Today's cost to build a stocker ?

[Joe Toller]

Originally Posted by Dwight Southerland

Yeah, but nobody really believes you or else there would be a lot more of that type of participation. How many $40K-plus race cars out there can claim a comparable win record?? You are a true stocker hero, Jim. All the people lamenting over the high-dollar cost of competing are creating their own misery.

The lower classes and the racers in them are my inspiration. We all would love to go fast, but why not get involved, at any level, in the meantime. Granted I have a ways to go, but my current build is at roughly 1500 for everything, using alot of used and ebay parts along the way. It will make passes this spring, maybe even under the index. I probably am toast heads up, but until then, I get to race while working towards a better car, which isnt getting out there the whole point anyway?

[HandOverFist]

Originally Posted by iraceitall

The lower classes and the racers in them are my inspiration. We all would love to go fast, but why not get involved, at any level, in the meantime. Granted I have a ways to go, but my current build is at roughly 1500 for everything, using alot of used and ebay parts along the way. It will make passes this spring, maybe even under the index. I probably am toast heads up, but until then, I get to race while working towards a better car, which isnt getting out there the whole point anyway?

Much the same here. I'm confident with the winter upgrades our car will at least be 5 under...more would be gravy. The only place left for us to go is into the motor.

[B Parker]

We all race the cars we do for different reasons. I had a lower class car years ago. We ran R/SA. You might build and keep it running for less than some other combos because you don't have to worry about heads up in the eliminator. I being competitive as I am wanted to have the fastest one in the country. So I spent the money and worked hard and ended up with one of the faster ones. Then when it was time to sell it not many people wanted an R/SA wagon. Even though I spent the same money on the drive train that others did in higher class cars. Sold the car for about 1/2 what it would have been worth if it was a 69 Camaro. So the moral of this story for me was if I'm going to spend the money on the drive train I better put it something that has value body wise. Barry

[Billy Nees]

Originally Posted by B Parker

We all race the cars we do for different reasons. I had a lower class car years ago. We ran R/SA. You might build and keep it running for less than some other combos because you don't have to worry about heads up in the eliminator. Then when it was time to sell it not many people wanted an R/SA wagon. Even though I spent the same money on the drive train that others did in higher class cars. Sold the car for about 1/2 what it would have been worth if it was a 69 Camaro. Barry

Ahh, but Barry, it got you involved. And instead of talking about what it costs to build a red,69 BB Camaro we should all be trying to figure out how to get young people involved and talking about 125k COPOs and 60k antiques ain't gonna do it.
I can't say for sure but you probably started in R/SA because that's where your pocketbook and knowledge would let you get a start.
We, as the elder statesmen (wow) in this sport need to try and convince young people that they don't NEED to start with a second under CC/SA car to get involved in Stock and SS or there soon isn't going to be a Stock and SS.

[Mike Gray]

Originally Posted by B Parker

We all race the cars we do for different reasons. I had a lower class car years ago. We ran R/SA. You might build and keep it running for less than some other combos because you don't have to worry about heads up in the eliminator. I being competitive as I am wanted to have the fastest one in the country. So I spent the money and worked hard and ended up with one of the faster ones. Then when it was time to sell it not many people wanted an R/SA wagon. Even though I spent the same money on the drive train that others did in higher class cars. Sold the car for about 1/2 what it would have been worth if it was a 69 Camaro. So the moral of this story for me was if I'm going to spend the money on the drive train I better put it something that has value body wise. Barry

X2 - Resale value can bring the (final) cost down when you sell the car. I keep telling my wife that as I try to find enough money to finish a '67 Shelby.

[mopacltd]

Doesn't Koski have a U/S mopar for sale?

[Doug Blackley]

If you can do a lot of the work yourself you can cut the costs down a ton.

[alejan1975]

My attempt at building a stocker(89 mustang) is about 30% complete and I have about 7500 in it (car was 600 of that). I expect to have another 3500 in it just to get it running and on the track for some testing. I'm hoping to be .30 under index with this set up. And this thing is U G L Y.

I would expect to sink another 10-15kin it years 2 and 3 assuming all goes well for a stouter motor, paint, race trans/clutch etc.

I'm pretty cheap and will do as much as possible myself, and it looks like 25k might get me a so-so looking car that's not super competitive.

But, I wanna go racing!!

[GrapeApe7575]

I have no doubt I could have picked up a used stocker for a fraction of what I paid to build my F/SA car.....but for me this was a bucket list thing. I also have no doubt that if I had participated more in the build I could have reduced the cost somewhat. But after hearing the rest of you it sounds like my spend was not totally out of line. We were able to go rounds at every race attended, and the equipment was never the reason for an early round departure.

No matter what you spend, whether it's a 5,000 actual mile 69 Z/28, Original Cobra Jet, or my 40 year old $1500 beater, you still have to DRIVE the thing to get maximum enjoyment out of it. Truthfully, I would have had just as much fun in a beater if I had driven it to the winners circle a few times!!!

[Dan Fahey]

Pure Stock will bring in the younger crowd if you start Classifying the new American cars and allow Imports to race. I get an email every couple weeks from someone asking about Pure Stock.

You want the younger crowd. They are buying the little cars. On test and tune days they are out in force. Add Stock Class Record at local track again and you will see interest.

The issue is not young people not wanting to race in Stock.
It is the entrenched American Car only racer community preventing it from happening.

Dan