[Mike Carr]

Also, until a few years ago, all Stockers were street-cars. Able to be licensed, insured and registered for street use, emissions legal, etc. Any car not in that theme (race Hemi's, AMX, Thunderbolt and factory purpose-built racecars) were S/S-only. Not the case anymore. These F/X Stockers, you can not buy them from a local dealer (the only street Challenger is 4,200 pounds, with a 6.1 Hemi, and NOT accepted by NHRA for Stock Eliminator. You can not buy, from a dealer a 352/428 Mustang either, or the COPO version Camaros). The factory race cars are several hundred pounds lighter than their showroom cousins. Most of the versions you CAN buy from a dealer are not NHRA or IHRA-legal for Class Racing. So, if you're a young kid, like new cars, and want to run Stock, you have three options:

A) spend $100K on a new racecar, and then look for a street car;

B) buy a street car at $40K or so, and spend all the time and money (on top of the initial investment) to make your car legal with the accepted engine and stuff for Stock, take out several hundred pounds, correct body parts, etc; or

C) just take your new-generation street car and run local brackets and forget Class Racing all together.