I’m not saying that either one is better than the other because it all depends on the racer that owns the car and what he or she is into. I have had a BLAST running in Stock Eliminator, I have learned a lot about how to make cars fast, and I have hated running in Stock Eliminator. The same goes for Bracket racing. But, alas, the time has come to get out of Stock Eliminator for good. It’s just not worth the effort anymore. There are so many STUPID rules now and some of the rules that have been around for years don’t get enforced.
The IHRA is a freak show that has been taken over by corporate bean counters, and I have had enough. The IHRA used to be the Sportsman racers’ friend and safe haven from the evil empire of the NHRA, but now it appears they may be equal to or actually worse. The IHRA has taken the prize in my area, which is the now former Div.5 -- again.
Now don’t think that I’m smart enough to get out of Class racing completely; just out of Stock. The forthcoming new DRO project will be run in Super Stock. This class allows much more modifications and doesn’t seem to get as snarled up in the never-ending battle of the old timer purists that want the “good ol’ days” back again versus the more modern thinking “whippersnappers” like me that would prefer to have some fun. Sooooo, here is what I’m gonna do.
I am going to go more “mainstream” in the development and continual evolution of Muscrate. Considering I am working on my future Super Stock ride and considering that the IHRA is no more in this area of the country, I have nowhere to race my “Crate Motor” Stocker. Time to get back to my roots and build what ever the hell I want to build and try to have some fun! I’m going Bracket racing! And, I’m going to run as many of the Open Comp-style races that I can. There will be lots of tech articles available because I will no longer be harnessed by the rules, other than safety of course.
In the upcoming series of articles I will be building a 347-cube stroker and as part of the engine build I will go more in depth than in the past because I wont have any “secrets” to
hide as it pertained to Stock rules. I’m not referring to cheating by the way, just “speed secrets” that Class racers keep to themselves. I am planning on using Racing Head Service (RHS) cylinder heads, a Barry Grant race Demon RS carb, camshaft and valve train by Comp Cams, and a host of other quality component suppliers. I will for the first time show and explain the inner workings of a machine shop. What exactly happens when you drop off your parts to a shop to get the block bored and honed, decked, rotating assembly balanced, etc? That is what I do for a living at my shop, Roeder Performance Machine. And I will conduct some cylinder head flow testing on the RHS heads attempting to de-mystify some of the gray areas of porting and polishing. I hope you find it informative and useful.
As for the rest of the car I want to change out the stock-type Moroso and Competition Engineering rear coil springs and 3-way shocks for a fully adjustable racing coil-over setup. I will NOT, however, be doing any cutting up of the car. I will still use the 30 x 9ish size slicks and tailor the engine and drive train to make use of the relatively small tires and still be deadly consistent. I will finally be able to use a transmission brake and show how to rebuild a C-4 transmission. Many more things will pop up along the way as they have been known to do and I will deal with it as always. Cry, complain, accept, and move forward!
What do I expect to get personally from all of this newfound freedom? I will run low tens verging on the nines, be deadly consistent, win lots of races, be a three-time track champion and, of course, do BIG wheelies! That’s the plan anyway! For you the loyal readers I hope to demonstrate what can be done on a modest budget to build a killer small tire bracket car that doesn’t require a second mortgage on the house and amounts to loads of fun to drive. It can be built, we have the technology! Stay tuned, hard core tech will follow next month starting with my favorite subject, horsepower!
As always, remember, when in doubt…DO A WHEELIE!
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