records were easy targets.
I found photo's of my friend running a 1970 Plymouth Superbird 440/375 HP in
A/SA (9.00 - 9.99 wt/hp)
Window shoe-polished with a 13.12 in April 1972."

Here's a video from the 1972 World Finals race, @ Amarillo. The winning Stocker was a '72 C/SA Buick, which won the All-Buick final. That Stock final begins @ the 10:45 point of the video. That Buick was the C/SA record holder & won most of the races that year.

https://bangshift.com/bangshift1320/...-world-finals/

Here's a pictorial video about that Buick. There is a very interesting pic @ the 3:20 point. If I understand it correctly, it says that Truman Fields won @ the Summer Nats & @ Indy, but was disqualified from both wins because of tires. I've never heard of that before. I've even posted a pic of Truman & his '68 Bird in the Summer Nats winners circle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GazmEPciWFU

There is a pic of an M&H tire ad, showing that the Buick ran M&H treaded street tires that season. They are exactly the same tires I ran during my '73 season.

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

Most of us that raced during that time frame have done our best to forget these rules, a real disaster and it took 3 years or so to get straightened out.

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

Just saw this.

"...In 1972 NHRA came out with a book called the Factor Finder. That book gave all the re-factored horsepowers higher than what the manufacturer listed. Quoting from the Factor Finder book....."The 'factoring' system was developed by NHRA, defining separate performance ratings for use in lieu of manufactures' advertised horsepower listings on many cars in competition". 1972 and 1973 saw the Factor Finder books printed, then followed by putting the refactored horsepower in the Classguide below each engine column. "

So, has anybody here ever seen one of the '72 or '73 "Factor Finder" publications ? :confused:

Anybody have one ? :confused:

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

https://www.classracer.com/classforu...05&postcount=3

There is bound to be somebody here who either has or knows someone who has a copy of one or both these "Factor Finder" publications.

Once again, do you have one or both ? :confused:

Do you know anyone who has one or both ? :confused:

Does anybody know of an online copy of either year, hopefully a pdf or some version that can be viewed and/or copied or downloaded ? :confused:

Gotta be a copy, somewhere. Somebody PLEASE help me locate these "Factor Finder" publications !

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

A member sent me pics of the front cover of the '72 & '73 Factor Finder.

So, does anybody here have a copy of one or both ?

Do you know anybody who might ? :confused:

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

1972 Indy program had 9 pages of SS cars & 2 of stock.
since photo bucket quit , I forgot what to use to upload pictures.

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

Tom,
If they are sized correctly you can attach them to your posts here.


Stan

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

https://i.ibb.co/Pjq6MHm/1972-indy-S...y-list-p-2.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/KLzjHmS/1972-indy-S...y-list-p-1.jpg

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

So, I assume this is simply a list of the entrants name, perm number, the year & brand of their car, & the class they ran.

I did see an interesting thing. It said the engines were not allowed ANY internal modifications. They gotta be kidding.

Wonder what the tech guys considered a "modification" ?

Just went back & looked thru an old thread here. This is a copy of part of a post.

"...There were 'no' Stock Eliminator Championships at the 1972
* Gatornationals
* Springnationals
* Summernationals
* Grandnationals..."

BUT, I have pics of Truman Fields at the '72 Summer nats. He was running A/S in his '68 Firebird. Even shows him shaking hands with somebody, with the Summer Nats sign behind them. You'd assume he either won the race or got the class win.

But, as mentioned, I read that he won & was DQ'd for tire infractions.

I see he was also on the Indy entry list. His number is 2022. Since his number @ the Summers was 2006, I assume that in '72, the Stockers were not allowed to have a perm number, but rather were given a number, at each race, beginning with #2000. I suppose the 1st car teched in got the #2000, 2nd car was 2001, etc.

Since I read that he was also DQ'd at Indy, does anybody here know if he either won the race or at least won his class, & was then checked & DQ'd, or was it just a random check that discovered his infraction.

Truman Fields was a top notch racer, who won Indy in '73, & won class there several times. It just seems odd to me that he'd do something so obvious that he'd get DQ'd for exactly the same thing, at 2 different nat events, in the same season.

Can anybody here shed any light on this Truman Fields DQ deal ? :confused:

Rules said cars had to be driven to the race. So, for you guys who were there, did the Stocker guys actually have to drive their car into the facility ? :confused:

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

I flat towed 15 K miles in 72. I was by myself, except for the World Finals. .And,. yes I had to unhook at the gate, drive the car in, and go back out and get the tow car At the World Finals (on orders from the Air Force), they waved us on thru (73 rules).

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

Wow ! Thanks for that info !

It seems like a REALY stupid rule, knowing lots of guys would park their rig nearby & drive the car in.

It seems that in '72 NHRA did not want any serious Stock Eliminator cars. Instead, it appears that they only wanted a few local street legal cars at the events where they ran Stock.

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

Found this pic of Truman Fields' Bird. The caption says that he set the A/S nat record.

The only year he ran A/S, as far as I know, was in '72.

So, does anybody have confirmation of his A/S record ?

I know the pic is real poor quality. It was VERY small. So I enlarged it to make the words easier to read.

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

It seem even 7 1/2 years ago they were questions about what Truman ran in '72.


Stan

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

Were the current nat records listed in the ND paper, for Stock, during the late part of the '72 season ? :confused:

If they were, would someone who has the late '72 issues please check & see who held the A/S record & what it was.

I think I've already posted that someone said a '67 GTO held it at some point during '72.

It might also be interesting to see the Stock records at the end of the '73 season. It has been said that the rules were the same, but the class weight breaks different.

Many of the cars that were quick on hard tires, may not have been as competitive after the softer M&H tires were allowed, towards the end of '73.

Should have helped the lighter, higher power cars, more than the heavier cars.

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

I've brought this up before, but a '72 Stock thread is the perfect place for it.

It has been written that Truman Fields received a '72 Firebird to run in Stock, along with a '72 GTO to run in SS.

There are plenty of pics of the GTO he ran.

BUT, I've yet to see a single pic of that '72 Bird. So, that brings up some quetions.

(1) Did Truman actually ever receive the Bird Stocker ? :confused:

(2) Did he receive it, test it, & it was not quick enuff to be competitive, under the '72 rules ? :confused:

(3) Did he receive it but had someone else drive it ? :confused:

(4) Was that just a plan, but the car never really existed.

(5) Has ANYBODY ever seen a pic of it ? :confused:

(6) Is there anybody alive(who can be contacted) who knows the facts about this car ? :confused:

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

Yes Kenny did set the record in A/S. I worked for Buster in Div 2 and certified the car. Think it was Suffolk but not sure. Kenny changed to an M/S Impala (I think) and was RU at the Summer Nats maybe 1974. He still races in SS with a SS/GT SBC. Fayetteville NC

Re: 1972 ONLY NHRA Stock Eliminator
 

Do you remember what month that was ? I assume the record may have been reset several times during that season. So, Truman could have set it either before or after Kenny set it.