Why do you run what you run?

[Geerhead55]

James,,, how did your car run when you set it up for C/S? I assume thats the L-79 combo and it seems a lot of Chevy II guys stay away from that setup because of the small Holley carb.Did it take a while to sort it out? Thanks for any info.
Danny Durham

[james schaechter]

Yes, it was an L-79. It ran ok, but not great. The small carb and the intake is not the best deal. The intake # in the guide is something I have never heard of and the alternate # "490" is the one we ran. Went 10.80's best.
I blew it up at Joliet Nat's a few years back.I hung an intake valve and it caused some internal carnage. If I had the springs then that I have now, I think I would have been ok. Might try it again someday, but the 327 275 hp is still a better combo. At that race, we actually borrowed another L-79 from Bob Gipson that was fresh off of the dyno. Ben Wenzel let us use his engine puller and we got it in that night. Went a couple of rounds at least. ( I did drop the rev limiter and 2 step down though) ...

Bob Gipson runs one in his 65 Corvette. He has been working on the combo for awhile. It is another one that likes the good air, but suffers in the bad air with the small carb.

[LNorton]

We run an '02 Firebird V6 231/200 in Stock. We already had the car, and we wanted to get back into running divisional and national events. Slap in a gear that I had laying on the shelf, a Hoosier QTP DOT Slick that I also had, and we had a car 2 tenths under the pure stock index. Then we got a little out of hand and stepped up into the big boy classes last year.

[Geerhead55]

Thanks for the feedback, James. I appreciate it.........Danny Durham

[MFR440]

Great topic!

We started with our '65 Dodge Coronet that my grandparents bought new and gave to my dad around 1984. When my dad stumbled across a Max Wedge intake manifold, he had to have it, and after my grandmother passed, we started to build the Dodge into a street car. After one time at the dragstrip, dad got the bug again. The slicks went on, the exhaust came off, and the "Dodge" was a show/race car ever since. We started to make friends at the Mopar events, and 1996, Dave Duell convinced us to run the Max Wedge Shootout at the Mopar Nationals, which got us hooked on Nostalgia Super Stock. In 2002 the owner of the Chrysler Classic series changed the rules to disallow the '65 cars in Max Wedge, so we picked up a carbon-copy '64 Plymouth Belvedere. We transferred the M/W drive train, and have been racing the '64 since 2003.

We race N/SS because it is a cheaper alternative, and a lot of fun! We would love to race Super Stock some day, but finances haven't allowed it yet. So for now we are fans, and part-time crew members for our friends in S/S.

[Ed Wright]

I've had mine for several years, it originally an R&D car for my business and was my everyday transportation. I first pulled the engine at 110,000 miles to fix a couple of oil leaks, then I kept screwing with it. Guess it kinda got out of hand. Still has the 2005 license tag in place.

[Ross Family Racing]

I bought my Cuda in 1974, drove it to high school and 2 years later made it into a race car. I have always loved my Cuda and don't care if it's not the best combination for a particular class, it still has been competitive enough to get the job done. Built a 80 Volare because it could run Stock, Super Stock, or Super Stock GT making it a versatile car to run. Sold it to Mike Beard and you know how that came out. Built our Avenger to run the Crate Motor conversion class (A/FCM) because we wanted a later model Mopar to run and built for a class that was not populated at all. Still having fun!!!!
Jeff Ross

[Freddie]

I ran with a guy out of Southern NJ in the late 80's who had a SS/FM 5 speed car, was a blast to run, and we had alot of fun everywhere we went. From there I tried my hand at Comp for a few years, then had to retire due to children. So when it came time to get back into first thing I did was buy another Altered like I used to race, found I didnt like it as much, so I picked up the 90 Mustnag I now race and ran it as a street car for the first year, then started making changes, now three years later, and several thousand $$$ I am about to finish it as a GT/MA car to be raced later this year.

[GarysZ24]

Originally Posted by iraceitall

Why did you build the particular car you run, and why? Just want to know what everyone's thinking was, whether it was what you had, bought it, had a wild hair, etc...

I run my Z24 Cavalier, for four reasons:

1. Because I have only $10k in the car including the purchase price, and it's a competitive package.

2. I became interested in it when I saw the burgundy red looking one in the finals of an IHRA race, that was spoken about in the other stock/super stock forum section last November-December (as far as the driver was concerned.

3. Because I like a challenge, and I feel it's much more challenging to make a fwd car a winner than a rwd car, and the fact that only two racers have won one major race with a fwd car (Mark Yacavonne the national, and I'd have to check the other postings to see who the divisional winner was), is all the proof of that statement.

4. Because after I saw the magazine ad talking about the 1986 Z24 Cavalier as a fox raised by wolves (those being the Z28 Camaro, and the Corvette), plus born under a cold white moon, and the end of the ad where it states "BEWARE THE Z24! CAVALIER'S RUNNING WITH THE BIG BOYS NOW"! That's all I needed...

[treessavoy]

I run a B-Body Mopar because that's what I like.

Run a car that you like, just make sure it fits a class you can afford and have fun.