IMuscle Car Era Popularity - Indy 2022 Stock

[Paradigm Shift]

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.

[340Cuda]

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

[jmantle]

Originally Posted by Paradigm Shift

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.

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

[tavirace]

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.

[1347]

Originally Posted by tavirace

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.

what do you mean by "loosen up"?

[tavirace]

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.

[Rory McNeil]

Originally Posted by tavirace

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.

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

[1347]

Originally Posted by tavirace

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.

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.

[james schaechter]

Originally Posted by tavirace

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.

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

[Steve Stasko]

Originally Posted by tavirace

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.

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