What's wrong with this picture?

[CycloneFE]

Bill,
If it is any consolation, even with one gen one Camaro in the stock final, they did not win. A Buick did though. I guess it just doesn't always pay to play the odds.

[Ed Wright]

Last I heard he was trying to build a slant 6 bracket car for local 1/8th mile tracks. He doesn't race with us, not sure why he is concerned about it.

[Joe Marcinowski]

Originally Posted by bill dedman

At the Reading race, 13 of the 48 qualified cars are '67-'69 Camaros.

Seems to me, there must be some reason....

Is this good for the Eliminator?

Just askin'....

Good looking car with lots of available combos.

[Frank Castros]

Originally Posted by Joe Marcinowski

Good looking car with lots of available combos.

Joe,
The great looking 1970-1 Challengers and 'Cudas are the most versatile Mopars ever with seven engine options.
It's a shame we don't see more of them, but of course it's because they are worth a lot more then most Camaros.

[Rich Biebel]

Originally Posted by Joe Marcinowski

Good looking car with lots of available combos.

Exactly


After all these years I still think a first generation Camaro is a great looking car and a '69 is the best of the group.

I was just watching a Mecham auction show over the weekend and saw a Yenko '69 Camaro on the stage....what a beauty.....

No later model Camaro ever matched the original for style and looks and engine options....and the '69 has the edge in every way.....

[Ed Wright]

But, Bill you don't race with us now. So don't worry about it.
I raced at Catlisle a lot, I don't remember you. Gordon Holloway teched me several times.

[Run to Rund]

In part due to popularity, Chevy HP factors are competitive. Now, take the 400 Olds that Sam Murray held the D/S record with, back in 2006. He had to use all the tricks that others are now using to get competitive, and hasn't been since. . .his friend Jerry MacNeish holds it with a Z28 Camaro. After Sam, Curtis Coulter held D/S with his big and heavy 69 Mercury, closer in HP factor to being competitive today, but probably still not close enough. Moral of the story is that if you run an "oddball" or less popular combination, there won't be the data or the incentive for NHRA to help you out. The natural result is that "everyone" will run a "popular" combination so their investment will have a chance of paying off with wins.

[Jeff Lee]

When I was in D/S running 10.50's and out running all the GM / Ford's that are popular in the class, it was a blast. I love being the underdog. But as I said, it sure takes a lot more patience and money to beat those "common" cars. I'm still putting as much pressure on the shop that has spider webs growing on my AMX to get it done. Jeff Colvert needs some competition!
My AMX is a SS/G-H-I combination.

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Run to Rund

In part due to popularity, Chevy HP factors are competitive. Now, take the 400 Olds that Sam Murray held the D/S record with, back in 2006. He had to use all the tricks that others are now using to get competitive, and hasn't been since. . .his friend Jerry MacNeish holds it with a Z28 Camaro. After Sam, Curtis Coulter held D/S with his big and heavy 69 Mercury, closer in HP factor to being competitive today, but probably still not close enough. Moral of the story is that if you run an "oddball" or less popular combination, there won't be the data or the incentive for NHRA to help you out. The natural result is that "everyone" will run a "popular" combination so their investment will have a chance of paying off with wins.

Actually, popularity does as much or more to hurt a combination. These cars, the first generation Camaros, can be a good example. Look at what "popularity" has done to the 396/375 combinations, most of them have been hit pretty hard. The 350/255 has been hit pretty hard as well. I'm not saying those combinations are ruined, I am saying there are other combinations that are in the same classes, that have lower numbers, that are stronger, but are less likely to get hit, because they are being protected more by having fewer people running them.

If you have a rare combination, at least you can exert some control over your "destiny". You don't have to worry about 40 other cars any number of which can go out and either get you instant HP, or get you an adjustment. If you have one of a kind, or one of a very few, there's a lot less chance of it getting bombed, and you can always keep providing data of your own and writing letters asking for a break.

[bill dedman]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

But, Bill you don't race with us now. So don't worry about it.
I raced at Catlisle a lot, I don't remember you. Gordon Holloway teched me several times.

Ed,

I'm not "worried about it," except to the extent that I have been somewhat involved with Stock Eliminator (as posted) all my adult life, and don't enjoy seeing it become less popular as is has been, and look ffor ways to stop its decline because I don't want to see it lose even more popularity or go away. I love Stock and Super Stock class racing; it's the only TRUE drag racing left, for sportsmen. Everything else is just a Bracket race.

I think that's worth saving!!!! Big time!

Just because I don't campaign a class-legal car, now, doesn't mean I'm blind, deaf, and dumb, and brain-dead. My old brain still works (after a fashion) and tries hard to analyze what could be changed to make our favorite sport better.

Ken specifically set this forum up for non class racers to post their ideas on, and has another forum for people currently campaigning a car with a permanent number.

I think I have the right forum, don't you?

I'm not advocating a wholesale desertion of generation one Camaros... just posted a question as to whether having such a large percentage of ONE CAR in Stock Eliminator at a race was a good thing, and what reasons existed for its anomalous popularity.

Given the circumstances, I don't understand your objection to that.

Dunno when you raced at Carlisle, but I had three periods of time when I was absent from there; from February of '61 through August, I lived in St. Louis (MO.) Then, in 1962, I was in the Army on active duty from Feb. to September, then, in 1964, I was in Texas at East Texas State Teachers' College from Feb. to June... and then I moved to Colorado Spgs. CO for 6 months, and then on to Des Moines, where I stayed for 16 years.

Sorry for the impromptu travellog/story of my life...

Bob Ayers took over for me in the Stocker line at Carlisle when I left Arkansas for good in 1964. You might remember him; super nice guy who always wore a pith helmet... His son, Rob Ayers, posts on ClassRacer, sometimes. Bob raced a succession of Stockers, then a Super Stock car in about 1971.