CLASS RACER FORUM - Factory Showdown at INDY

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Factory Showdown at INDY

After looking at some numbers for the Factory Showdown at Indy it appears that the complaints about the naturally aspirated cars being uncompetitive seem unfounded.

Arguably the baddest CJ around:
This year Don Fezell ran his 8.97 pass as a new 2012 AA/S, minimum weight of 3361lbs, now he has to be almost 300lbs heavier in the Showdown and should be .030 slower meaning a 9.27.

Indy Qualifying 2011
Terry Emmons ran his ’11 Challenger at Indy last year and qualified in old 2011 AA/SA with a 9.477. His minimum weight would have been 3545lbs. For the Showdown he can be 100lbs lighter than that so 9.37et.

At Indy last year the 6.1/5.7L cars were led by Barton who ran a 9.67 with the 5.7L? combo in A-Stock. The 6.1’s best effort if I recall correctly was Keith Lynch with a 9.83 in A/SA. The 6.1’s were rated at 404hp at the time so their minimum weight in A/SA would be 3402lbs. Now, if they can get there, they can knock off 400lbs which theoretically makes the car a 9.43et.

Barton I thought had a 5.7L which I think was rated at 398hp(?) so his minimum weight would have been 3354lbs? Now with 350lbs less that 9.67 becomes a 9.32et?

At Indy 2011 CJ’s won class on holeshots – not overpowering
Indy 2011 AA/SA Class Evan Smith (CJ) ended up winning the whole thing but went through Terry Emmons (DP). He beat Terry on a holeshot .034 to .072. Evan held a slight margin with an ET almost .004 better but had Terry cut a .030 he’d have won that round and maybe the whole class.

Bill Skillman beat Durham when Durham went red. Bill cut a pretty good .025 light anyway and was a little less than .008 better in ET but who knows if Durham lifted after seeing red.

Other DP Challenger facts:
A V10 Challenger ran 9.36et at Pomona this year in BB.
Dave Thomas owns the CC record with a 9.43 with a minimum weight of 3545, knock of 100lbs and it’s a 9.33et.

Lastly in ADRL we have the following info.
At the Houston the winning Cobra Jet was roughly .005 faster than the fastest V10 Challenger (Butner qualified with 5.838, Teuton 5.885.) they were 150lbs different in weight and in the ¼ would have been 9.24 vs 9.31. With the Indy Showdown rules they would be another 50lbs separated so theoretically those cars would run 9.24 vs 9.26 at Indy weights.

Summation:
There is no doubt there are a handful of Cobra Jet guys going very fast, but there are also a bunch that aren’t going nearly that fast. Based on the numbers here the Challengers are within a few hundredths of the baddest CJ’s and we really have no idea how well the new Camaro will run although that 427 combo looks very competitive.

I can’t see any reason based on the numbers here to believe the Challengers are hopelessly outgunned. There is 675lbs benefit for the Challenger V8’s, and 200lbs different for the V10’s with 512cid! And if none of the DP challengers compete the message isn’t that the rules aren’t even, the message is that no one is interested in heads-up racing.

It’s not surprising the CJ’s have picked up. They have 4 years of development on many more cars in competition. I can only think of 5 or 6 V10 cars that have been out but there were over 20 of those 5.4L CJ’s at Indy last year between Stock and Super Stock. Sounds to me like the V10’s are getting developed now.