Quote:
Originally Posted by Jared Jordan
That was some of the best air anyone's ever seen when Henson ran the 9.89 at Belle Rose. Ask him. He'll tell you the same thing.
That combo at 457 hp is a total waste of time if you want to be "the guy" in A or AA/SA. Yes, it is still somewhat competitive and a good one will still go fairly fast, but not fast enough. Why do you think West/Henson built the GTX? Fred even tried to put a 4-speed in the Challenger to get around the HP factor. Think he would have done all of that if he thought he could go to Indy and win at 457 hp?
I know how much power those motors make (had a few of them on our dyno) and let me tell you Fred's motor had the same hp as the other ones that I've seen dyno'd. Why haven't you heard about the other ones? They were done after Fred's and now weigh 3840 lbs in A/SA.
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Jared, I'm well aware of the conditions under which Fred made that pass. I'm not sure it was better than the mine shaft air seen at Atco or Mission. The fact remains that very few people will be "the man", regardless of the combination.
The Challenger, with the Hemi, with 2 four barrel carbs, and Hemi heads with big valves, (the Hemi has 2.25 and 1.94 valves compared to 2.19 and 1.84 for the 427, or 2.19 and 1.88 for the ZL-1 and L-88, not to mention nearly twice as much available carburetion)has to weigh 190 pounds more than the 427 Camaro with aluminum heads in A/SA, only 110 pounds more than a ZL-1 Camaro, and only 150 pounds more than an L-88 Corvette. In AA/SA, the Challenger has to weight 3595, 162 pounds more than a 427 Camaro with aluminum heads, 87 pounds more than a ZL-1 Camaro, and 125 pounds more than an L-88 Corvette. Word is there are a couple of really nasty ZL-1 and L-88 cars in the works (Calabro and Fasano are already fast, and Craig Couris is no daisy, either), and there are so few of those cars out there that if any of them hit the trigger, they'll get HP.
And honestly, the 427 Chevy and the Hemi are probably both out of luck to be top dog in A/SA or AA/SA, IF one of the other combinations really wants it. My guess is if Barton or Shaul really want to step up, they can take class and/or the record, the only question is if they want it enough. There might even be a Ford or two that can do it.
Honestly, I hated to see the Hemi get hit, and I know Fred did not mean to do it.