Interesting Thoughts-- Future of Stk/SS

[Jeff Stout]

I don't think opening head rule and gross cam lift will entice the young crowd into building a stocker. More heads up racing may help as I run at Street car events and they like heads up small, big,dot tire stuff. Late model cars with tuners, cold air filter seems to be what the young crowd like. Now convince them to take that late model car and get it to fit in stock class racing and you may have something.

[devo340]

My Son & I are new to Stock Eliminator.
I had bracket raced for 20+ years & my Son started bracket racing as a Senior in high school (2006).
We had a lot of success with bracket racing, but my Son decided he wanted to race a Stocker.
I asked him if he was tired of cashing checks, LOL.
He wanted a new challenge, so found a budget priced Stocker & got started.
We are a low budget setup.
I have a few friends that race in STK that I lean on for info.


One of the most common part of all this, a lot of Stock doesn't seem Stock to me.
Maybe I was naïve about what Stock was.
Anyway, we have bought our ticket & doing what we can do on a budget to be competitive.


Tear downs & young people don't mix.
Most seemed challenged to open the hood.
Not really their fault, even the biggest POS modern day car will start & run.
Not really a reason to learn how to work on cars.
What I see for the future, if a young person wants to run STK, he will probably buy an engine, transmission & whatever else he needs.
They won't be building anything, just shopping for parts & suppliers.
We received notice recently that we were being torn down.
First thing my Son said "You have to be there to answer questions & of course put it back together".
I have been teaching him along the way, but he is still intimidated by it.
Totally agree with having teardowns to keep everyone honest.


He recently won his first race in Stock.
I asked him how it rated with other races that he had won, he said it was his best racing accomplishment to date.

[1matcoman]

Originally Posted by devo340

He recently won his first race in Stock.
I asked him how it rated with other races that he had won, he said it was his best racing accomplishment to date.

And there you have it, folks!

[sska3360]

I don't usually post much, i try to sit back and take in the knowledge and opinions of the more seasoned racers, however i feel like i'm in a similar situation. I too, am a second generation racer, though a good bit older than your son, however my father has pretty much always raced class. I'm in the same boat as your son, still trying to learn all i can. i started by bracket racing our Super Stocker and just recently participated in my first Super Stock race. While i didn't win the race, i did get my first SS round win, and against a tough competitor to boot and i felt more accomplished in that than in any bracket round win i had gotten. As for the teardowns, I 100% believe in them, even though i would probably not be able to accomplish it by myself yet. But i will still be ready at any time. Fortunately, as racers, we have a tight nit group of friends who i believe would be happy to help get me through it.

[ALMACK]

Sad to say but the younger gearheads are drawn to heads up racing and grudge racing, as well as no prep racing.

The common denominator for those classes is the absence of a bunch of rules and restrictions.
They meet min. weight, max. tire size, and the largest power adder allowed for their class.

As much as I love Stock and Super Stock racing, it's hard to attract new blood in class racing with all the restrictions in place.

Just my opinion....

[Bob Mulry]

Since everybody seems to be dissecting Stock, let me throw in my 2 cents....

You want more HEADS-UP racing just listen to my plan....

No quotas in Stock and Super Stock at any National Event..

If you think that you can qualify enter the race and if not that's OK you can still race LODRS until you are.

32, 64, 128 car fields because Competition will sort it out....

Class winners only (OK if you need more cars to fill the fields add fastest qualifiers to the bottom..

The more popular national events will need larger fields..

It's hard to head-up races at a national event with Class Eliminations when the quota is capped at 60 cars...

I believe that there are someplace around 80 different classes within Stock Eliminator..

If Stock and Super Stock are to continue to survive, heads-up racing with cars in the same class is needed..

The FS are OK but they should have to race their way into the eliminator by winning class or being a low qualifier to fill the open spots.

In 1985 at INDY we pitted alongside of a team that had raced at INDY for the last 4 years and this was the first time they qualified for Super Stock Eliminator. To them qualifying at INDY was the same as being World Champion.

It's got to mean something, or it means nothing..

Or am I just tilting at windmills??????

[sska3360]

Well, I think I might have jinxed us with my last post on this thread. We're getting ready to take our friends stocker that we're racing at Indy to the teardown barn to pull a rod and piston!

[djm670]

Originally Posted by sska3360

Well, I think I might have jinxed us with my last post on this thread. We're getting ready to take our friends stocker that we're racing at Indy to the teardown barn to pull a rod and piston!

I hope your friend was running the T/S Comet .... if so you should be in and out in less than 3 or 4 hours even pulling a rod and piston. The pan drops right off. It is one of the best vehicles and engines to be running if you have to pull a rod and piston at an NHRA teardown.

We were lucky several years ago at the Winternationals when everyone in teardown had to pull a rod and piston to be running Doolittle's W/S Comet.... We were in and out before most guys had their V8 pans off.

Good luck!

[Gary Smith]

Originally Posted by X-TECH MAN

I'm glad that my post did not make you mad but the point is that there are way to many things allowed in stock and super stock today. Each year it seems that new things are allowed. That means expensive things. . I agree with the other guy posting here about the cost. The only thing about the super classes is that the start stop and go in the those classes are not generally spectator appealing. Why build a 155-165 MPH 9.90 car. Yes you can build a complete running Super Class car for less than a killer stocker engine today if you are half way good at doing things yourself and stay in a reasonable MPH rang for whichever class you are competing in. . I have heard some guys have 3 to 4 thousand dollars tied up in the "Stock" heads alone of today. That is CRAZY ! I hope Wesley will be able to help get stock back on the right road again and the new equipment being brought in at INDY will put a stop to it. . If not then I see stock dying in a very few years except for those who are made of $$$$$$$.

I fully agree. In my opinion, the big money has (and always will) continue to influence that direction. And like any economic model, the money is like a pyramid, with the participant herd thinning the higher up it goes. And that small herd no doubt continues to have influence on the rules. Those same rules for aftermarket parts were relaxed while I was building my car AFTER purchasing what was previously required (Beehive valve springs in stock come to mind). My son was also in grade school who watched what I went through, leaving impressions that ultimately would influence his lack of interest as an adult. He now says "why would I spend $50k on a car that runs 10 seconds flat out when I can spend the same amount to go 8s or faster in something else?" Then he says "besides, that class car stuff is way too confusing, and NHRA isn't the only game out there. Most of my friends haven't even heard of it anyway, while everyone knows about imports, mudding, and street outlaws. The huge crowds prove it, dad."

In retrospect, NHRA should have never caved to outside influence, instead pour their energy into compiling lists of approved parts (if it ain't on the list, you're DQ'd PERIOD), and follow a better suited protest/claimer program commonly used in circle track racing. At least in that system, it keeps out players with deep pocket influence while still forcing the low buck racer to pay his dues without destroying his budget in the process. And it would lessen NHRA tech enforcement workload, putting more responsibility back on the racers to ensure they stay within the boundaries instead of pushing them, or paying someone else to push them.

[DG7050]

Car Sharing! It's a sharing culture for mellenials. They share experiences, they share costs and time together. NHRA needs to change the grade point rules such that a couple of young guys/gals who don't have a lot of money to own a car, share costs and take turns running at different divisionals and still get into the local national event with only 1 or 2 grade points for the driver. You get large groups coming out to run one car. Cost per individual to be part of the racing experience will be way less. A single car might be raced by 2, 3 or more drivers in a given year and still get into National events.

Keep car counts in check with Qualifying on Thursday. Make it a top 64 qualified field to keep the count down to 64 car field on Friday eliminations.