stock and super stock racing

[treessavoy]

Originally Posted by JRyan

Thanks Alan,

Glad to hear it's still a dragstrip. I wonder if they still graze cattle there during the week. That made for some interesting pit spots.

Jerry

Alan/Jerry,

I was stationed at Ft. Hood and raced at Temple in '76 thru '78, it's the best kept secret in the drag racing world. I remember everyone trying to get there early enough to get one of the under tree parking places. I raced a guy in a SS chevy 2 who couldn't drive with his boot on so when it came time to race he raced barefoot!
Good times.

JimR

[bill dedman]

Jerry,
I was at Ft. Hood for awhile the summer of 1962, and they ran primitive drag races beside the loading ramps at the "railhead." They were all pretty much street cars; the quickest car I ever saw there, was a red, 1938 Willys 4-door sedan, with a GMC-blown Buick nailhead B/GS car. I believe he ran 13.30's.... not very fast, but pure excitement for a bunch of race-starved G.I.'s.

They had a flagman and a guy with a pair of binoculars and a stopwatch. The guy with the stopwatch sat on the finish line and watched the start with the binoculars....

Chrondek, it wasn't.... lol!!! But, it was LOTS of fun!!!

No classes at all; quickest car there won ALL the entry fee money....

Were they still doing that when you got to Ft. Hood????

[bill dedman]

Drag racing got complicated quickly, but got a lot MORE complicated in 1963, with the introduction of the Christmas Tree, and its handicapped-start capabilities.

The ensuing years saw many changes, some good, some bad, but sometimes I wonder if the direction that NHRA drag racing has taken (for Stockers) is a good thing...

There was a time when you took your car to the strip and raced for a trophy.... period.

In 1956, for example, there was A, B, C, and D Stock, In '57, I think they added E Stock (could be a year "off.") Sticks and automatics were not separated.

The classification process worked with so few classes, because the horsepower spectrum was so small; the very fastest cars in 1956 had around 300 horsepower; the slowest were in the 90-horsepower range.

So, you had only about 210 horsepower separating the slowest Stockers from the fastest. Separating them with 4 or 5 classes made for some fairly equitable "class" racing.

In 1956, There might be 7 or 8 cars in A Stock (dual-quad Chevies, Fords, Pontiacs, and Dodges,) with the occasional Chrysler 300, or Cadillac El Dorado (both of which sported dual quads, in '56.)

B Stock might have 12-14 cars, and might be made up of primarily, single 4bbl 317 cid., Pontiacs, Power Pack 265 Chevies, "Ford Interceptors" (312-powered sedans), and an occasional '56 Olds 88.

C Stock was usually the most populous class, with lots of 2bbl 265 Chevys, 272 cid '56 Fords, and an assortment of oddball V8 Studebakers, Mercury 292's and some '53-'54 Oldsmobiles. Maybe 15-18 cars in that class.

D Stock was not as popular, but was made up of some interesting cars, such as 232 cid, early V8, 2-bbl, Studebakers, '49-'51 Oldsmobiles, Hudson Hornets with 1 carb, and 2-bbl, '52 OHV Lincolns (with Hydramatics(!).

E Stock was the refuge of the inline, six-cylinder Chevies, GMC pickups, Ford Flatheads, and a whole bevy of nondescript Nashes, really early Buicks (1938?) with "compound carburetion," and most foreign cars of the day (of which, there were very few.) It was a crapshoot, as far as how many would show up to race... maybe 10....

You got 3 or 4 time trials, and would heed the call to the lanes for YOUR CLASS, after noon, or, thereabouts.

The classes were run off, one class at a time, hot-lapping, until a winner in that class was determined. Then, the next higher class had its eliminations. They were all run this way; hot-laps until the survivor was deemed the class champion.

They ran some competition Dragsters, Gassers, motorcycles, and Altereds between the autonomous class runs.... usually saving the "TOP ELIMINATOR" runs for the last runs of the day.

There was NO "Stock Eliminator." Just 5 class winners, with a nice trophy in the back seat of each. No cash payouts.

There were also, no $5,000.00, acid-ported cylinder heads, $$$$$ Headers, disguised, expensive, aluminum driveshafts, data loggers, $900.00 "blueprinted" carburetors, nor expen$ive drag slicks on these cars. They were required to run the tires they were equipped with, OEM.

When the racing program was over, the announcer invited any spectator who wanted to, to bring their car to the line for a free time trial, or to grudge race the car of their choice... multiple times, if so desired.

Lots of those folks got their first taste of competition there, and came back the next month as a competitor!!!

It was so simple...

Is what we have, today, better???

You decide...

[treessavoy]

Originally Posted by bill dedman

Jerry,
I was at Ft. Hood for awhile the summer of 1962, and they ran primitive drag races beside the loading ramps at the "railhead." They were all pretty much street cars; the quickest car I ever saw there, was a red, 1938 Willys 4-door sedan, with a GMC-blown Buick nailhead B/GS car. I believe he ran 13.30's.... not very fast, but pure excitement for a bunch of race-starved G.I.'s.

They had a flagman and a guy with a pair of binoculars and a stopwatch. The guy with the stopwatch sat on the finish line and watched the start with the binoculars....

Chrondek, it wasn't.... lol!!! But, it was LOTS of fun!!!

No classes at all; quickest car there won ALL the entry fee money....

Were they still doing that when you got to Ft. Hood????

They were still racing on Sundays down by the loading docks when I was there in '77 but had up graded to lights and a tree but they had disbanded the Army Racing Team...I raced with some of those guys at Temple. I had a high 11 second Max Wedge and was the fastest car there.

JimR

[bill dedman]

There was no "Army Racing Team," when I was there, in '62. Lots of fun, though, and not an NHRA decal in sight...

Wonder if that's still going on at "The Railhead"?????????

[RPM42]

I fairly young and just now getting a point in my life where I can think about getting a car and racing. I was excited to learn about Stock and Super Stock where the fastest best built car still wins. But that is not the case. From what I understand, unless your at nationals most of what you do is just bracket racing. This is disappointing. It seems like with all the classes out there now they could have one setup for just heads racing stock cars. It would be nice if they just used the class indexes to determine the head start and it was first to finish plus the reaction times. I understand there is a huge advantage for those who spend a lot of money, but if you just want to race and have a chance with a slower car just do bracket racing. Theres my young and dumb opinion take it what its worth.

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by RPM42

I fairly young and just now getting a point in my life where I can think about getting a car and racing. I was excited to learn about Stock and Super Stock where the fastest best built car still wins. But that is not the case. From what I understand, unless your at nationals most of what you do is just bracket racing. This is disappointing. It seems like with all the classes out there now they could have one setup for just heads racing stock cars. It would be nice if they just used the class indexes to determine the head start and it was first to finish plus the reaction times. I understand there is a huge advantage for those who spend a lot of money, but if you just want to race and have a chance with a slower car just do bracket racing. Theres my young and dumb opinion take it what its worth.

RPM42.....They had the type of first to the finish line racing back in the mid 70's you mentioned and it was the same 3 or 4 cars winning all of the time. The entries dropped of to almost nothing (less income for NHRA) so they changed it back to bracket racing except for class run offs and the ocasional heads up race if they couldnt find a class to hide in to avoid it.

[Harry 6674]

Originally Posted by X-TECH MAN

RPM42.....They had the type of first to the finish line racing back in the mid 70's you mentioned and it was the same 3 or 4 cars winning all of the time. The entries dropped of to almost nothing (less income for NHRA) so they changed it back to bracket racing except for class run offs and the ocasional heads up race if they couldnt find a class to hide in to avoid it.

It wasn't like that in the northwest. You had guys you just as soon not have to face but there was a lot of ways to lose back then(Breakage). Today you have the Fauls,Langs Waldos(back then to)Fletchers,Biondos I would just as soon avoid. They don't always have the fastest cars in their class but are great drivers and they do win a large portion of the races. Does that make sense at all?

[treessavoy]

Originally Posted by bill dedman

There was no "Army Racing Team," when I was there, in '62. Lots of fun, though, and not an NHRA decal in sight...

Wonder if that's still going on at "The Railhead"?????????

In the very early '70's the Army created the Army Racing team which was headed by a Lt. and the cars were driven by enlisted men. I believe the cars were their own but competition money and parts were furnished by the Army and sponsors. They raced in various classes and ran the NHRA circuit. It ended in '74 or '75....not sure on the exact dates. The team was stationed at Ft.Hood.

JimR

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by treessavoy

In the very early '70's the Army created the Army Racing team which was headed by a Lt. and the cars were driven by enlisted men. I believe the cars were their own but competition money and parts were furnished by the Army and sponsors. They raced in various classes and ran the NHRA circuit. It ended in '74 or '75....not sure on the exact dates. The team was stationed at Ft.Hood.

JimR

The Lt. drove the SS/PA 55 Chevy 4 door. I talked to him quite a bit back then but I cant remember his name for sure. Nice guy for an Army officer.....LOL. Did he drive a 71 454 Corvette C or D/SA in the 80's??? Glass Slipper???? Im thinking maybe his name was Lt Ham??? Or was it someone else???