Crate Motor Class

[KEN BUGAJ]

and

[Ed Wright]

My car came from the factory with an LT1 engine, and that is what is in it now. It is a '96 model, I bought in 1997, it was 18 months old with 36,000 miles on it, with an LT1 engine & automatic transmission.

You evidently built that car for IHRA, you can still run it there, right?
You can also bracket race it at NHRA tracks, right?
But, expect THE major sanctioning body to make new rules for you?
You built the wrong car for NHRA, other than et brackets.
You did not understand that when you built it?

[Dan Fahey]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

My car came from the factory with an LT1 engine, and that is what is in it now. It is a '96 model, I bought in 1997, it was 18 months old with 36,000 miles on it, with an LT1 engine & automatic transmission.

You evidently built that car for IHRA, you can still run it there, right?
You can also bracket race it at NHRA tracks, right?
But, expect THE major sanctioning body to make new rules for you?
You built the wrong car for NHRA, other than et brackets.
You did not understand that when you built it?

NHRA should adopt the IHRA Classes.
Did not have any problem creating a class for the COPO Manufacturers built race cars or ProMod for that matter?

What is the highest HP rated crate Motor available for class? What's the fastest a crate car has run in IHRA et wise?

[Michael Beard]

Originally Posted by Todd Hoven

What is the highest HP rated crate Motor available for class? What's the fastest a crate car has run in IHRA et wise?

Crate Motor spec sheets:
http://www.ihra.com/competition/comp...t/category/211

Ford CM Engines
● 460 / 535 @ 515
● 514 / 600 @ 520

Last I could find on some other combos:
Chevy 502/502 was rated at 443
500 / 445 Mopar (Wedge) at 443

Outside of Top Stock, the big HP combinations were few and far between. Most crate motor guys ran small blocks. I know Terry Taylor went 9.60's in A/CM many years ago. I'm sure Nitro Joe has the stats from back in the day. When IHRA did away with record points, class runoffs, etc people quit caring about performance as much.


FYI, my old 360 Magnum crate motor was rated at 325. Add aluminum heads with bigger valves, more cam, almost 2 points more compression, and a 1000cfm throttle body and you have a 5.9L DragPak, rated by NHRA in its infinite wisdom at 275HP. LOL

My advice to Crate Motor Racers is, "be careful what you wish for." You might see your combo hit harder than you ever thought possible. It'd be cheaper to build a stocker combo, than to try and keep up with some of the "wallets" in stock eliminator. It's not gonna be Easier or Cheaper to run a Crate Motor Combo...Guaranteed !

Depends on if you want to keep up with the Jones's or not. You can do things kinda-sorta affordable if you don't care about going fast. I built the 5.9L DragPak for Super Stock GT on a budget, and it paid for itself pretty quickly. I had less in my Super Stock car than most people have in their Stockers. One guy flat out told me I was lying when I told him how much I had in it. The car may have been slow, but it won both a National and a Divisional. The only thing that cost much more than a good crate motor was the EFI computer and fuel system.

[Jim Bailey]

Come on Michael, I love ya , don't act like a liberal and make partial quotes. The point is the cost of crate motors will double, triple, maybe quadruple if approved for NHRA class racing. I don't care about the past costs. We know what will happen. And that's a fact. Plus add to that your chances of a heads up, and if you're a slug, there are no wins. Even if you're as good a driver as you !

[Dan Fahey]

Originally Posted by Jim Bailey

Come on Michael, I love ya , don't act like a liberal and make partial quotes. The point is the cost of crate motors will double, triple, maybe quadruple if approved for NHRA class racing. I don't care about the past costs. We know what will happen. And that's a fact. Plus add to that your chances of a heads up, and if you're a slug, there are no wins. Even if you're as good a driver as you !

Jim we are have a fruitful conversation without provocative comments..!

This battle about Crate Motors is not much different than Pure Stock community Or earlier about the GT classes.
Stock had to morph for many reasons.
Such as the plethora of high performance Vehicles from other non US companies and not being included into Stock.
The new generation of kids like the Rice Burners because that is what they can afford.
The pitiful US choices against the foreign markets.
The 91-96 B-body community is growing because useful platforms are available.
When GM Ford and Chrysler reformed after the recession.
They began producing some cool cars...
Including race ready Factory race cars for $100000 !

Crate Motors is natural extension of Stock.
Spirit of Stock taking approved combinations and stuffing into useful platforms.
Combinations that run in the same ET range as current Stock before the COPO and Factory built racers.
Older and nostalgic combinations are being considered with modern engines.
Where their older power plants with vintage parts are becoming expensive.
Upgrading from a 273 4v to and 360 4v is a bolt in procedure.
Think Pure Stock would benefit allowing us to upgrade to a more powerful version.

Already Stock has morphed from Stock with limited Cam specs to junior Super Stock.
In 70s and 80s the Stockers were never quick enough to qualify in a SS field, but they are now!

At any rate Crate Motors cars are a good addition to Stock.

D

[Michael Beard]

Originally Posted by Jim Bailey

Come on Michael, I love ya , don't act like a liberal and make partial quotes. The point is the cost of crate motors will double, triple, maybe quadruple if approved for NHRA class racing. I don't care about the past costs. We know what will happen. And that's a fact. Plus add to that your chances of a heads up, and if you're a slug, there are no wins. Even if you're as good a driver as you !

People have already spent double, triple, or quadruple what I did to run Super Stock. I still won races, and a World Championship. While I just missed them a few times on the ladder, I never had a heads-up run over several years in Super Stock. If I had a heads-up, I would lose. If I spent triple and they spent quadruple, I would still lose -- what's the point? No sense in spending money I don't have if it wouldn't benefit me. I worked on my car within my budget to try to go faster for my own satisfaction.

People outspent me in Crate Motor, too. I won some heads-up races, I lost some heads-up races. I set numerous records, won and lost Class, and won two World Championships and numerous Division Championships. How much someone else spends is completely irrelevant, so long as you can run under the index. I'm sorry if anyone is offended that they have more money than I will ever have. The Turismo must REALLY p*ss people off.

I love you, too, but you know me far better than to ever throw a BS line like "liberal"-anything my way.


This discussion is academic anyway, as IHRA is dying and NHRA isn't going to add Crate Motors.

[Nmbr1GMfan]

Originally Posted by Dan Fahey

NHRA should adopt the IHRA Classes.

Why would they want to do such a thing?

[HR9121]

I hate to break it to you guys but Stock eliminator doesn't need to be saved, IHRA does.