[Alan Roehrich]

Knowing Arnold, that was merely an example he used as a commentary on what actually happened, he only substituted the 40 year old car to demonstrate a point.

The truth is, Ford and Chrysler did just go through their catalog and pick out what they wanted, submitted it with a low HP rating, and went racing. The only difference between them and what Arnold was saying is that they used new cars. If you do it with the "old" cars, it's just another "crate motor" class.

But where is the challenge in that? It merely becomes the next iteration of what IHRA Top Stock devolved into, and we know where that went. Every year a new, more expensive, and under rated combination, making something that came before obsolete.

Honestly, what that will come to is a game of yearly sand bagging and planned obsolescence. Every year, each factory would submit a new combination just enough better, and just enough under factored, to make the better than last year's package. So, every year, even your "crate motor" combination is outdated. You get to jump on an entirely new "crate motor" program every year, out of your pocket.

It won't be an evolutionary process, where you keep your combination, and look at a couple of cams, a set of heads from another shop, a set of headers, a different ring package, or a new carburetor, over a period of a few years. You'll be looking at another entirely new engine. Every year.

What Arnold posted really shouldn't need to be explained. It was a warning of what could easily come to pass, either with the new cars, or with a "crate motor" class.

This is NOT a return to those thrilling days of yesteryear, where you could go to the dealer and buy a car just like the one that won the class trophy that weekend, and drive it home, then take it out to the burger stand or the drive in.

This is a trip to the new age of corporate drag racing, where they don't have to actually tool up and build anything, and you won't go to the dealer and buy the car that won that weekend, either. You just get to go spend more money to buy the next big deal in their "crate motor" world.

They don't even have to tool up and build parts, they can just buy aftermarket pieces, put their name and part number on them, and put them in their catalog.

Be very careful what you wish for, you might just get it.