True Class War: Pros, Cons, and Why

[Aaron Keown]

Its a pretty cool idea,but IMHO the closest you will ever get to this is the current GT/A,B&C cars.The cars that that will be in these classes for indy cover a pretty broad spectrum and provide for some pretty tight class wars with cars from different manufactures.

[Chad Rhodes]

the Hemi guys don't want ayone else in their playground, its that simple. Mopar wouldn't put up the money any more, i mean after all how would they feel about writing a check to a chevy. Then you also have the issue of how SS/AH is regualted, they have a little more leeway than the rest of SS. Although with the inner fender ruling earlier this year tehy appear to reigning it back in some

[bill dedman]

I have no answer for the "class war; how can we start one" question, but since the Hemi subject has come up, I have a comment ffor your perusal. Maybe I'm missing something, but this is how I see it:

The Hemis in question (the ones that used to run in SS/AA) are unique in several signifiicant ways, the MOST significant being that no one has yet built a car that can outrun them, generlly speaking. If you have watched these cars, from the outset (in 1968), one thing has stood out: Not Ford, nor G.M., nor American Motors has fielded a car with a power-to-weight ratio that could compete with them, heads up.

They had no trouble totally dominating their class (SS/AA) to the detriment of any other cars that tried to run competitively in that class.

When the rules were changed to give the the Hemis their own class, at least one consequence made itself known: Now, there was the real possibility that say, an L-88 Corvette, could achieve a class win in SS/AA. Brandon Wilkinson (with Kenny Schindler's magic) made that possible... something that would likely not have happened if the SS/AA Hemis had remained in that class.

At first blush, I was not aware that having been given their own class, the Hemis would not be allowed to race in SS/AA, instead of SS/AH, if that was their choce; after all, they still fit the class requirements (pounds per factored HP, etc.)

It seemed to me that running the former SS/AA Hemis in SS/AH should be an (elective) choice, not mandatory, since nothing changed about the cars except the newly-mandated class designation.

I was perrplexed, and more than a little bit incensed, to tell the truth.

But, after seeing how this move (to disallow the Hemis in SS/AA) has worked out, with some interesting possibilities developing for SS/AA, and the potential for spme newfound variety in a class that was, from its inception, a one-trick-pony, I have changed my mind.

Why?

At this point, I can't see a single way this rule change was detrimental to anybody.

It looks, for all the world, like a win/win situation, to me. NHRA doesn't seem to get much right these days, but I think they lucked into this one.... They say you can't make everybody happy, but I think everybody involved in splitting this class (and, on both sides iof the split) should be happy about it. I am.

Just my 2-cents...

Bill






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[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by 1664SSJA

Somebody better in the know than me might be able to clear something up for me.

I seem to remember that there WAS a CORVETTE that could have run with the AH cars, but it was not allowed in and then they made some change in the rules to keep that Corvette, ( and probably any others out) keeping it just all Hemi cars.

Am I right? And who was the Corvette??????

Mark

There were TWO 1967 L-88 Corvettes from Tennessee. One was from Murfreesboro, owned and driven by Tony Rhodes. The other was from the Nashville area, owned by Scott Wilcox, and often driven by Mike Lynch. Both ran SS/A. Tony Rhodes still has his car, just like it last ran. Not sure where Scott Wilcox's car went, but I'm sure some of the local SS racers like Jimmy Bridges and Kenny Schindler will know.

I was told by an NHRA official that some of the Mopar guys went to NHRA and complained that not enough 1967 L-88 Corvettes were built. NHRA gave the Corvette guys a year to come up with documentation, but GM said only 36 were built and sold in 1967. I think the story is also posted some where on class racer, but I could not find it when I searched for it.

At one time, not long ago, there were at least two, and possibly three, REAL 1967 L-88 Corvettes within 50-100 miles of here. One is of somewhat questionable heritage, but the other two were very real. Seems odd that there would be only 36 built, but two would be within 100 miles of each other. But GM provided documentation for only 36, so that appears to be it.

Back before any real Super Stock cars had run a legal eight second pass in qualifying or competition, there were a couple of articles about the "race to the eights". Mostly there were Hemi cars in the articles, but one article had a side bar featuring Tony Rhodes black SS/A 67 Corvette calling him the "dark horse".

[a2race]

you mean these two? notice the lettering on the door of the wilcox car.....interesting.....adam

[Ronnie Smith Jr]

I think Noel Davis bought Scott's Corvette some years back. Dad bought Scott's Chevy II in 87 or 88. You can see the back of the Chevy II in the pic above. Must have been prior to Dad purchasing the car. We campaigned it for a few years and then sold it. I believe Tony Rhodes has it now and put an auto in it. I have not seen either of the cars on the track in a few years.

For what it's worth...

Ronnie, Jr.

[Alan Roehrich]

Tony Jr. does have a 2 door post Chevy II he's running in Super Stock. Tony Sr. still has the Corvette, he's had it for as long as I can remember, I doubt he'll sell it.

I was thinking there were two Chevy II's at one time. And Jimmy Bridges had a SS/E Camaro. They were all painted the same or at least very similar.

I had heard Noel bought the Corvette as well. I don't know. There were several of those cars around here. I think Mike Robinson had two or three, at one time he had a 63 that he ran in F/Gas. And Jimmy has got a 66 he runs in SS/B.

[Lynn A McCarty]

Instead of showing up for 2-3 days of boring practice, we should line up and run heads up class against class, then index against index. If NHRA doesnt want to organize it, get out our 5-cent CPU's(pencil) and do it ourselves!

[Wade_Owens]

I took the 1st photo at an IHRA race in St Louis quite a few years ago. It was around 1992 or 3. I really dont remember much about the car, other than it was all over the track, and I never seen it run again...

Wade O

[Bob Rice]

I'm pretty sure that the Chevy II was owned by the Stephens Brothers from TN prior to Wilcox.
Bob Rice