Factory experimental

[Woodro Josey]

I have about decided, we are on the losing end of a sinking ship. That means if they are rating these cars at 700hp, how much will a race prepaired, really make, and this is in Stock. Try gettin one of those babys insured for the street, they are street legal cars, right?

[bill dedman]

How are these cars any different from a 1968 Dart/Barracuda Hemi car, or a Thunderbolt? Both are non-street-legal factory cars, both have outrageously powerful engines that wouldn't be happy in a grocery getter, and both are EXTREMELY limited production cars.

What did they do with the Hemis and T-Bolts?

They put them in their appropriate Super Stock classes, where they could "play with their own kind."

There IS no Factory Experimental class in the rule book, and hasn't heen for eons, but there sure as hell are Super Stock classes for these cars, and I think that's where they belong. Let's see how they fare against Brandon Wilkinson's car, heads-up, or any of the Hemi '65 Plymouths and Dodges in SS/B...

Apples to apples...

That IS what they did with the '68 competition Hemis and Thunderbolts...

What's good for the goose, etc., etc., etc....

What think ye? They sure as hell don't belong in Stock Eliminator, for a variety of reasons!

[Greg Hill]

All this does is re-enforce my feeling that the powers that be either don't have a clue or really don't care about stock eliminator. These factory built race cars belong in some class besides stock eliminator. A " 68 " Z-28 can't even run the 2x4's or the cam that anyone could order from the factory and have delivered to the dealer in the trunk of the car. Now whatever the factory wants to do is okay even though these are not even street legal cars. A lot of A and AA cars are going to be obsolete.

Greg

[danny waters sr]

New classes AF/S & AF/SA = All new Fords AD/S & AD/SA = All new Dodge & Chyrsler (or even AM/S or AM/SA for Mopars) AG/S & AG/SA = All General Motors. All with their own indexes and Factors.This reminds me of mixing fuel injections with carb classes . In my opinion this is the way it should be if they want to run stock..Who knows ,maybe this is the new answer to cutting out real stockers at NHRA. These cars could easily take your place in the big show. That would make them happy . Just thinking out loud ..

[Jeff Lee]

I made several posts on the new Cobra Jet Mustang in testing on this forum and the moderator deleted every one of them. Why, I have no idea. But I'll try again. 138 MPH with 210 degree water temps and pump-gas tune. ET was down in the low-mid 10's due to poor driving skills.
And NHRA has made statements in the past they do not support limiting or regulating boost on turbo applications but believe it is not acceptable to change boost on Supercharged applications by altering pulley diameters. That makes about as much sense as I don't know what! The way around this with SC applications is I'm sure the OEM will have different pulleys as OEM acceptable. They already offer a 5.4 SC Shelby factory delivered with 500 HP, 540HP, 625HP & 700 HP.

[CrateCamaro]

I thought the big 3 (GM, Ford, Mopar) had no money??

[rtaylor3410]

Rather than trying to keep these new late model cars out of stock, perhaps we should be talking about creating a new class for our 30 to 40 year old cars called Nostalgia Stock.

I've been reading posts on here for the last couple of years with people wanting class racing to be what it was back in the 60's, more factory involvement, higher payouts, more fan appeal etc... I think these new cars work in our benefit over the long haul.
Let's face it, there's no benefit to GM if a 69 Camaro outruns a 68 Mustang or Barracuda like there was back then. But if this new 09 Mustang blows the doors off an 09 Challenger or one of the new Camaro's, then there might be some value to the manufacturers and some additional fan appeal etc..

I happen to love these old cars that we race, but unless you grew up around this sport, alot of people don't recognize these cars anymore.

And NO, I do not race a AA car.

[Ed Fernandez]

If these Mustangs and any future Mopar/GM hi horse power cars come along there is a place for them already,SUPER STOCK,along with 68 Hemi cars,SS AMXs,T'Bolts etc.Where is the problem with that?
I guess the guys who will have the $$ for these cars will have to live with the fact that they will not be the
fastest combos in the eliminator.
I dont think we need any new classes in Stock.
Ed F.
Lowly T/SA

[Ken Haase]

(pant,pant) Holy Cow! I can't read fast enough to keep up with this thread! Ya' better get ready Alex, the 400th post will be here soon.

Now, I'm no Ford guy, but the anticipation of 'seeing' these Mustangs run is making me salivate. I just hope that we will get to see the true potential, rather than what they'll do clicked at 1000'. I'm sure Ford will make public the incrementals. Not! Ford's involvement in drag racing is good for the sport, and stock eliminator in particular. Same for Mopar. I just wish Ford wouldn't give another nickel to that buffoon with the giant ego. You know, the guy NHRA can't seem to get enough of on ESPN.

Having said that, I'm afraid Bruce's concerns are not unfounded. One poster didn't think that 2.42 Hp/cu.in was attainable with this new CJ. I recall reading of F1 engines producing 6 Hp/ inch, or more. If Ford did their homework and the blower is efficient, I don't see why they couldn't extract two or more Hp/cu.in. Of course, none of this matters much except in heads-up runs. Are they running 'class' at Pomona?

As mentioned previously, I'm not a Ford guy. But I could be. If Red LeBlanc would turn over the keys to his '69, I'll bleed blue.

One last thing. IMHO, Ford won the all-time 'coolest car name' title back in '68 with the debut of the original Cobra Jet. Second place goes to 'Ramcharger'.

[Rory McNeil]

Well... according to my NHRA Rulebook, the 3rd paragraph states "OEM may apply for inclusion of any special production runs into the Official NHRA Stock Car Classification Guide. Special run must include a minimum of 50 units of an already accepted body style, need NOT be showroom available. Applications evaluated on an individual basis. Acceptance will not imply precedent".
A quick peek at my 2004 Rulebook has the exact paragraph, word for word. Wouldn`t this same situation be how the 66 427 Fairlanes, COPO and Yenko Camaros, "Firehawk" late model Firebirds, the LT1 powered 97-98 Camaro & Firebirds, and possibly some other vehicles that Joe Blow off the street would never have been able to purchase from his local dealership?
As for the percieved domination of these Mustangs, it kinda sounds like many racers complaints when the EFI cars started getting popular. "The aerodynamics, high tech vodoo, better wight balance, etc" was going to ruin it for the "little guy". When the EFI classes were blended with the traditional Stockers, the "fuelies" were gonna eat the older cars for lunch. At the end of the 2008 season, there were more carbed cars in the top 10, and the vast majority of NHRA National records were held by the older cars too. I think a sit & wait approach would be better than panicking. Granted ,it did take NHRA a while to get the LS1`s HP rating within reason, but then Pontiac WAS the "Offical Car of NHRA" at the time, Ford isn`t, so maybe NHRA would be a bit quicker to react if the new Cobra Jet does indeed run away from the pack. As for superchargers in Stock, they were legal in the 57 Fords, and several versions of Studebakers years ago, and Turbos have been allowed for years, so whats the differance? Personally, I think that any forced induction Stocker should be limited to the factory boost pressure, but maybe thats just me. I guess Pomona will tell the story, right?