[Ed Wright]

Originally Posted by Dwight Southerland

An overall philosophical perspective that will help you grasp the rulebook for Stock eliminator is to understand that the rulebook is describing what modifications are allowed to an assembly line produced vehicle as it is manufactured and sold to the general public. The rulebook used to have a statement that basically said that it was written in a positive direction, that is it tells you what you can do, rather than a negative direction, telling you what you cannot do. So going back to one of your original questions about rack and pinion steering, if the rulebook does not say you can replace the stock steering with rack and pinion, then you cannot. Think of your car as it would have been driving around on the streets, then apply the rules about what you can do to it to compete in Stock classes. That is basic to understanding what Stock class racing is about.


Your questioning about the cylinder heads is legitimate. It is still an area of criticism, confusion and sometimes downright shame when it comes to "doing what is right". The current set of rules provides a very liberal set of modifications in comparison to what the original three angle valve job was defined. It is difficult to technically prove that some of the highly sophisticated techniques you will hear discussed have been applied, even when someone with lots of experience with cylinder heads "knows" that work has been done. People with big egos and little integrity have taken advantage of the nature of judgment calls versus legal proof and so there is a window for such people to apply their greed and deceit and thus make it seem like there are no rules as long as you can get away it. Such a shame. We all have suffered. The advice to have your heads done by someone who is familiar and successful in building stock eliminator heads is not bad advice.

Very good answer!