We stick around for the Saturday night events. Up until three year's ago they used to have the bracket finals for their season before heading off to the Bracket Finals in Indy. 400-500 cars running all Saturday night. But, Indy moved up their date so the last two years at Mid-Michigan have just been a Saturday night Test-n-Tune with nothing but local ricers and snowmobiles running. I don't see the track being adverse to losing the TnT crowd as long as the PSMCDR picks up the difference in the gate $$ receipts. But I think the 3-ish ending time for the race is nice from the spectator stand point, as well as the guys who have more than a couple hours drive home.
:rant: Frickin' front-wheel drive ricers!!! :rant: Well at least it's got only two doors. That's gotta help the cause. And you can always point out the steering wheel designed to look like an airplane yoke -- obviously a high-performance feature. Then there's that SAE paper someone posted on ROP several months ago showing how the low-rise Toronado intake manifold actually flows better than those used on the 442s. And the GT used the same camshaft as the W-30 automatic.
Good discussion girls,:gp: kind of boils down to what you consider a musclecar doesn't it? ou: I, personally have no problem with more '50's cars, obviously. I would love to see the Fury, A Dodge D500, or any other Chrysler supercar. A '56 dual quad Pontiac, Tri-power '57 or 58 pancho, a J-2. Those cars were legit efforts at being "King of the Hill" or Count of the block. They, of course, will not be as strong (except Richards) as the later 60's cars, but the later stuff wouldn't have happened without customer interest in these 50's cars. Dave is kind of right in that the '50 Olds was a harbinger of things to come, we always were in awe of them until the late '50's cars got even faster. Some of the Olds's held records in the stocker classes 20-30 years after they were built. The early Chrysler Hemi's, (pre 300) were not to messed with either. Dan and Bob have established a formula that works. We can argue specific models with them, but you can't argue with the success of the event. To paraphrase Bush 1, it's the people Stupid (that make the thing work.):laugh: Here's a thought, if this event is good enough for an eight time NHRA Nationals class winner to attend, must be something right about it. Where else would you see A Merc Marauder, A W31 Olds, an R2 Studebaker, a Boss 302, an LS6, L88, ZL1 etc. Even Remlinger's Dart get the living Cr... run out of it? Enjoy it whle it lasts, before the speculators make the cars too valuable to start, let alone race. Ever notice how many of the cars at Barret-Jackson need to pushed on to the block? Can't have dirt in the tailpipes, or oil on ground. Are we next?:dollar: :dollar:
Sat morning a car broke and it took a while to get it off the track, not the fault of the track guys.......
One way to consider if a car is eligible, is to consider the car without a driveline. If the rolling carcass makes you think something like "Muscle Car" then it could have one of the lower level 4V dual exhaust options and be eligible. If the rolling carcass makes you think "Family Sedan" or some such thing, then it would need one of the performance engine options. Thankfully when folks see the '58 they think "Muscle Car" :laugh: :laugh: Disclaimer: This of course is a general statement so don't come back with something really obscure like a Country Squire with buckets four speed and a 330hp engine. Wagons and four doors aren't allowed anyway. :laugh:
Not allowed, but a car like that would be COOL! In the most recent HMM there was a neat article about a Country Squire Ranchero with the 428CJ. Now, that is a TRUCK with STATION WAGON wood paneling. But that would be allowed to run in PSMCDR. Don Garlits owns a red 1966 Dodge 4-door Hemi Coronet 4 speed that the original owner ordered to pull a camper. I believe it is a 1 of 3. Now THAT would be cool too. Maybe we need an exhibition area (like the Studebaker guys do) for unusual cars that SHOULD have been a musclecar? And then we need an area for cars that WISH they were musclecars like my GTS and Buick GS350's (sorry Darren LOL!), and any fiberglass bodied SPORTSCARS.:moonu:
Much as it pains me to admit it, Chevy installed the 390 hp 427's in wagons and some later ones were 454's. Pretty good class cars and Awesome tow cars. I'm not sure I'd want to use one everyday @ $3.00 a gallon, but, would be fun to run overa few "Rice Burners" on the street with one.
Yea......like the 390 330hp wagons. One was for sale at the Mi. state fair grounds years ago. Buckets, console, four speed, 390 solid lifter 330hp. For the guy who wasn't ready to give it all up for a family truckster .:laugh: :laugh:
I would of liked to see more racing Saturday. I know we run a best 2/3 but to get another run in would of been nice. A suggestion for next year would be if you lose your first 2 that the 3rd run could still be run. Neil and I had a great race but it was done in the first 2 rounds. I think the fans would enjoy seeing more racing as well. I only made 3 passes Saturday. Too much time to drink beer I guess!:beer Jim
Sorry to hijack, but... Chevy also put the L72 (427/425hp) in the wagons...one that ran udner the Dick Harrell banner was just sold @ Mecum last weekend. It's funny you mention the 390 wagon, Brian...my grandfather, who started our firm back in 1948, was also the county ambulance, so he not only enjoyed a fast vehicle, his job demanded it. Anyway, in 1967 or so he walked into the old F@rd dealership across the street to order a 427 or 428 wagon (sorry, don't know my FoMoCos) with an automatic...they said 4-speed only. Well, being the sole ambulance driver/operator, half the time while he was flying to the hospital he was tending to a patient while driving at the same time, so an automatic was a must...so he ended up with a 390 Country Squire. Still ran like stink, but up until the day he passed a couple years ago, he was still sore at FoMoCo for not letting him get that "big engine in that wagon"!!!!
To further the Chevrolet hijack, here's the auction for the "Lead Sled" Note the power tailgate window ... all the weight they could over the rear wheels....
lets throw a curve, how about a pontiac hijack http://www.mecumauction.com/auctions/lot_detail.cfm?LOT_ID=CH1007-53706 Dave, Luke told me he detailed this car a few weeks ago. I think he told me the reserve was set at $185K
The weather on Friday morning seemed to throw the schedule off along with a larger car count. Running an extra time run on Saturday morning would have been great, it seems like you can throw your first one away because of tire spin. The race would still have been finished before 6pm. If I had an Impala with a 454 or a similar car that I considered a muscle car, show up at the race and am told it isn't eligible because it isn't a muscle car, I'd be pretty chapped.
Seems I bought an original Big Block 1967 Caprice loaded, buckets Console 396 12 bolt 3.73 Posi factory Duals Turbo 400 Auto.. Car is almost ready for paint was planning on running it too at the Fall race possibly, but I guess it is not welcome unless I stuff a 427 and 4speed in it huh.. Funny thing is I believe I saw a 66 Caprice with a 396 at one of the Factory Stock races It was Bronze with a white Vinal top.. Guess I am chapped Paul
I really didn't give it much thought at what could run.Just figured it being a 273 4bbl. car would work.I have only been to two events so I just thought this new project would be alright to run.I guess now I have to decide if I'm going to keep it stock or throw something a little bigger in it. Ty
I thought the 273" 275 Horsepower D-Darts were built for drag racing?? http://www.autohobbydigest.com/ddart.html :3gears: http://www.foundationpc.com/press/press66e.html :3gears:
The D-Stock Darts were built only for 1966. They only built about 50 of them. I think they ran low 14's in D stock trim. They are a almost mythical car in Mopar lore. Even on the Mopar boards, when the D Dart question comes up, everybody has "seen" one, but yet nobody has a photo of one. There was ONE amgazine article about 20 years ago that chronicled the D-Dart with a couple of grainy photos from 1966. Supposedly they were all white with a red interior. Racer Brown did the cam work for that one year version of the 273/275. The normal 273-4bbl Hp rating was 235. Ty's 1967 273-4 Dart follows the criteria in the PSMCDR rules except for one step. The "dual exhaust" from the factory. The 273 Darts/Barracudas had a large 2 into 1 system that ended in a LARGE single flow thru resonator with a 3" square polished tip poking thru the rear valance. The gas tank placement on the 64-67 A-body Mopars would not allow for a true dual exhaust set-up. Getting a custom dual set-up can be done, but with a series of wierd-o bends and pipes running outside the frame rails further limiting a already tiny wheel well. This could be interesting development for the 273/235 A-body Mopar. My brother owns a 1965 273/235 and Dave H's brother just picked up a 1965 Formula S 273/235 Barracuda as well. They will both be watching the decision on Ty's 273 Dart very closely as both wish to enter their cars in the PSMCDR.
With all the chatter about what's legal to run and not in Pure Stock, wonder if we could run that 65 Barracuda right now as is? Rick could join the 3 on the tree club and be the first inline six running there! I think a 6 cylinder Barracuda (or any small Mopar) is about as rare as a 307 Camaro, or a 302 Mustang. You never see one of them any more. Frank, that story on the mythical car that everybody's seen one, but there are no photos of one (vampire syndrome?) sometimes happens when an overanxious writer gets wind of something behind the scenes that's being talked about and puts it into print. That kinda sounds like CBS today. Oldsmobile used to feed things like that to the press to get everybody excited, but none were ever built that way. Early press releases or auto show chatter often did not pan out when it came time to build them in production. One such example was an article on 68 Cutlass 4 door police cars with the 400 (442) engine. I purchased a copy of that article recently just to read it. Total B.S. even though an engineering prototype was built. It was a cop car B01/B07 option. We built a lot of hotrod cop cars and gave them to the Lansing city police, Ingham County Sheriff, and Michigan State Police. They were one of a kind cars built in the engineering garage as a test bed for whatever. I'd love to have one of those 66 Cutlass 4 doors with a tripower 400 in it or the later 68-70 Delta 88 4 doors with very hot W30 (and a little more) packages in it. Even saw one with Weber carbs on it. Now that would be a great addition to PSMCDR. Put one behind some of us older ex-street racers to chase us with the lights and sirens blaring, and I'll bet we'd run times and speeds we couldn't any other way. It's just a natural instinct from back then. Spectators would love it! Course trying to make the turn arounds flat out may be a little tough.
