When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

And by that I mean as for how NHRA handled it.When was the best time to run Stock? I not asking when was the best time "for you" but when was the glory days of Stock and why?

So many times I read how the the rules are scewed and this guy gets this and that guy gets that and how NHRA does't care or whatever.If you could go back in time and race Stock what year would it be and why?

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

If you could go back in time and race Stock what year would it be and why?

1969: The Chev 255/350 was still being rated at 255 HP

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Before 1985 when NHRA changed the valve spring and cam rule. After that time frame its been higher RPM's, larger heads (porting and hiding it), Shubeck type (expensive) lifters, allowed replacement parts that never came on the car...ie, intake manifolds, alum. heads, wheelie bars, fuel cells, water pump drives, and on and on.

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Mid-'60's through mid-'70's...you could build a competitive car cheaply, drive it to the track and win with it. Rules were simple, cars were simple, racing was fun and you didn't have to mortgage the house to buy the next super trick gadget in order to be competitive.

I remember a typical weekend at Atco, teere would be 300 cars and you might have 20 cars in your class and it wasn't a special meet...just the regular weekly turnout.

And NO fuel cars! Super Stock and the Gasser's were the "Pro's" at the time.

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

I have been involved with drag racing since the very early 60`s........When stock eliminator started I think there were only 4 or 5 classes....the class winners were brought back to race each other HEADS UP to determine Stock Eliminator... Of course that was done with a flagman start...,,racers bitched so they began to give the slower cars a 10 foot per class standing head start......then the christmas tree came around the cars were then handicapped off of the National record in their class....during this time bracket racing was born for the racers who could not run with the big dogs......and dont forget a lot of these big dogs were privy to parts and knowledge that the average Joe was not.....back then Stock was much more a performance base class.....then NHRA in their infinite wisdom decided to introduce the class index system to give every racer a FAIR chance........This worked great untill the cost got out of control.......In my estimation racing has never been FAIR and I never expected it to be.....It was a challenge with many obstacles to overcome......So, in answer to your question, the Glory days for me included all 40 yrs that I was able to race............

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Early 70's SS/P and Q....Take a 283/220 with 30 over TRW engine with a cost around $800 and be competive have fun racing....

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

The late 90's and early 2k when a bunch of cars chased around the country to get the first 9 sec run on the scoreboard...the biggest milestone in Stock...Big block chevies,Hemi Cuda's,Max Wedge's and 427 Ford's were within hundreds of a second on the same track(if traction was there) before early 90's Stockers were kinda sluggish for the most part..

p.s. 8's was never going to happen back then...but now with the new cars and the real soft factors...it may just happen someday...but mean NADA!!

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Neil is right, 1960 to 1971 the 72 season was the big change to SS and even though I had a very good season in Div.1 SS I have to say it was more fun before that time. The rules changed as fast as you could read and even though they brought back Stock it was a watered down Eliminator after that.

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

I was about to post my thoughts on this subject, but now, having read Neil's post, I believe he said what I was thinking only said it better.

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Yep, back when we ran off of national records, and how fast you were capable of making one run actually made a difference, every round.

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

2009. The future is now, can't relieve the past. Probably go back to 2008 also.

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Golden AGE?
Most class cars per class-60s thru 71. Worst rule running off records set downhill at night at Sea level.
Most money per class win Same
Most fun racing Same
Cheapest Class cars Same
Highest Tech and level field based on broad knowledge of tricks TODAY.- Worst COST < COST<COST
-Rule enforcement and changes.
-FACTORING WORST.
Widest variety of cars TODAY. Fairness due to factoring WORST TODAY
Best Class competition YEARS ago when high tech available was limited and rules were tight and cost very limited. and very limited combinations being built.
The only way to return is to 1)Limit available motors and cars ( Lb per HP or cu in spec) if need be.Enforce rules, restart less tech mods.

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

66-67 when you could build a competitive P/S 59 Chevy Biscayne 283/185 , 4 speed for $600 making your own headers & casler recaps & flat tow it to the strip

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

I tried that and was fairly sucessful at it from 96 to 02. I generally drove the car to the track. Spent next to nothing on the car.
Got thrown out for having to little compression. And for the most part I wasn't really appreciated. LOL
I could have spent some money and really gone fast. And passed tech. But I chose not to.
I think most stockers like to spend money,

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Fred that is not what he asked, the key is Golden Age the best of times, they wont come in the future.

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

My Golden age was the mid to late 70's when you went to the junkyard for most of your parts. People towed with open trailers. Acid porting was in it's infantcy. And t didn't take a years salary to build a car. It was more what you know rather than how much you spent.

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Art, I still manage to drag cars home from the junkyard and "play" with them but most of them never make it to a real race. It's still fun though!

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Yes Billy. But as we talked about in Fla.we are "dinosaurs" In todays world it's so much easier to just go out and buy performance.
The standard question about my car is "why don't you put a turbo on it" they have no comprehension about rules, or anything like that. It's just go buy something.

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

qft

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

bring back the flag man..no tree, no reaction times, time slip gives you 1/4 mile & speed.......and you run off of records......giddy up !!!

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

i started in 1960 with a 58 pontiac
1962 thru 1976
when you had to put a roll bar

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Vic,

I've got a 58 Chieftian with 3-2's, auto, and posi; 28k original miles...just like new!

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Mid 70's. I ran with the Meek Brothers. They ran a 72 Pinto, converted to a 71, think we changed the front bumper. There was nothing "trick" in that car, just alot of hard work. Trickest part were the 4:88 rearend gears out of some kind of jeep? Modified the housing to get it to fit. We got from it Tom Reider. They set NHRA and a couple IHRA records with that car.

Robert Swartz

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Amen

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

treessavoy
what state do you live in
i would like to see the car

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

70,'s when I started, built a record holding 61 chevy,v/sa.Had a total of 1600.00 in it and that included the paint job. Can't buy a tranny for that now.I guess adjusted for inflation that would be 30,000 now,lol.

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Neil, you stated that very well. Those were the days of drag racing. The stockers and later super stockers. You drove, flat towed, remember the old tow bars, or hauled on an open trailer. Your tools and slicks in the back of an old pick-up, probably a 6 cylinder, and off to the races. Cars were classed, an all the cars, sometimes as many a 15 or 20 in some classes, ran with the class winner in the stock eliminator. When Super Stock came along and match racing began, we would race at a different track 3 or 4 days a week. The stockers were there in force, the gassers were there and the specators were jammed in the stands and along the fences, notice I didn't say guard rails.

I will never forget a conversation, at a reunion some years ago, myself, Bobby Warren, Ronnie Sox and Hubert Platt were discussing this very topic. Ronnie made the comment that with all the money involved to be in drag racing and the big transports, motorhomes and special equipment, the racers today do not have the fun we had getting to the races, being in the pits with friends and spectators, sleeping on the ground, eating bologna sandwiches and racing the way it was done in those days.

And yes, I will agree with who ever posted that those days are gone; however, one of the most popular posting on a popular mopar site, is the stories being told by the owners and builders of a very famous car, about those days.

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

I guess you had to have been there, but the most exciting part of being a drag racing enthuisast, whether you raced or just watched (I did both), was the period from 1955 through 1968, I think.

That's a long time, but the excitement was ongoing all during that period BECAUSE, it was a time when the so-called "horsepower wars" were going on, and every year, the manufacturers upped the ante with new and more powerful cars, cuminating in the limited-production specialized race cars like the Z-11 Bow Ties in '63, Ford Thunderbolts in '64 and the Mopar Hemi Darts and Barracudas in '68.

For example, just look at what hapened to one car, Chevrolet, with regard to their most powerful models from 1955 'till the front office shuth them down in mid-1963.... something that didn't happen at Ford or Chrysler, by-the-way.

Maximum horsepower from Chevys,as I remember it... so, I may have a few glitches and need some help, but here's what I remember:

1955 195 hp Corvette motor "Power Pack" with a better cam.
1956 225 hp 2 X 4bbls (240, according to NHRA, with dealer-installed "Duntov" cam)
1957 283 hp F.I.
1958 315 hp 348 with 3-twos
1959 335 hp 348 with 3 twos; better cam?
1960 350 hp 348 with whatever...
1961 360 hp 409cid 1 4 bbl
1962 409 hp 409cid 2 4bbls
1963 425 hp 409cid, OR 430 hp Z-11 (409 motor bored to 427 with hi-rise heads and intake)

Then, the bottom fell out of performance at G.M.

But, all through those years, Chrysler and Ford had pretty much matched the Chevy horsepower escalation, and Ford continued the battle with the '64 T-Bolt, while Mopar introduced the Hemi in mid-'64 after a succession of "Stage" 413 and 426 "wedge" motors for S/S.

Not a whole lot going on at Chevy or Pontiac during '65 (the GTO was a huge hit with a big block in an intermediate body in '64, spawning the 396-inch, Z-16 Chevelle and later 442 Olds cars, with Ford countering with the medium riser 427 Fairlanes in '66 and '67. Mopar had some 383 and 440 Darts, etc., but was a weak player in the street wars. Made up for it on the drag strip, though...

Then, in '68 Ma Mopar dropped the "H"- BOMB and created the limited-production, be-all/end-all, Darts and Barracudas with the competition Hemi for what was then, SS/B. Later, when nobody ever built anything faster, NHRA moved them to SS/A... and finally to a class all their own: SS/AH... The final chapter of the horsepower wars; the culmination of thirteen years of engineering one-upmanship by the factory guys, for OUR benefit! And, what a show it was!!!!

So, on a yearly basis, for many years, when the new models arrived, it was the same kind of uproar that has currently attended the advent of the new CJ Mustangs and Drag-Pack Challengers.... EVERY YEAR!!! Year after year...

It was ongoing excitement brought to us by Detroit, when Detroit was healthy!

Of course, this created a "can't wait to see it run!!!" attitude that generated a lot of new race cars when the next season rolled around. There were so many '57 Chevys running around on the streets with Traction Masters (a kind of dumbed-down Cal Trac) and Atlas Bucrons (a butyl-rubber tire that had bite like a slick), you'd have though they were optional equipment on those cars, from the factory!!!

The variety of powerplants made it especially interesting to watch the Stockers; for example, when a '57 Chevy pulled to the line, if you couldn't read the class lettering on the window (in shoe polish), you didn't know whether you were watching an inline six with 140 horsepower, a two barrel 265 (170 hp?); a two barrel 283 (185 hp); a power pack 283 with a 4 bbl and dual exhausts (220 hp); a twin 4bbl motor with hydraulic OR solid lifters (245 or 270 hp); or either of two different fuel injection motors, one with hydraulic lifters, the other with solids (250 or 283 hp). Pontiacs were equally as likely to have various induction system, camshafts, and varied horsepower ratings. Even Cadillacs had multiple carburetion (dual 4's, then 3-twos) for many years...

And, it changed, EVERY YEAR!!! Always more power than the year before. How much faster will the top offering be??? It was non-stop excitement for about twelve or thirteen years!!!

I feel extremely fortunate to not only have lived through that era, but to have worked on the Stocker tech line at a drag strip for most of those years, so I got to see under ALL THOSE HOODS!!! LOL!!

Yes!!!!!

I was 17 in 1955, when the "Mickey Mouse" (rocker arm moniker) Chevy hit the street with solid lifters in all the stick shift cars. Even the 2-bbls motors would run 6,000 rpm with ease, a feat unheard of back then from anything but a pure racing engine! That started the horsepower race that provided so many exciting drag racing thrills for the next so many years.

So, my contention is that the period from 1955 through 1968 was the "golden era of drag racing" because of the almost non-stop proliferation of cars that went quicker, year-after-year, and the racing it generated.

During that period of time, Top Fuel Dragsters also increased their performance from the 160's to the mid 200's.... They weren't sitting on their laurels, either, but I was too busy watching the Stockers to pay much attention to those guys who got their horsepower out of a barrel.

That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!!!! :)

Bill

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Some of you old guys may remember things like buying several heads at the junkyard and flowing them all to see which may have had the best casting (acid porting? Unheard of). Testing a big box full of STOCK valve springs to find some that came in the top of the pressure spec. I would like to think that the golden years were when I was running in the late 70's and early 80's. When I was torn down on a protest, Ken Barrett said he was actually surprised at how legal my car was! These were the years that stock pretty much meant stock - and it was fun!

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Wow, good post Bill. I also lived those exciting years but would take them through 1971. Sometime around that time the cover of Super Stock & Drag Ilistrated Magazine showed a funeral and the title of the artical was "The Muscle Car is Dead". I didn't take that too seriously at the time, but boy how that was true.

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Bobby,
Thanks for the kind words!

There were some fast cars built in '69, '70 and '71, like the 455 SD Pontiacs and the LS-6 Chevy 454's, for sure. The Mopars were pretty much done except for the street cars like the Hemi Road Runners in '69 and the 440 6-pack E-Body cars; don't remember much really fast from Ford from that period of time but Glidden sure tore 'em up with the 429 "Shotgun/Blue Crescent!!!" I think he could have won Pro Stock with a John Deere if he'd wanted to....

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Stock was best when it was changed in and about 1974, when Jr. stock turned to super stock. You had to have street tires and an exhaust system still on the car. Cheater cams were allowed but no valve spring pressure increases. If your car didn't have all the nuts and bolts it was supposed to have and the correct markings, you had to get them before they would pass you in preregistration. Ran off National Records that weren't so far out of reach for anyone to perform to.
Casey Miles
248H E/S ("F" the 4 HP)

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

And checking a box of rockers for most lift, the list goes on and on. The Chevy dealer we bought from used to let my wife come pick up every casting they had on hand of the casting number we needed, I flowed them all and returned the ones I didn't want. Same with rockers. TRW springs lasted better than the GM springs. Checked the same new, just lasted longer. That was when the GM dealers actually kept head castings on the shelf. You have to order anything like that now, at least from the dealers here. They have plenty of cup holders, floor mats and calenders.

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

In 1970 I won class ( G stock, I think) at the local strip(Riverside) with a 383 roadrunner. Drove to the track, installed slicks (bought used), opened headers and ran. These were the only changes to the car as it came from the showroom. TWENTY ONE cars in class. Just a normal Saturday night!!!!!!!!!!:eek:

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

That was BBR (before bracket racing)

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

In the 70's Englishtown used to have 2 seperate eliminators one for trophies one for cash. You had to win class to run the elinimator. There was only class racing no brackets.
National record holders were allowed in the track for free.

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

This sounds fun. Being a young guy doing anything with these cars that doesn't require dialing in sounds fun though.

With all the knowlegable guys in Stock/SS someone needs to do a new book on the class with stories, car history, innovation, etc. up to the present. I'd be first in line to buy a copy. Write it like Smokey Yunick's books and fill it with great photography.

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

I would have to say that right now is not a bad time to be class racing. We have Top Stock, Jr Stock, and now new factory involvement. What about all of the associations popping up all over the Country? Add Drag Race Central and forums like this one into the equation. I'm having fun!

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

We had fun back in the 60's also. We ran stock at all of the local tracks (5 in less than 1 hour or so drive) for about $125 to $150 to win (60's money). 2 seperate eliminators. The higher classes in one and the lower classes in another. We could race Wed. night, Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday. Brackets didnt exist back then and we ran off of records. Of course we had a lot of cars with "funny" sounding cams. I could tell lots of stories about one 57 chebbie that was supposed to be a 283/270 HP car. It had a 327/365 HP engine in it with a 270 HP intake and carbs.....LOL. I remember George Cureiton (spl?) complaining about a 59 black Byscayne that was suppose to be a 348/320 HP but was a 409/380 HP with the 320 carb and intake. It was just part of the game and lots of fun.

Re: When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator
 

Still have that trophy as it was the first!! Trophy, no cash but I was happy.:p Drove around town the next day with the shoe polish still on the windows.:D