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racer1442 · 11-29-2017, 10:15 PM

The reason I built an IHRA vehicle was an easy one at the time. Just over 11 years ago when I got my license. I wanted something to drive to high school with and race on the weekends. My options were pretty limited for availability in Ontario and for what my budget was being only 16. My cheapest option for something rear wheel drive that had or could easily be made V8, that was easily available, that wasn't junk or a fortune around here was my 96 S10. Immediately put a mild 350 in it and drove it to school and to the track on the weekends and ran bracekts. Did that for a couple years and wanted to go faster, so I made it a dedicated track vehicle and made some changes to go faster and continued running brackets. My dad has bracket raced since the late 70s and has always been a big follower of class racing. So I grew up loving to watch stk/ss at association races or nearby IHRA national events.

At the time we were surrounded by IHRA tracks with 2 national events within 1.5hrs and the closest NHRA national or divisional was 6+hrs away. With a local association, I wanted to run class badly so I looked at my options. Nothing against the 4.3 guys but after only driving it with the small block I didn't want to run a V6 so it wasn't going to be a natural stocker. Being entry level and just finishing an apprenticeship, Super Stock GT was out of my budget for just trying to get into class racing. For me the easiest thing I could do was piece together an affordable crate combination to get my feet wet. So thats what I did, slowly pieced together something over a couple of seasons and was able to make it work running a few tenths under.

I don't the have the unlimited budget like many do. I started racing my truck at 16 and with lots of help from my dad we built it to what it is today. I didn't want an import or run "street car" type racing, I wanted to run class. It was the easiest way for me to get into it. I could of stuck with just running regular brackets but its not what I wanted. So now I'm back to making decisions again. I either step up and run Super Stock GT or just go back to regular brackets. Being bit by the class bug I'll probably step up because I don't think I can ever get out of it now. I just wanted to share why I built what I did. It was the easiest way for me to get involved at an entry level for not being around the muscle car days.

Allen Sawicki

11-29-2017, 10:15 PM	#11
racer1442 Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Cambridge, Ontario Posts: 35 Likes: 3 Liked 2 Times in 1 Post	Re: Crate Motor Class The reason I built an IHRA vehicle was an easy one at the time. Just over 11 years ago when I got my license. I wanted something to drive to high school with and race on the weekends. My options were pretty limited for availability in Ontario and for what my budget was being only 16. My cheapest option for something rear wheel drive that had or could easily be made V8, that was easily available, that wasn't junk or a fortune around here was my 96 S10. Immediately put a mild 350 in it and drove it to school and to the track on the weekends and ran bracekts. Did that for a couple years and wanted to go faster, so I made it a dedicated track vehicle and made some changes to go faster and continued running brackets. My dad has bracket raced since the late 70s and has always been a big follower of class racing. So I grew up loving to watch stk/ss at association races or nearby IHRA national events. At the time we were surrounded by IHRA tracks with 2 national events within 1.5hrs and the closest NHRA national or divisional was 6+hrs away. With a local association, I wanted to run class badly so I looked at my options. Nothing against the 4.3 guys but after only driving it with the small block I didn't want to run a V6 so it wasn't going to be a natural stocker. Being entry level and just finishing an apprenticeship, Super Stock GT was out of my budget for just trying to get into class racing. For me the easiest thing I could do was piece together an affordable crate combination to get my feet wet. So thats what I did, slowly pieced together something over a couple of seasons and was able to make it work running a few tenths under. I don't the have the unlimited budget like many do. I started racing my truck at 16 and with lots of help from my dad we built it to what it is today. I didn't want an import or run "street car" type racing, I wanted to run class. It was the easiest way for me to get into it. I could of stuck with just running regular brackets but its not what I wanted. So now I'm back to making decisions again. I either step up and run Super Stock GT or just go back to regular brackets. Being bit by the class bug I'll probably step up because I don't think I can ever get out of it now. I just wanted to share why I built what I did. It was the easiest way for me to get involved at an entry level for not being around the muscle car days. Allen Sawicki