[Jim Kaekel]

Unfortunately, the answer to this question always involves "how much money can you afford to spend?". I'm sure an early GM muscle car (Chevelle, Skylark, Lemans, Cutlass) is cheaper to run than an LS1 Camaro/Firebird, for example. If you're not intimidated by tuning with a laptop, an LT1 Camaro/Firebird may be good choice, and a bit more economical to run that the LS1. Although I race a '70 4-4-2 E/SA, I always thought the '71-72 454 Chevelles would be a wise car to choose, particularly one of the lower horsepower motors with a Q-Jet.