When was the "Golden Age" of Stock Eliminator

[hadtobethere]

bring back the flag man..no tree, no reaction times, time slip gives you 1/4 mile & speed.......and you run off of records......giddy up !!!

[vic guilmino]

i started in 1960 with a 58 pontiac
1962 thru 1976
when you had to put a roll bar

[treessavoy]

Originally Posted by vic guilmino

i started in 1960 with a 58 pontiac
1962 thru 1976
when you had to put a roll bar

Vic,

I've got a 58 Chieftian with 3-2's, auto, and posi; 28k original miles...just like new!

[Bob Don]

Some of you old guys may remember things like buying several heads at the junkyard and flowing them all to see which may have had the best casting (acid porting? Unheard of). Testing a big box full of STOCK valve springs to find some that came in the top of the pressure spec. I would like to think that the golden years were when I was running in the late 70's and early 80's. When I was torn down on a protest, Ken Barrett said he was actually surprised at how legal my car was! These were the years that stock pretty much meant stock - and it was fun!

[Ed Wright]

Originally Posted by Bob Don

Some of you old guys may remember things like buying several heads at the junkyard and flowing them all to see which may have had the best casting (acid porting? Unheard of). Testing a big box full of STOCK valve springs to find some that came in the top of the pressure spec. I would like to think that the golden years were when I was running in the late 70's and early 80's. When I was torn down on a protest, Ken Barrett said he was actually surprised at how legal my car was! These were the years that stock pretty much meant stock - and it was fun!

And checking a box of rockers for most lift, the list goes on and on. The Chevy dealer we bought from used to let my wife come pick up every casting they had on hand of the casting number we needed, I flowed them all and returned the ones I didn't want. Same with rockers. TRW springs lasted better than the GM springs. Checked the same new, just lasted longer. That was when the GM dealers actually kept head castings on the shelf. You have to order anything like that now, at least from the dealers here. They have plenty of cup holders, floor mats and calenders.

[Troy Henderson]

Originally Posted by hadtobethere

bring back the flag man..no tree, no reaction times, time slip gives you 1/4 mile & speed.......and you run off of records......giddy up !!!

This sounds fun. Being a young guy doing anything with these cars that doesn't require dialing in sounds fun though.

With all the knowlegable guys in Stock/SS someone needs to do a new book on the class with stories, car history, innovation, etc. up to the present. I'd be first in line to buy a copy. Write it like Smokey Yunick's books and fill it with great photography.

[GUMP]

I would have to say that right now is not a bad time to be class racing. We have Top Stock, Jr Stock, and now new factory involvement. What about all of the associations popping up all over the Country? Add Drag Race Central and forums like this one into the equation. I'm having fun!

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by GUMP

I would have to say that right now is not a bad time to be class racing. We have Top Stock, Jr Stock, and now new factory involvement. What about all of the associations popping up all over the Country? Add Drag Race Central and forums like this one into the equation. I'm having fun!

We had fun back in the 60's also. We ran stock at all of the local tracks (5 in less than 1 hour or so drive) for about $125 to $150 to win (60's money). 2 seperate eliminators. The higher classes in one and the lower classes in another. We could race Wed. night, Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday. Brackets didnt exist back then and we ran off of records. Of course we had a lot of cars with "funny" sounding cams. I could tell lots of stories about one 57 chebbie that was supposed to be a 283/270 HP car. It had a 327/365 HP engine in it with a 270 HP intake and carbs.....LOL. I remember George Cureiton (spl?) complaining about a 59 black Byscayne that was suppose to be a 348/320 HP but was a 409/380 HP with the 320 carb and intake. It was just part of the game and lots of fun.