Whither the 425/427 decicion....

[Bobby DiDomenico]

Originally Posted by Ed OBrien

Bobby
It is except the lift on the cam and the tires but what's out there now ? Yes there are a few that run fast with legit heads but I mean a few ! When they started pouring runners in Stock I've heard more lies than ever came out of Russ's mouth . Have a nice day

My point exactly Ed.

A few years back I was at Indy on Thurs/Fri and went to visit in the Barn during Stock teardown on Friday and started talking with a few gents I know. One car owner came up and yelled at me for looking at his engine while they were removing one set of head bolts. I was thinkin' "Hm, lets see, the port cannot be touched so there must be something I'm missing here." And then I noticed his ports not only matched the gaskets perfectly, they all seemed to be the same size!

And others such as Kenny with his Cobra Jet and Corda talked with us freely.

I may have some budget stuff laying around, but none of it matches the gasket at all. In fact none of my stuff has a port that is anywhere near as large as the gasket. (Hence why it is called a gasket right?) Maybe that's why GM has lost sales, their casting foundry has lost its touch? ;-)

[Bobby DiDomenico]

Originally Posted by herbjr

My dad got cussed back in 1980 by an employee of a sanctioning body when he told them "SPEED COST MONEY, HOW FAST DO YOU WANT TO GO",


For you guys that think stock isnt bracket racing, maybe you need to push nhra to go back to Class Winners only run on Sunday. That will shorten the field. Also dont forget all class winners get tore down EVERY RACE.


Just a thought, even though its a stupid one.

Herb,

Some very nice friends, a family I would never have met without drag racing, were running a Super Stocker and decided to build a IHRA Top Stock car. I quickly learned the difference between Class Racing with a possible heads up run and Heads Up - first to the finish line all the time racing. I've never seen $ go by so fast in all my life. (Not counting government of course...)

Taking your idea one step further, what if you let everyone run, but they just got handicapped off of the index rather than a dial in? I don't think half the cars would even enter the next event!

[herbjr]

Originally Posted by Bobby DiDomenico

Taking your idea one step further, what if you let everyone run, but they just got handicapped off of the index rather than a dial in? I don't think half the cars would even enter the next event!

Index or Record, I remember that.

[SS Engine Guy]

Originally Posted by herbjr

Or maybe they dont have the money to build a 50K stocker. I think thats what a good one will cost that is bad *** these days. At least A-F/SA. And I mean BAD *** not 1 second under at Indy.

50K for a good one is about right if you have someone else build the chassis and drivetrain. As long is it isn't one of the 70k pupose built cars or something very collectable/rare. About half that if you can do the welding/mechanics/testing/set-up yourself.
BAD *** is relative to legal and correctly factored. A LEGAL 1 second under at Indy is pretty good in my book considering you are usually running in 3000 ft. wet air which would translate to around 1.2 under in good air.

I like the idea of class winners and teardowns. Especially teardowns in the rain in a muddy field with flashlights and the headlights from the tow truck while the head of tech is waiting with the heater running in his car. Whats the old saying? What dosen't kill you will only serve to make you stronger. (and better -- and smarter)

I think Harry is pretty much right in his post.

X-Techman did you sleep in the truck at the mall in '78 so you wouldn't loose your place in the tech line?

I would estimate that 75% of my customers don't even install the new/fresh engine that they pick up themselves. I would say that 85% couldn't tell me the metering rod sizes or jets that are in the motor without pulling them. The other 15% are usually in the top 10 at any national that they attend. They work smart and they test smart. They really don't even need me, they just think that they do.

[RJ]

Originally Posted by SS Engine Guy

I would estimate that 75% of my customers don't even install the new/fresh engine that they pick up themselves. I would say that 85% couldn't tell me the metering rod sizes or jets that are in the motor without pulling them. The other 15% are usually in the top 10 at any national that they attend. They work smart and they test smart. They really don't even need me, they just think that they do.

And I would estimate that most of the "checkwriters" run their mouths the most about how fast "they" are.

[Ed Wright]

SS Engine guy, what is your real name? You must have a lot of fast stuff out there, and if you have told who you are I must have missed it.

Not real sure why so many hide behind made-up screen names.

[Ed Wright]

[QUOTE] Do that in Ihra , not nhra . The day they do away with heads ups will be the death of the class. Why even race a class car. Just build a cement mixer with a big block Chevy and run bracket 2 [QUOTE]

Please! Not in IHRA either.

[QUOTE]Do away with the chance of heads up runs and all you have is Pro ET racing.
If you don't like the possibility of heads up, go race somewhere else other than Stock or Super Stock.
[QUOTE]

[QUOTE]No heads up? Just kill what integrity stock eliminator has left at that rate. There are plenty of places for people to go bracket race. [QUOTE]

AMEN!!!

When my wife showed me how many SS/JA cars were entered at Topeka, we decided to go there instead of the IHRA race in Texas. I'll probably get my tail kicked in class by at least that friggin red Dodge, or Don O'Malley's Vette, but I'll find it I have made any head way in catching up to them.

Heads-up is real racing! I'm just too poor for Pro Stock.

[X-TECH MAN]

[QUOTE=SS Engine Guy;

X-Techman did you sleep in the truck at the mall in '78 so you wouldn't loose your place in the tech line?

.[/QUOTE]

Accually I was on my "HONEY MOON"....lol and I slept at a motel. Its been so long ago that I dont remember if the tech line was at the track or a shopping center as some of the races kind of run together after 30+ years. I do remember running Phil Hardee (a Bobby Warren preped car) in the final. We both had 350 SS/IA (P/G trans) Camaro's and the S/S cars were less radical than the stockers of today (no ported heads, water pump drives, etc.) at that time. If you were there I was in the left lane in a Candy Red 68 that was unlettered that had one of the early prototype ATI trans breaks. Jim Bettie gave it to me to try out. I used the trans break on the final run and at the green it stood up high enough to drag the bumper and rear pannel and I could not see the grand stands on the left. Had I not stood it up I Might??? have won class. We were eye ball to eye ball at the finish line. I believe he ran a 10.97 and I ran a 10.99 ? Pretty good for 1978. That is just one of the fun memories I have of racing back then. Even though I lost class I had a fun time (winning isnt the only good thing about drag racing) and Phil and myself became pretty good friends through the years when we met at the races when he went comp racing and I was working for IHRA we always took time to talk about the good ole days. . Locally I ran pretty good but nationally I got beat up pretty bad....LOL. The Gators that year was not a good race as I was whipped in the first round....lol. I did OK at the "little Guy Nationals" in Va. the year (1977) before. Had the honor of knowing Div. 2 tech director John Bedenkamp(sp?) before he passed from cancer. He was one of the good guys NHRA had working for them. All in all I look back on it as a great time. Would not have missed it for anything.

[Ed Wright]

Originally Posted by Longbob

You are not going to Crandall!!! What the heck am I a gonna do!!!

Well, now I know who longbob is.

You'll probably be faster.

Your dyno harness came in. I'll give it to Pete at Topeka. Save freight. Maybe he'll pay for it.

[BlueOval Ralph]

This is so sad.