Crate Engines in NHRA?

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Dwight Southerland

Yeah, but so many of the current old "stock" combinations are nothing more than paper motors any more. When your 396s got the 401 heads, the 359 manifolds, pistons that do not resemble production pieces, aftermarket carbs, 7/16" pushrods, etc. etc. the "stock" goes away. And that is just one example. The Delusion that Stockers are production pure pieces is just that. They are mostly formula cars now. Why not include additional optional definitions that can be controlled just as easy in teardown, yet are built with easy to obtain parts? Just a different formula in my mind, and easier to control. It's hard for somebody to come up with bogus 40 year-old documentation to change the facts of a production engine just to gain an advantage when the definition is clear to begin with and its not dragged out of somebody's wet dream from their teenage years.

Dwight, I have no illusion or delusion that stockers are pure production pieces. Yes, the big blocks have been allowed replacement parts.

My 427 pistons still look a lot like original pistons actually, but I'll agree they are better than the old TRW's. I guess my stuff isn't cheated up enough.

My new aftermarket carburetor is no faster than my original. I don't think my new 359 is any faster than my good 163. I have to carry 75-80 pounds to put those 401 heads on. And honestly, I'm not sure they're worth it.

Now, a current Stock Eliminator engine IS a well scienced race piece, I agree completely on that point. Actually, that's part of my point. You can't go BUY a crate motor, put it in, and be competitive. You still have to do exactly the same thing to a crate motor. At least, you do if you want to go fast. And it costs the same. The ONLY advantage to a crate motor, expense or difficulty wise, is not having to search for a few castings.

If you build a new crate motor, and you don't put the trick stuff in it, like race bred pistons, big pushrods, and the rest, it'll be a slug. All of that stuff has nothing at all to do with the argument against crate motors, that's just a matter of racers cheating, and NHRA deciding to allow it rather than police the class. They don't want to tech to prevent it, so they let it in.

NHRA has already proven they're not going to define and police anything. So why add a bunch of new stuff that they're not going to police and define better than what we already have? THAT is the problem with crate engines. They can come up with a new engine, on paper, with parts from a catalog, assign a soft factor to it, and start all over again, any time they want. NHRA will not add crate classes, they don't want more classes. Honestly, the majority racers don't want them either, and the class can't stand it.

For crate engines to get in NHRA, they'd be added into the current classes. We already have bogus paper crate cars, we really don't need any more of them.

I can sympathize with Chipper, having spent his money, and now being invested in something he's going to have a hard time racing. I hate to see it happen, to anyone.