Why did we race a Stocker? A short story to share

[Harry 6674]

Originally Posted by impstocker

I would guess we all have that story somewhere. I remember testing my 68 Impala at Island Dragway, ran a 11.90, a few fellas came over to look at the car and commented if it was a 454 big block in the car. I told them no, just a oval port 396, then they see the Quadrajet and iron intake and heads, then you tell them, :"oh yea, stock lift cam with .398 lift" I use to MPH pretty good too_ 117.11 best

we could probaly fool a lot of the contestants on the "Pass Time" show, except for that guy from Texas Chassis_ he would know.

Will Lamprecht
65 Impala in progress-using above 396-325 motor

The guy from Texas always gets fooled by the stock and super stock cars on shows I've watched.

[SuperStock 1890]

Love it. I was talking to a very well know high performace specialty parts provided and asked a few questions about thier product to get some ideas for our stocker and he asked me how fast it went. I told him and he said "Oh you have nitrous" No. "Oh you have a blower" No. " You can't go that fast" My response to him was "I guess I am talking to the wrong guy."

[Dwight Southerland]

One of my favorite incidents happened back when I had my A/Stock Camaro. I went to a track one weekend that was supposed to be promoting a Stock-SS race. I never been to the track before and when I arrived, they informed me that they only ran bracket cars and Super Gas and Super Street. So I said put me in Super Street. The tech guy looked at the car, eyeballed the 9" slicks, the lack of hood scoop, the all-steel body, the full interior, the stick-shift and tried to convince me that I would have a better chance in a bracket category. I said no, that I preferred the heads-up races, to which he replied quite emphatically, "But you have to be able to run 10.90s!" I replied that I was quite aware and I would take my chances. He shook his head and passed me through.
It would have really capped off the day if I had won, but I didn't. However, the announcer and line crew made a big deal about the car on every pass and it quickly became a point of interest and excitement for everybody. I did make it to the semis where I lost the race because I broke out. While I was loading up to leave, the track operator came over and told me how glad he was that I came and then gave me a hand written pass for free entry for that car for the rest of the season. The guy who had teched me in was with the operator and said, "I would never have believed it. We need more cars like that!" Where had those guys been? It made my day!

[Dave Gantz]

“No, sorry, stock class cars are not allowed to use anything like that, our cars have to be factory stock, but we can have headers! I then began to explain to him what stock class was and about, but he kept interrupting me"
Yeah, that part's important, because, of course, they ain't as stock as they look. He should've listened.

A friend ran a 65 belvedere wagon in U/SA. One time there was a guy who was in utter amazement that it had a 273 2 barrel.
Stockers haven't gotten very much ink at all for many years. There's at least one generation that has no clue about them. It's very rare that when talking to someone about the kind of racing I enjoy and participated in briefly, that the person knows what I'm talking about.

[Detroit Bob]

I still sometimes go to the parking lot cruises in the area. You always see these cars with blowers sticking out of the hood and the rears tubbed fat tires and all.
Then I turn to my brother and say, a good stocker would probably bury most of those type cars.

[Kenny Wigington]

Great great story here ! Love it !

[FED 387]

This is not exactly a "stocker" story but along the same lines. But in the late 1970's we went to US 30 Drag Strip outside of Gary Indiana to do some testing one Weds nite. At the time we had a F Modified Production 67 Camaro with a 287 CI Reher Morrison engine , Nash 5 speed,tunnel ram and a pair of 660 carbs on it full interior etc..all on an open trailer pulled by a 1968 Chevy station wagon Everybody laughed at us because the wheels were not sticking out of the rear fenders , interior had not been gutted, no kitchen chair for a drivers seat no plumbing pipe roll bar cage not all hacked up. etc. In a way it looked kinda puny next to some of the other cars there. After warming it up checking tire pressure etc we pulled in line to make our first run. We proceeded to lay down a 10.29 @133 MPH for our first pass... when we got back to our pit area quite a crowd had assembled and you woulda thought we were Bill Jenkins!! They had never seen a SBC perform like that these guys were used to BBC engines 427 up to 540 inches some on nitrous and all and then they could not run that fast... Must be nitrous they were convinced and thought we were cheating. Then the betting and side bets started . We made a few more passes trying different things and either picked up or slowed down depending on what we had tried.We ended being runner up in the King of the Hill race that nite. We musta cheated!!!

Shortly after that a few of these racers started to "clean up their act" and began to show up racing at some of the area tracks, Union Grove, Byron, Oswego, Lake Geneva etc. My wife ,kids and I would all pile into the wagon and go off to the track lotsa fun many great memories too. I think we all can relate to stuff like this don't ya think?

[Glenn Hayes]

Merry Christmas!