Classification Help Requested...

[bill dedman]

I was never an employee of NHRA. But, since I was the Stock line tech inspector at Carlisle and Little Rock drag strips (they ran on alternating weekends) Dale Ham deemed me an "Area Tech Advisor" and provided me with the Stock Car Classification Guide and gave me copies of all the official NHRA Tech bulletins of the day, and those came in every week, by mail, and went into a loose-leaf notebook with references to which pages they superceded (pages to be discarded.)

Virtually EVERY car that came in the gate, and wanted to race, was in that Class Guide. There was no "spotty" coverage... Cadillacs, Nash Ramblers, Studebakers, Max Wedge Mopars, and everything in between, were in that Clasification Guide... because NHRA had gone to the manufacturers and GOTTEN that information.

In ten years of classifying cars at four different drag strips, I don't remember EVER seeing an example of a car that wasn't in "The Guide."

Are you guys saying that ALL those manufacturers were pro-active in sending in the specs, without being asked? I don't think that the engineering department at Nash was much interested in what their cars did at the drags in 1965. (Discounting the '57 Rambler Rebel.) But, they were in the "Guide." How did they get there???

No, I am sure that NHRA actively went after that information, so that EVERYONE could race, not just the cars that the manufacturers wanted to see "out there." Just good bidness...

Guess you had to be there...

[rickseeman]

Wish they would bring back Carlilse or Little Rock

[bill dedman]

Originally Posted by rickseeman

Wish they would bring back Carlilse or Little Rock

There's not a quarter-mile drag strip anywhere in Arkansas. There's not an NHRA-sanctioned strip here, either.

A shame, for sure, but a sign of the times.

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by bill dedman

No, I am sure that NHRA actively went after that information, so that EVERYONE could race, not just the cars that the manufacturers wanted to see "out there." Just good bidness...

Guess you had to be there...

Then came "bracket racing " ,where local tracks didn't have to be concerned with "rules"

[Lew Silverman]

Another reason why they should open up Stock Class to any vehicle made by an automotive manufacturer for the general public, available in quantities of 50 or more and distributed through a recognized dealer network.

The shipping weights are available through a number of sources as are the advertized horsepower figures.

Lew

[Dwight Southerland]

Lew -

But the engine specs the mfr wants published are not. Hhmmmm. . . Maybe we would get real data that way??

[k.pascoe]

Wait a minute. Look who's askin' this question. Bret knows full well that car is not in the guide, just like my 2009 Challenger r/t isn't.
It's like Johnny Appleseed asking what color Granny Smith apples are!!

[Larry Fulton]

I'm curious which Classes the 3 Individual COPO Engines will fit into...

anybody know?

Thanks

[Bret Kepner]

In all seriousness, I looked but couldn't find it in the classification guide. I figured the rest of the clowns on ClassRacer could prove if I was blind and/or stupid.