Old Stock class guides, pre 1960

[Dwight Southerland]

I have old classification guides, but they are not applicable today. By NHRA policy and rules, only those combinations listed in the current set of guides are accepted.

[Tony Janes]

The only good 57 Ford would be the 300 HP supercharged 312. The rest have to much horsepower.

[dmir55]

I also have an old classification guide. The Ford section goes all the way back to 1950. When these old class guides were available I think that you could buy the engine spec guide also. Maybe an old engine builder still has one. I know when Rich Mulenhardt,RIP, got his truck OK'd he had to send a lot of paper work to NHRA. That truck combo was not in the guide. By the way that blown 312 is available in every model Ford offered in 57. Good luck, I think it's cool to see the old cars back. Long live junior stock!

[doug schriener]

Originally Posted by Tony Janes

The only good 57 Ford would be the 300 HP supercharged 312. The rest have to much horsepower.

Somewhere Larry Walker And Parham and Payne are smilin'

[amxron]

Dwight S.
NHRA had all these guides and misplaced (?) them years ago. Why wouldn't
they accept a copy of their own guides?
Strangely enough 55 up chev's are still in their copies.....Every other brand is gone.
I remember my first Jr Stock Elim loss was to a 52 Olds called Tokyo Rose. (in 1962)

Ron.

[amxron]

dmir55,
Would you post the 57 Ford sheets for me?

Thanks,

Ron.

[Lyn Smith]

In the online Stock Blueprint Guide Right now 1956,and 57 Chevrolets show no intake manifold numbers.

[dmir55]

[QUOTE=amxron;528792]dmir55,
Would you post the 57 Ford sheets for me?

Thanks,

Ron.Could narrow it down some. There six engines listed and 52 body combos. 26 with a stick and 26 with a FOM. I have to hand print them for you.

[Lew Silverman]

So what would happen if someone showed up at an NHRA Lucas Oil event with a vehicle that is listed in the Stock Car Guide (for example, a 1955 Cadillac) but there are no tech spec's published/available? IIRC the rulebook states that the vehicle must be listed in the Guide, but there is no mention of technical information.

As loose as the rules have been/are interpreted, and if the information was/is still available in some format, how difficult would it be to "recreate" those lists and fill-in the missing documentation. The complaint that it would be too costly doesn't seem to be a reason not to do this. How hard would it be to build a Microsoft Word document?

I know some folks have complained that there are too many "classes" in Stock and Super/Stock Eliminator, but has anyone had a problem with too many valid "combinations" in the Guide?

[Dwight Southerland]

Originally Posted by amxron

Dwight S.
NHRA had all these guides and misplaced (?) them years ago. Why wouldn't
they accept a copy of their own guides?
Strangely enough 55 up chev's are still in their copies.....Every other brand is gone.
I remember my first Jr Stock Elim loss was to a 52 Olds called Tokyo Rose. (in 1962)

Ron.

I doubt is they misplaced them. I suspect the major reason they eliminated so many of the listings is because of the inability to support the tech side of things. When Jr Stock was begun, it was class guide only, no tech bulletins. The tech bulletins came later as racers began to get serious and the need was great to root out cheaters. It's one thing to classify someone's daily street car or family car driven off the street, but when people began building purpose built race cars the verification becomes much more involved. Think about it, there were no hot rod parts directed toward stockers. Even the first rate of lift camshafts did not come along until the mid 1960s. NHRA didn't build a good technical information base until the mid 1960s. When the current Stock Eliminator was begun in 1971, part of the change was the limitation to the set of technical information they had. There are some leftover remnants of that move that can be noted in the fact that there are Oldsmobile tech sheets back to 1949, but the classification guide stops for Oldsmobile in 1960. Also, Cadillac has classification sheets back to 1955, but no tech specs until 1977. To expect NHRA to do the work (read that as spend the money) to fill out there technical specs to meet all of American auto production since 1950 is unrealistic; they don't support what they have now very well.