IMuscle Car Era Popularity - Indy 2022 Stock
 

It's enlightening to analyze the popularity of legendary Muscle Cars competing at Indy '22 in Stock.

The 1967-1970 Camaro accounts for over 20% of those that entered with a total of 31 cars.

In stark comparison, there are 2 1965-1973 Mustangs in attendance. There are a like number of Pintos.

No mad dash for E body Mopar platforms either with three cars in total. Don't look for '68 and up B bodies.

Just over 22% of competitors entered cars from 2000 and newer.

Re: IMuscle Car Era Popularity - Indy 2022 Stock
 

As long as you are counting, how many A body Mopars?

Re: IMuscle Car Era Popularity - Indy 2022 Stock
 

And all those old muscle cars came from the factory with VIN numbers

Re: IMuscle Car Era Popularity - Indy 2022 Stock
 

To me it seems the rules unfairly favor any car with a quadrajet in both stock and super/stock. If the rules were loosened up we could see a greater variety of combinations.

Re: IMuscle Car Era Popularity - Indy 2022 Stock
 

what do you mean by "loosen up"?

Re: IMuscle Car Era Popularity - Indy 2022 Stock
 

They allow any rear end that came from the manufacturer. Any transmission that came from the manufacturer and then some. Many aftermarket heads etc.How about any carburetor available or some spec carburetors, 650 on a small block or 750 on a big block. It would really just benefit the slower classes, they could use some help.

Re: IMuscle Car Era Popularity - Indy 2022 Stock
 

If you look at the stock qualifying list there is quite a bit of diversity if that even matters. How many Q jet combos a second under"?

Just a quick scroll through the 80 showing a qualifying run of a second under, looks like about 6 have a jets? Now I could have missed a few, but where did you come to your conclusion? Sure there are some fast Q jet combos, but certainly that doesn’t add up to qjets ruling over Indy stock class.

There are also several very high qualifying lower class cars on the Q sheet as well so I would say thst lower class cars don’t all need help.

The FS cars are whacky, but there are plenty of upgrades thst are legal now for lower class cars. Especially when you consider corporate rear ends, etc. if you want a big carb with a small carb factor, I don’t see that happening

Re: IMuscle Car Era Popularity - Indy 2022 Stock
 

You're exactly right...let's loosen up the rules. Let's give them roller rockers, replacement carbs/heads, corporate transmissions, stop enforcing year/body/trim rules...

Oh, wait... https://www.nhraracer.com/Files/Tech...edProducts.pdf

Re: IMuscle Car Era Popularity - Indy 2022 Stock
 

To me, part of the "magic" of Stock and Super Stock racing is working with the pluses and minuses of each combination from the factory. If you look, number 1 qualifier has a Autolite/Motorcraft 2 barrel carb. If you really want to run a small block car in Stock, with a large non Q Jet carb, there are plenty, 71 & newer 340/360 MoPars, 340 3x2 barrel AAR Cuda/T/A Challenger, 71&newer 351 Cleveland Fords, 67-69 Z/28, 70-71 LT-1 Camaro/Corvettes, 69/70 Boss 302 Mustang/Cougar, numerous 318/360 MoPar Thermoquad cars, etc

Re: IMuscle Car Era Popularity - Indy 2022 Stock
 

Good morning to Tavirace and to all,
"If the rules were loosened up" please be careful of what you wish for!
I know opinions vary on this subject, but it's just my opinion that if they " loosen the rules " up anymore - we'll all have Bracket Cars, then you would have your " variety " . Is that what you want?
At least the cars we race called Stockers, still have a semblance to the way the cars were assembled from the Factory. No one has produced a New Quadra Jet carb in the last 15 t0 20 years now. I'm still using a Q-Jet I purchased from Scoggin & Dickey approximately 20 years ago. NHRA has not allowed a " Replacement Head " for the 1969 350 / 255 in stock so when I finally run out of cylinder heads - what do I do then ?
All I'm saying is look before you leap. That's just my 2 cents no one has to agree and I'm not looking for pity. We have all done this to ourselves.

Respectfully,
Henry Kunz 1534 H/SA

Re: IMuscle Car Era Popularity - Indy 2022 Stock
 

I have raced stock before and appreciate the class. I was at Indy this year and enjoyed watching as much of class eliminations as I could. I did hear tear downs weren't as strict as they once were, could this be a trend. Let's look at one car I have a 1971 Pontiac Ventura four door. The most power it comes with is a 307 2bbl according to the guides.But I can change the front sheet metal and rear tailights and turn it into a Nova. Then I can claim it as a 1970. Looking at the guide it tells me I can run a 350 factory 300 horsepower with aftermarket heads, only available in a SS two door to my knowledge but it's there. Then it tells me I can run a 402 factory 350 horsepower big block in a 1970 Nova non SS four door, shipping weight 3346.Has anyone ever seen one ? But it's stock legal. But if I showed up with a aftermarket carb on my 307, I'm out of there !

Re: IMuscle Car Era Popularity - Indy 2022 Stock
 

The reason some of these combos are low horsepower are because of a small cfm carb.
The 307 you ran on your Ventura has one of the smallest Rochester 2bbl carbs made. Allowing you to run a different carb would significantly change the hp on that combo. NHRA did "loosen " the carb rules when they allowed you to run a carb with the same venturi and throttle blade size instead of the exact part number. That allowed you to run for example a regular quadrajet on a ram air Pontiac instead of a 2000.00+ carb before you worked on it. Many feel the valve spring rule, roller rockers, solid cams, or even solid rollers in some applications killed the integrity of the class. A spec carb would really throw that over the edge in my opinion. I don’t know why you would need a spec carb unless you.come up a combo where a carb is unobtainable.

Re: IMuscle Car Era Popularity - Indy 2022 Stock
 

You could change your car to a '73 model and run the 350 Pontiac two barrel that works well or to a '74 model that came with the Pontiac 350 and a Q-Jet ..........

Re: IMuscle Car Era Popularity - Indy 2022 Stock
 

We can play this game all day. Lots of stuff in the guide that was never available, or maybe 1 or 2 were built. The rules are already pretty forgiving...no need to make it worse.

As far as that Ventura...change it into a Nova and run the 307-2bbl. Lower hp rating whether you run it as a '71 or '72, and it doesn't have to be as heavy. There may even be someone on this forum who runs such a combo...

Re: IMuscle Car Era Popularity - Indy 2022 Stock
 

I really appreciate the comments from knowledgeable people, I want to create a car with some longevity and hope the class is going to have it also. We either have to assume that change has come to an end or if it does come what could it be. The class has to remain viable to racers and most importantly NHRA or they won't keep it.