Lower Class Stockers

[Bret Kepner]

Certainly most of you remember that Tom Redier won Stock at Indy '76 with his X/S Pinto wagon. However, arguably the most brutal of all the "little cars", (at least from the perspective of being more than capable of winning a National Event for more than a two-year stretch), was George Williams' Z/S Vega panel wagon.

[Lambertcars]

I have a 79 dodge omni gf/sa ihra ef/s nhra,won class at nhra 5 times and was runner up at a ihra points race at douglas georgia in 2002,runner up is as close as i have got to winning a points race but i cant even remember how many bracket races or money i have won with that little slow omni at local tracks. I have a super stock 68 camaro that my son frank drives and a ihra crate motor 91 firebird and i have as much fun racing the omni as the camaro or firebird


allen lambert

[greg fulk]

Zac won Div.3 IHRA back in 2002 ...he set the V/SA record that year & I set the U/SA record. I RU to Ken Shawver @ Tri-State Div. race on Sat. night combo. I made it to 16 cars @ Indy Div. in 2005 & 7 cars @ Edgewater that year. 2006 Mooresville Div. I made it to 3 cars & Dad made it to 4 cars in 2007 Div @ Kanahawa Valley with his 69 4-door W/SA Nova. In 2006 Dad made it to 5 cars @ Mooresville & Clay-City 10 cars @ Milan with his H/PS Mustang. ( the car would run .20 under & he could drive it to & from the track) He also finished 8th in Div.3 that year.

[John Kelley]

In 1985 Larry harrell WON Stock at the NHRA National in Chandler,Ariz in an '80 Dodge at
13.316 @ 98.25 MPH....

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by Ross Family Racing

When was the last time that a Stocker running 13.00 or slower won a national event? Has a front wheel drive stocker ever won a national or divisional event? Should the lower class cars be in a seperate eliminator (like there would ever be a seperate eliminator)? I've always liked the uniqueness of all the slower cars/trucks. Jeff Ross

Getting back to the original question, we have , in this century , Neil Smedley in April '01, running 13 teens.
Kevin Fogerty, Sept 02, running 13.0's til the final ,where he runs 12.98 . We'll give you that one ,Kev.

Who else?

[The Hawk]

Wow,thank you Chuck Norton for the kind words. The first two names that popped into my mind were Mark and Billy for winning a Nat`l Event with a lower classed car. I myself have come close a few times,Runner Up in Denver in `01 and semis in Denver and Dallas other times. I have won one Division race in Topeka in `96 and have had three other runner ups all in the same "era" of `95-`96. My proudest moment was winning the `96 Division 5 Championship over a Kevin Helms,and only going to 5 races to do it. My points total was 376,and I was holding a first round loss in that total. Ahh,the good `ol days.

[Rory McNeil]

There has been at least a couple of Div.6 Stockers that have won a NHRA national event. The late Cal Queapama won the Seattle race in the late 70`s or early 80`s with a 61 Impala 4 dr HT, running mid 15`s in I believe V/SA (this was when Stock still went all the way to Z/SA). Also Rob Robinson won at least 1 national event, but I`m thinking it was 2, with his 65 Impala wagon in R/SA. Both these cars were 283`s.

[bill dedman]

Without hijacking this thread, I would like to ask a quick trivia question that I don't have the answer to, but maybe one of you will.

Brett mentioned Tom Reider's 1976 Indy Stock Eliminator win with his Pinto station wagon, a 2300cc, 4-banger, 4-speed car.

I seem to remember (don't have any doncumentation anymore to back this up, but I'll bet Brett does!) that Pinto wagon ran something like 15.56 on its way to that Eliminator win. That number sticks in my so-called mind...

I am somewhat of a lower-class "stats" closet freak, myself, and have watched those 2300s throughout the years that run that class, and it amazed me that for many, MANY years, no one seemed to be able to turn mid 15's with one of those cars like Tom Reider had done, way back in 1976. As a matter of fact, Ellis Buth, certainally no stranger to how to make one of these motors perform, is the current record holder at 15.83 seconds.

Given the relaxed cam duration rule (compared with 1976) and other "enhancements" that have helped e.t's along the way in the last 30 years, HOW did Tom Reider get his Pinto wagon to run 15.50s way back then, or is my ancient mind playing another trick on me??? Maybe it was 16.56, and I dreamed all this.... but, I don't theeeenk so...

Remember; this is for entertainment purposes only; no actual Pintos were harmed in the formation of this query....

[TGould]

Bill, I believe you are correct. But, remember X/S was a 23 pound class. So, the W/S pintos are running some 200 + pounds heavier (3-4 tenths) than Reider was. And, of course, there is Bob Shaw who won the Sportsnationals in 1975 with a string of 16 teens in his Z/S corvair.

[Michael Beard]

Originally Posted by Larry Munk

Billy Nees won The Keystones back in the 80's V/SA Chevy 230. Greg Schmutz I believe won the Delmar Divisional race a few years ago V/SA Chevy 200. I runnered up at the Virginia Divisional race in the 80's V/SA Buick 231. Can't think of a lower class group.

Billy won the Keystones in the '90s...'94 or '96? Also won the NHRA Div. 1 championship, driving to out west to do it, and he was the last guy to have a shot at overtaking Al Corda for the national championship the year Al won, but Billy didn't travel. He beat Corda at the Keystones the following year (and I believe they were both double-oh on the tree! 2nd round, 1998)... a real 'coulda, shoulda, woulda' moment.

Munk was a pretty consistent Top 10 finisher in the Div. back in the day with 'Ol Blue, too.