2008 Cobra Jets belong in Stock

[bill dedman]

Shawn,

I think that's an excellent point you made RE: is it street legal? If not, then it's an S/S car. I never considered that, but I think it has a lot of validity to it. Getting the mfgr.-friendly NHRA Tech Department to agree might take some doing, unfortunately.

Gary, your comment "American workers who lost their jobs due to our governments embracing of this warped-minded global economy" made me wish I'd said it.... we are on exactly the same page in our thinking on "global economy." Nothing would suit me better than to see a 50% tariff on any car sold here that was not built on this continent. But, that's politics, and I am aware that this in not the place to discuss that.

Be that as it may, "foreign" cars are making inroads performance-wise, and need to be included in the Class.Guide, I think (if for no other reason than to allow you, Gary, to get some starting-line satisfaction racing them!)

When I say they are making inroads, what I mean is "getting faster all the time." If you look at the road test results (in mags like Car and Driver, Road and Track, and Motor Trend) of the Honda Accord V6's, Camry V6's, and Nissan Altima V6s, you'll see that some of them run very close to 100 in the quarter, and the 5-speed Altimas run well over 100mph in the quarter-mile, and in the low-to-mid 14s on stock rubber and do this in brand-new, showroom-stock trim. The slowest run right at 100mph... and will exceed that, when broken in... still showroom-stock, thru the cat's and mufflers. That's a little faster than a '64 GTO was, or a '68 383 Road Runner, which were considered "muscle cars" in their day. And, (except for the Altima) those are all automatics... Amazing, for a 3,400-pound car with a 3.5-liter (214 cubic inch) motor, normally-aspirated, in "grocery-getter" trim.

I think if NHRA gave them a place to race, they would come... and you could have "your day in court," Gary.

I think it's a shame that NHRA doesn't actively pursue the specs on those cars so they can be included in the mix; they're NOT "slow." Any car that can run 100mph in the quarter, showroom stock, is okay by me, regardless of its place of manufacture. Just factor them right, and away we go!!!!

Bill

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by bill dedman

Shawn,


I think if NHRA gave them a place to race, they would come... and you could have "your day in court,"

Bill

The "OVER SEA'S' built s##t box's had a place to race. It was called NOPI and it flopped, failed, went KAPUT. Even the bikini clad 18 year olds couldnt keep it going. They didnt come and now they can run brackets or on the streets as they usually do.

[Bruce Noland]

It is hard to keep these threads on topic. A changing of the OEM guard may be taking place with these new CJs. GM may be on it's way out and Ford on it's way in. We may see Ford trucks with nhra logos in the future. It's a cyclic thing. In other words GM is out of money and Ford still has some. Well, at least the Ford Racing Parts folks still have some money. They call the CJ a racing parts car because it did not flow directly from a regular assembly line enroute to the track.

[Fred Popov]

Originally Posted by bill dedman

Shawn,

When I say they are making inroads, what I mean is "getting faster all the time." If you look at the road test results (in mags like Car and Driver, Road and Track, and Motor Trend) of the Honda Accord V6's, Camry V6's, and Nissan Altima V6s, you'll see that some of them run very close to 100 in the quarter, and the 5-speed Altimas run well over 100mph in the quarter-mile, and in the low-to-mid 14s on stock rubber and do this in brand-new, showroom-stock trim. The slowest run right at 100mph... and will exceed that, when broken in... still showroom-stock, thru the cat's and mufflers. That's a little faster than a '64 GTO was, or a '68 383 Road Runner, which were considered "muscle cars" in their day. And, (except for the Altima) those are all automatics... Amazing, for a 3,400-pound car with a 3.5-liter (214 cubic inch) motor, normally-aspirated, in "grocery-getter" trim.

I think if NHRA gave them a place to race, they would come... and you could have "your day in court," Gary.

Bill

I have to disagree... No doubt about the modern V6 engines making great power compared to the older ones, but there is not much more power that can be extracted out of them. They have advanced variable cam timing that varies duration and lift. They are basically making as much power as possible and still emission legal. Other than removing the accessories, exhaust, and making a few computer tweaks there isn't much more to do. Getting 100 hp more would be very difficult if not impossible. It's much easier to get that 100hp out of an older V8 that has much more displacement.
Also, if anyone was ever asked to go though tech in V6 Altima or Camy, that would be the end of their weekend. They would spend the rest of their time reassembling their engine.

[GarysZ24]

Originally Posted by bill dedman

I think (if for no other reason than to allow you, Gary, to get some starting-line satisfaction racing them!)

I think if NHRA gave them a place to race, they would come... and you could have "your day in court," Gary.



Bill

Bill, nothing would give me greater satisfaction (other than becoming the first fwd Stocker racer to win a national/divisional event this century, and then follow that up by becoming the first fwd multiple race winner, as well as the first Top 10 points finisher ever nationally or divisionally), than to line up next to anyone driving one of those imported cars in Stock Eliminator! Bandimere Speedway had a racer named Mitch Baker that came to an import race with a Toyota Tundra p.u. back in 2002? Because of his savy with racing Pro ET cars to be one of Bandimere Speedways winningest racers in the tracks history, it was no surprise that he made it to the final round in that truck...what might not have been much of a surprise was who met him in the other lane in the final round---ME & my Z24 Chevy Cavalier. Unfortunately, I was sooo amped up to beat this so-called F100, Silverado, & Ram beater (when I had to spot it nearly 1.5sec!!!), that I over-shifted my stock auto tranny (shifter) from 1st to neutral, and even though I caught him at the 330ft mark, he got away and held me off by 3/4's of a truck length to get the win. My point being that I'd have to screw-up BIG-TIME, in order for an imported car to beat me in a stock-eliminator type race...bring them on, cause I was born ready, and I'll be thinking of Dec. 7 1941 every time I race one!!!

To you guys on point with the 2008 Cobra Jet in Stock thing, I apologize for being off thread with this reply, but it was the only way I could respond to Bills phrase...besides I wasn't the one who spoke about the 100mph awd import car in the first place!!!