how was stock/super stock ran in the 60's and 70's?

[Robert Swartz]

Originally Posted by Dan Bennett

I'll go even further back to the days before the christmas tree. At least here in the midwest, it went like this racing AHRA.

Every class had a "spot" number. I can't remember the specific numbers but let's assume I/PS (Pure Stock) had a spot of 12. Say that a D/PS had a spot number of 9. The slower car got three spots. As I remember, it was basically one spot per class though not always.

The spots were actually painted off in the center of the track. Both cars pulled to the line and the starter (flagman) would gesture to the slower car to pull forward. He'd find the appropriate line on the track and stage the slower car there. The fast car staged on the starting line.

At the time we didn't have crazy horsepower so lining up way downtrack wasn't an issue. Since the flagman had to be ahead of both cars sometimes the fast car at the line was squinting to see the flagman way down the track.

There was a guy at the finish line in a raised chair (like a tennis referee) who would wave a flag or flashlight to show which lane got there first.

A few years later we actually got electronics and the "he couldn't have beat me, I had the quickest ET" education began.

I was very successful in Pure Stock, Stock, and Stock Production with a 340 Duster. It was a great combination that I just fell into. I never had a whole lot of competitiion for class other than a 360 Hornet that used to give me fits though I think I probably won a few more than I lost.

Racing for the Eliminator trophy was always the most fun, though there was a big block Nova that I could never get close to. Years later I ran into the owner when we both worked for Goodyear and he told me about the 427 he'd put in the car two weeks after he bought it new.

Yes, tech was pretty slipshod. Cheating would slowly get out of hand and the track owner would borrow a P&G displacement gauge to pump few engines for size. That would usually get things back closer to normal for a while.

It was still the most fun I've ever had at a dragstrip and that's saying a lot.

Racing with a flagman! I got to do this once. It must've been about 1974. I went to the local track one Sunday, Brown County Dragway. All I had planned to do that day was relax and drink beer and BS. I'd been working 6-7 day weeks for a bit, just wanted some down time. I was only 19.

I had a 1967 ugly green Ford Falcon with a 170ci 6cyl. It was a work car, being a kid, I had the normal for the day, raised white letter tires on steel wheels. I did have a massive chromed Sun tach mounted on the dash. That was limit of it's perfomance. It had stock road gears, it wasn't fast.

Anyway, that day, the Xmas tree was malfunctioning. They announced, they could either shut down or race with a flag man. Bunch of the racers got together and said race with the flag. A bunch of my buddies got in a huddle and came over to me and said, race the Falcon. I laughed at them. I drove the car over to tech, just to see where it would land, they teched it into Y/SA! Only one letter left on the scale at that time, Z.

I did make a couple time trials, it was only an 1/8 mile track. I was still ungodly slow. With no electronics, I don't even know how slow it was? In the eliminator, I don't remember the class of the car I ran, but it had to be a B-C-D car, I got an unreal spot. I felt like I got walked half way down the track. I left as hard as I could, got nipped at the line. For a day with no expectations, turned into a fun day, glad I got to be reminded of it.