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Why is NHRA Pro Stock an all-Camaro class?


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Hi again, 14 out of 16 qualifiers were Camaros. There was a Mustang and a Dart also.

I think it has to do with aerodynamics and they run a GM 500 engine.

That seems to be the combo of choice now.

I remember the old days of Pro Stock with Fords,Chevys and Dodges battling it out.

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I believe the issue is engine development. A lot of the teams buy yheir motors rather than have their own in house development. NHRA had mountain motor prostocks at some of the races and those seemed to be chevys, fords, and dodges. NHRA has even lifted the engine requirement so you could run a chevy engine in a ford or dodge. What a joke.

Pro stock used to be cool when they were closer to what you could get from a dealer. They in essence are just slower funny cars that run a lot slower.

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NHRA Pro Stock is a dying class and the Factory Stock and Factory Super Stock classes with modern cars are growing rapidly...I wonder why...:rolleyes: :rolleyes:
With the rule package they have now the Pro Stock class gets less and less interest both from the public and the teams, they use bodys that doesn't by far resemble the car they are supposed to be, you can use what engine manufacturer you want in any of the car bodys allowed as long as it follow the engine rules for Pro Stock, so it doesn't have to follow brand, it's very expensive and they have even cut down the race schedule from 24 to 18 for the Pro Stock class....so in my opinion this class is slowly dying if they continue on without doing anything.
Going to Mountain Motor Pro Stock with engines close to or over 1000 cui is not the way to save the class either as I see it as it's at least as expensive as the regular 500 cui Pro Stock class, no they have to get more drastic than that.
Go back more to the basics like the Pro Stock class was from the beginning in the early 70's when the cars were Super Stock cars with looser rules, so I think they should start with a clean sheet and do an all new Pro Stock class based on the Factory Super Stocks they race today where you can have a bit more freedom by the rules than in the FSS cars, the cars will look more like the showroom cars at the dealers and maybe then you can get the manufacturers interest back to the class, because Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge are all over the Factory Stock and Factory Super Stock classes allready...and the cars look like cars you can buy but with 15 inch wheels...get the hint. ;)
(I even like the look of a newer Camaro, Mustang or Challenger with 15 inch racing wheels a lot better than what they come with from the factory) :)
Give up on the 500 cui rule as big block engines not has been available in any cars for a looong time and go to something more like what's in the performance cars today...maybe 358 or 427 cui or something like that could be the limit, and base the racing engines on regular production engines opposed to what they use today wich is all aftermarket.
Because what we have now has gone too far for it to be interesting.

Why there are 426 based Hemi's in Chevy,  Ford and Toyota Funny Cars...well they have to use them as nothing else is allowed by the rules.
According to the NHRA rules you can't use engines with other specifications than the Mopar Generation 2 (426) Hemi with 500 cui max displacement and it's a long time since you could use any engine you wanted, so 392 based Hemi's, Chevy Big Block, Ford 429, McGee and other engines are not allowed in the Nitro classes anymore.
So all manufacturers like BAE, AJPE, DART, TFX has to make the engine blocks and cylinder heads to the same specs, John Force Racing developed their own engine ans called it Boss 500 when he was sponsored by Ford, this engine is also based on the 426 by the rules and it also looks like one...there are just small internal differences in the JFR 500 engine.

Edited by Force
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I haven't watched drag racing on a while, didn't realized Pro Stock had gone so far down hill! Does make sense, it some extent, when you can buy production bodied COPO Camaro, CJ Mustang, and Drag Pack Challenger straight from Detroit and race, let alone get variations of those cars in street trim that need little work (compared to decades past) to make monsters out of them.

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1 hour ago, OldTrucker said:

I stopped paying attention to drag racing long ago.

Top Fuel when they went rear engine and the rest when they started no longer resembling anything I ever have seen on the street.

About the only thing I will cross a street for now is nostalgia racing!

Same  here. 

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4 hours ago, OldTrucker said:

I stopped paying attention to drag racing long ago.

Top Fuel when they went rear engine and the rest when they started no longer resembling anything I ever have seen on the street.

About the only thing I will cross a street for now is nostalgia racing!

This is why I've become a big fan of the Street Outlaw/No Prep series on TV. A wide variety of cars, all of which are readily identifiable, wide range of engine setups, and all heads-up. It reminds me of the mid-'60s funny car scene or the pre-Pro Stock match racers. 

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Pro stock is basically a naturally aspirated Manuel transition pro mod with more restrictive rules in my opinion Pro stock should be a production body with a tube chassis Like on the pro stock now I agree with snake45 about no prep because of the diversity but also I think it requires more skill to tune your car to the surface Rather than just pour all the money into the highest performance parts and know that your car will go down the track

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8 hours ago, drag racer 15 said:

I agree with snake45 about no prep because of the diversity but also I think it requires more skill to tune your car to the surface Rather than just pour all the money into the highest performance parts and know that your car will go down the track

From what I can tell, all of the participants can easily make as much power needed to cope with any track/street conditions they encounter. The skill seems to be in "reading" the track surface/traction and tuning the engine accordingly to apply just enough power to achieve maximum traction. 

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Yes that’s what I meant all these car are 2500-3000 horsepower capable but they don’t use all of there Power at no prep races  but at prepped nhra races the track is sprayed with adhesive so you don’t have to take power out it’s more who has the most money to buy the best parts rather than reading the surface and taking power out like in no prep

1 hour ago, Snake45 said:

From what I can tell, all of the participants can easily make as much power needed to cope with any track/street conditions they encounter. The skill seems to be in "reading" the track surface/traction and tuning the engine accordingly to apply just enough power to achieve maximum traction. 

 

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A major problem the Dodge teams had was the new rules put a cap on rpm.  They used the Chevy motor max power rpm as the standard which put a hurt on the hemi motor.  The dodge teams advantage was the engine makes more hp at higher revs. The cost to develop a hole new engine was out of the question for so few cars and no other class running these motors. Also from what I heard the new fuel injection systems was tested with KB racing and around the Chevy engine, and these are sealed systems so all cars run the same one.  This  is why KB won every race at first when the new rules came out. 

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My two cents......

I think it was last year when Chevy complained to NHRA about how much trouble they were having compared to the Dodge Darts that were running at the top.....so....just Like in the 70's, NHRA took weight off the Chevy and Ford and added them to the Mopar teams to "make things even"!!!!  So now you have an ALL CHEVY show......yippee......Now GM can stand proud and say how bad azz their pro stock cars are by dominating the field? Does this sound like NASCAR in any way......hmmmm…..?????

Again…...my two cents......as history has proven time and time again......if you whine and complain enough.....you are the number one team!!!

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A lot of the top teams were asking NHRA to go back to more of a factory production car like they used before Bill built his V8 Vega.  But NHRA was not listening to them and this is what we ended up with.  The cost of running these cars is way to high and unless they have major factory support you will never be able to compete. So NHRA now says you can run any brand body with any brand engine so they can say "see we have Ford and Dodge cars running" I know one private team that bought a Dart has run a couple races with a Chevy engine, I'm not sure if the Elite Mustang is a Ford or Chevy engine.  I know this sounds light sour grapes but NHRA has never been a fan of Mopar, just look what they have done to them for 50 years. My opinion anyway.

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I believe the engine in the Elite "Mustang" is the same GM 500 as in Jeg's and Erica's cars, the Ford and Mopar engines haven't been competitive since they introduced the fuel injection and rev limiter.
I write "Mustang" because it doesn't look even close to a street driven Mustang.
And why they took away the scoop when they introduced the FI system I don't understand...a hood scoop make the car look racier and many street cars have added scoops so the car would look more like a race car...the lack of hood scoop doesn't make the car look any more like the street car when all proportions of the body are wrong...strange decision by NHRA.

Edited by Force
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