Want to go Super Stock Racing! Need Advice.

[Ed Carpenter]

Originally Posted by Dougherty20

Am looking to go Super Stock racing, which would be a new "game" for me. A few questions for those SS racers that would be willing to give advice:

* There are so many classes, how did you, or how should I, decide on a class and then a car?
* Example, love first gen Firebirds and Camaros. Do the different index's today allow the first gen's to be competitive?
* Are there cars, and classes to stay away from?
* How far under the index do you need to be to be competitive at national events?
* Explain the qualifying process, the index, and dial in.

Sorry for all the questions.

Pick a car you like and build it(buying one ready to go is alot cheaper). Then go have fun and enjoy yourself. Unless you have a wheelbarrel full of cash you won't be the fastest out there. Hard work is alot of it but it takes lots of cash. In my case I love 66 Chevy II's and that's what I bought. We started out running 10.30's in 2007 and this year we ran a best of 10.04. We are still working on it on my limited budjet. The record in my class is 9.74 and we are aways from that but hope to get there in the next few years. We have fun at the races that's what it's all about. Good luck with your pursuit. Ed

[treessavoy]

If you want to go SS racing the first thing to do is to buy a current rule book and a subscription to National Dragster......Read the rule book, then read it again, look in the ND for all the allowed replacement parts.

Figure out what type of car you want, compare it with indexes and records.....are they achievable without a million dollars. The cheapest way to go is to go to an event, watch the car compete then see if it's for sale. If you are hung up on a Ford, Mopar or a '62 Lincoln be prepared to spend twice as much in building it than building a Chevy.

Good luck,

JimR

[duster1256]

rob a bank

[Alan Roehrich]

For all the pessimism and cynicism here, this is a good place to get advice and information.

You do need to get a rule book, and you really should go to a few races.

Be prepared to spend a lot of money. Even if you buy a car that is built and running. Unless you buy a super nice car that is working really well, you'll have to work on it a lot. The only way you'll find one of those cars like that for sale at a great price is to find someone who is quitting. Other wise, it is easy to spend a ton of money on a car that you bought that was already being raced.

Consider contacting Nitro Joe here on the boards and buying a subscription to his stats that he keeps. That will tell you what cars are fast, who wins with what cars, and where those cars and drivers are. One reason for that is so that you know what cars are competitive, so you know what to look for. Another reason is so you know what classes are heavily populated and competitive in your area. That will help you avoid buying a car that fits a class with a lot of other cars in it that are fast. You don't want to buy a car that is 5 tenths under the index in a class where there are 5-6 cars in your area that are 1 second under.

Read Mike Carr's response to your post. About five times. It's well written, and he knows what he's talking about.

[mannymen]

Dougherty20. I just sold my Camaro for next to nothing and had just over $33K invested in the roller without a 4 link or Ford 9". I rebuilt this car from 2002-2005 which was during the height cost wise. I can tell you the motor had just over $20K (not including trans & converter) invested and just put out shy of 800hp for BBC BA/CA motor, which doesn't get it done in regards to qualifying for races like Indy or Reading.

For a 69 Camaro even in today's terrible market be prepared to spend more than $50 (easily) turnkey to have a decent car that may not qualify for the 2 races mentioned earlier.

As everyone else has stated, I would go to the combo races or division races and look at everyone else's equipment. You can look at cars like Fletcher's superstocker, which IS NOT a show piece by any means and he'll even tell you that. His is a flat out racecar that sees a lot of track time, so it gets dirty and abused. If you want a show car/racecar be prepared to spend in the $75-100K range.

What turned me onto SS racing was seeing a yellow superstock (67 or 68) camaro at the Winter Nats back in 2002 and boy was it perfect and ran well also. I said to myself, I have to have one of these. Well I got one and dumped a ton of money into it and it still didn't look the way the yellow camaro I saw in 2002. I guess I needed to spend another $25k to get it to look like that. I think I saw the car for sale the past year or so and it was well over 75K turnkey and I can't remember if it was even that fast under its index.

Good luck in your search and I hope you plan living at home with your parents for awhile to pay for this expensive habit Plus don't get married and have children to soon or it's bye bye racecar.

Buy a used dragster for cheap and go bracket racing

Manny

[MOTORSPORTS Innovations]

I have looked into this a couple of times (actually Stock not SS) and felt one of the best sources of info is the for sale sections on Racing Junk, back of Dragster and here or Class racer. Racers selling stuff are motivated to explain why there deal is great.

[Jeff Goss]

Man, I could write a book about getting into Super Stock racing.

Go to the races, talk to people. Find out what you want to do. You'll make friends (contacts) who will help you make an informed decision. If it wasn't for the people I have met and friends I have made, there would have been no way I would have made it this far, nor would I have wanted to. It would be helpful to have an understanding family, oh, and an unlimited supply of money-LOL! But I have done it for a lot less money than most, so there is hope.

Good luck!

Jeff