Lower Class Stockers

[RockyJ]

I could not resist this thread: For Bill D. The Reider and Wallace "Horsesense" car did go
mid 15.00s and the secret was the rear gears and tranny. The 74 wagon only had the first ford 8.8
rear. Previous yrs only the small rear -max with 4.11 gears. Tom had 5.13s and i think
even 5.57s special made for him. These REALLY woke up that pos 2300 hyd. cam engine.
Before 1974 all Pintos and Capris were ltd to 4:11 and were 2000cc German engines with a slightly smaller carb.But would wind to 8000 rpm if you knew what you were doing.
You were not allowed to change the factory rear in those days.So when REIDER got those gears it was the end for the rest of us who had 1972 and 1973 cars.If i would have had access to those gears i could have easily gone 15s in the 72 and 73 cars.
History lesson: In 1972 at the INDY points meet, [ first yr of new rules ] I owned a 1967 chevy biscayne 283 - 2bbl stick car J/S i think. Pretty fast for the day. But to my utter amazement , there was this kid sitting next to me in his 1972 mercury Capri , in the staging lanes with his radio blasting and V/S on his window. This is crazy i thought , what is a car like this doing in the lanes? Street tires and all. Late rounds i drew the capri, thinking this should be no problem. Dumped the clutch at about 3500rpm caught him in 2nd gear ,and then a funny thing happened,the Capri began to pull away from my 283 chevy. Couple rounds later Greg Rice was the winner of the ist Div 3 race and one of the first ever 4cyl winners . I was convinced enough to sell my cheby and purchase the first of my Pintos ,on the very first day they were on sale in sept of 1972. I won many local races and set a NHRA and IHRA record with them. Finally going 15.92 in the 72 car with the 4:11 gears.
The moral of this story , if someone wants to build a 72 -73 Pinto or Capri with the 2000cc engine and an 8.8 rear [now legal] i think it will fly.

[Stock4106]

If I'm not mistaken, Kyle Riley won a few division 3 races in the late 90's with his EF/SA Delta 88. I know he finished in the Div 3 top 5 a few times with it.

[gcasey]

I likely have the distinction(?) of winning with the lowest class stocker. I won the 1986 IHRA Northern Nat'ls at Milan with my Z/SA '68 Nomad wagon. It was a great day - had to get by Bob Downing, an N/PSA (double breakout), Randall Campbell's Y/SA (with a .002RT), a killer C/SA and finally Gary Bowers ('85 World Champ) K/SA. Tore down for inspection (yep, really did that in those days) right in the shade on the staging lanes. Bob Marshall won Super Stock. He wandered over and looked at the 230 inline, just grinned and walked away. The old wagon will start its 35th year as a race car in 2009!

[bill dedman]

Tom, and Rocky,

Thanks a load for clearing that Pinto business up for me; I have wondered about that for YEARS... and, it all makes perfect sense, now.

I think Mr. Reider must have been ahead of his time, to have run those numbers with a stock (OEM) camshaft some 32 years ago... even at the 23 pounds-per-horsepower figure.

I really appreciate the time you guys took to answer this. I feel better now, knowing I didn't dream this up...

Have a good week!!!!

Bill

[Dave Turner]

Originally Posted by gcasey

I likely have the distinction(?) of winning with the lowest class stocker. I won the 1986 IHRA Northern Nat'ls at Milan with my Z/SA '68 Nomad wagon. It was a great day - had to get by Bob Downing, an N/PSA (double breakout), Randall Campbell's Y/SA (with a .002RT), a killer C/SA and finally Gary Bowers ('85 World Champ) K/SA. Tore down for inspection (yep, really did that in those days) right in the shade on the staging lanes. Bob Marshall won Super Stock. He wandered over and looked at the 230 inline, just grinned and walked away. The old wagon will start its 35th year as a race car in 2009!

Any new tricks up your sleeve for '09 Mr Casey?

Happy belated Thanksgiving and all the best for the New Year!!

[Dean Oliver]

Dennis Oliver won the U.S. Nationals in 1990 with his P/S Impala. If I remember right he had to spot Terrance in the final. Dad finished #7 that year. Prior to that, he also won three other nationals and had a few runner-up finishes with that car as well. He sold that car to Jerry Hefler several years ago after we built our G/S Camaro.

[Bench Racer]

I remember back in the day when the stock "terrors" in IHRA were Randall Campbell in his 6 cyl. nova wagon, J.T. Allen in his 200ci V6 Malibu pure stocker that would run 1.10+ under the index with the AC running lol, and Ray Head in his 283 2bbl. 1960 Chevy Impala. These guys could cut .00 lights and run dead on like robots. They were not fast but they were usually some of the last cars still running at the end of the day. Don Jackson

[raceewing]

I believe George Williams won the winter nationals (nhra) with his vega wagon in mid seventies.

[Michael Beard]

Don't even have to use past tense! Randall Campbell busted my butt with a double-oh and .01-over in the semis of Saturday night combo at Mt. Park a couple years ago, running his HT/SA '86 Chevy C-10 pickup. I think it's R/SA in NHRA.


gcasey - Awesome! It's good to hear those lost bits of history.

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by Bench Racer

I remember back in the day when the stock "terrors" in IHRA were Randall Campbell in his 6 cyl. nova wagon, J.T. Allen in his 200ci V6 Malibu pure stocker that would run 1.10+ under the index with the AC running lol, and Ray Head in his 283 2bbl. 1960 Chevy Impala. These guys could cut .00 lights and run dead on like robots. They were not fast but they were usually some of the last cars still running at the end of the day. Don Jackson

Yeah....but J.T's V6 had the wrong pistons in it. Thats why I bounced him out of the top 10 and DQ'ed him. That was the last we saw of him and as I hear it he's into boats....LOL.