Bill

Just a wild swing with the bat but that may have been Dave Strictland with his “Bad News” 62 Chevy. He was teamed up with Grumpy Jenkins back then and Dave did all the driving. Was the car white? I do know they were from PA.

In 63 they had one of the very first Z11 Impalas which I saw run a 12.27 around 112 mph.

Denny

 

My assumption is you’re speaking of the new Ford and Morpar factory drag pack race cars and the new SS class that people like Don Gartlets and Roy Hill race in.

To my knowledge the only enforcement back in the 60’s where I was at was to protest a car and pay a fee to have it torn down. I’m wondering about the qualifications and knowledge of the people actually doing the tear downs and inspections. Martin Mi in the 60’s wasn’t necessary the NHRA Indy finals or Monaco Grand Prix. It was pretty much blue collar factory worker territory with limited track facilities. No special paint on bolts as I watched a couple being torn down not having a clue as to what I was seeing. Tasty hot dogs though as I recall.

Was pretty young and dumb at the time (old n dumb now) so no expert, but in the “stock” category you could push the engines quite a bit. You could port match intake and heads up to 1/8th inch and I’m sure the big boys all did things like decking the block and running thinner head gaskets for more compression. Wonder how “Dyno Don Nickleson” got his Dyno Don name? The stock class at the higher levels really wasn’t very stock at all. There really was quite a bit of work behind the scenes to get the cars to run as fast as they did.

Saw my neighbor go out and buy a half a dozen rocker arm sets keeping only the longest ones and his racing budget was at the low end of the scale for sure.

Denny

 

Bill

Just dawned on me that I lied to ya. The Strictland/Jenkins car was "Old Reliable" while Haden Profits car was "Bad News." I'd bet money it was the Strictland/Jenkins car you saw.

See what happens when you don't get your nap.

Denny

 

One interesting point was when I was with a Top Alcohol Dragster team there was a cubic inch limit. Early on they used to pump down to check displacement. They always used to pump down #1 cylinder. It was rumored one racer finally got caught because he was running larger motors by keeping #1 the correct bore and the other 7 larger. Now they random pick the cylinder. This person won a lot of races in the late 80's and early 90's. So why couldn't the stock classes have done the same thing.

 

IN 1963 I bought a NEW--Ford Galaxie--427--425 HP----Bone stock, street tires---Martin Dragway-----15.03--101 mph -- set the car up to run LEGAL A stock-----13.55---108 mph---never won any races--the 409 Chevy's were faster---!! Now own a Vette---LS2 full NA engine---will the 2013-- 650 hp Mustang beat me ??!!

 

Unless you have a very healthy amount of mods on that LS2 yes, it should easily pull away from an LS2 vette.

 

Is my A6 with---435 rwhp enough ?? MY Vette is 3120# with 1/4 tank

 

I thought we were talking about stock cars. There's Pinto's running in the 9's modded too.

 

I highly doubt it.

 

So that means--that all the stock C6--ZO6--will be put on the trailer by the 2013 --650 hp Mustang----------YIKES !!!!

 

I doubt that

 

I watched the Old Reliable Chevy run a couple times. One was a best out of three with one of the original Ram Chargers at Vineland, NJ. Later! Frank

 

Old timer may not be telling all his secerts.

Certainly rear tire traction compound is required for a 10 second run.

Hidden nitrous perhaps?

Special trans and clutch?

 

I wouldn't be surprised by it beating most stock Z's.

It has a superior power to weight ratio over the Z06 at 5.9lbs/hp verus a Z's ~6.3lbs/hp

 

I agree-----Corvette needs to take their H.P. way UP !!! I talked to the head engineer of Corvette at Carlilse this year & expressed my thoughts on MORE HP for the Vette & also ZO6 with an A6---no comments, other than he said most people have trouble handling the power they have now---I see Chevy is coming with a NEW small block, probably be in the 2014 --C7----I think it's a shame Ford is after G.M. on & off the track---the competition is---the JAPS-- KOREANS-GERMANS---look at the 2012 GTR !!!

 

I don't remember who it was, (might have been Greg Anderson) in NHRA Pro Stock was DQ because the "wrist pins" in his engine were too light...

Talk about "CLOSE INSPECTIONS" they NHRA even weigh the wrist pins, and push rods....

I saw a J/SA (305 ci Camaro 1985 I think) was DQ because the heads didn't meet the cc rule.. the combustion chambers were too small (making more compression)

Its very tough to cheat today in NHRA...

Anyone remember when 2 pro stock driver/owner hid a Nitrous bottle in the oil tank of the dry sump oiling system, and when they heated up the oil the bottle of NO2 exploded....

 

No, it's going on now. I have been interested in this since 2001.
You can find it on www.purestockdrags.com. There you can also find the section on Certified Stock. If a person wants to race their musclecar, they can find all the info on this site.
There is a strict set of rules the participants have to abide by. The inspectors find one infraction, you're out until it is corrected. You then have to go thru inspection again. The way the car came from the Factory is the way they run with very little deviation. These Pure Stock events are growing larger each year. Been interesting.

It seems some people like to compare musclecars to the ones today. Don't know why. The truth is, these were and still are badass machines and command a High Premium on the market.
Out of All of the Big Block Chevy's i have owned or built, not ONE has had a Single failure. Solid engine for sure.

I know about what you're talking about from the old days. The envelope was pushed pretty far. Seems there was always someone trying to put one over to gain an advantage, rules or no.
I am Very familiar with "Dyno Don, "Grumpy" Jenkins and Sox and Martin. Legends.

Bob

 

We ran a 68 Road runner in G/SA optional back in 1970. It held the class record at 13.2xx for a couple of weeks in 70. Our experience in the stock classes, you pretty much knew who was screwing around and what you could get away with. If someone thought you were cheating they put up money for a tear down. That was then.

One of my friends bought Dick Landys 1972 Pro stock body (no engine or trans) which we raced as a C/G car. We ran 9.90s and 150 mph in the mid 70s with it.

That body was acid dipped, the windows were plexiglass, the interior was tin and aluminum, the body was altered (the seam in the rocker panel was moved because the tech inspectors measured the from the seam). There were two large ammo boxes for ballast in the trunk. The front suspension was six cylinder torsion bars with the minimum adjustment and I could go on.

We ran a 426 hemi with almost 45 degrees of timing backed up with a doug nash 5 speed and then a 727 clutch flight.....what a ride

We received a entirely new "education" in racing with that car. You could see all the different items that were tweaked to get by tech. From what we experienced, most of the pro stock racers shall we say "bent the rules"

At the time those cars pushed the limits as tire technology among other things sucked.

Today I can run low 11 second quarter mile times with a mild bold on LS2, remove the drag radials and travel up & down the east coast with the AC on while getting almost 30 MPG and the car can stop & also turn too..... these are the good old days.

 

Impressive Were you ever at Bristol? If so, i was there. Track was IHRA then.
Stock class was like a game back then, someone always pushing for any advantage, right or wrong. Trying to get over on the inspector. Times/Rules have changed quite a bit since.

I wondered what happened to Dick Landys car. There is another good one. Yep i remember some of the "tricks" used years back for the win.

Ah the Elephant! How were you able to run that much timing? Jetted rich? fuel?
I liked the Nash 5-speed. Used in 1 car of mine and for someones car i built.
TF 727 quicker? Auto was for me.
In the middle 70's, i was running a 74 Vega 414 cubic inch (402 + .060) big block w/ Powerglide, tube subframe with 8 point cage and 4.88 12 Bolt. Street and strip car ran low 10's @134 at Bristol. Car was scary fast.

I agree with you that Now is the good ole days. I never would have thought years ago we would be driving the cars available today. Would have been impossible to have built these fuel-sipping missiles we have now.
The LS engines are going in about everything for the last 5 years. They just have So much advantage over the small block, many people are using them instead. Technology marches on.

Bob

 

My Turbo Mustang ran 8.17 @ 172mph(race fuel) (8.80's on 93 octane pump gas @ 3570lbs) and I used to drive it on the street all the time. Took the car to dinner, get my hair cut, everywhere... Me and a few friends built the car in my 2 car garage, wasnt anything exotic. Its incredible how much faster you can go today vs 40 years ago.