Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Race

[Rowdy Rat]

I guess I'm with Rob on the Nova issue. I have no doubt about the Harrell COPO cars, but just beacause a Nova is an L-78/M-40 car doesn't mean it is an L-89 car too. Regardless, I'm not making the rules or running the event (probably a good thing - they seem to be doing very well without my input!), so that is obviously their decision to make. Still, I'd like to know what information they used to make this determination.

As far as the tire sizes on the 1966 - 1969 Corvettes, I'm pretty certain that the 66-67 cars used a 7.75 x 15 tire on a 6" wide wheel which, as Joe mentioned, is really narrow. All of the 68-69 cars used an F70 x 15 tire on 7" wheels in 1968 and 8" wheels in 1969.

A 1969 ZL-1/late L-88 would be an interesting combination. Corvettes of that era weren't exactly light, but the weight distribution was quite good even with the big block. The exhaust manifolds are a much better design than the Camaro/Nova style, but they still don't work very well with that camshaft. Exhaust pipes on all 69 Corvettes were 2" (!), but I think the rules allow 2.5" regardless of what was installed originally. What do the rules allow as far as rear axle ratio? If you have to stick with available ratios, that pretty much rules out a ZL-1/M-40 combination (or late L-88/L-89/L-71 for that matter) because the lowest (highest numerical) gearset you could get with the automatic was a 3.36 while the ZL-1/L-88 four speed cars were available with a 4.56. Still, that ZL-1/M-22 car would be a nice combination!

I guess I have to side with Rob on this issue too. I'd rather see a real car out there running than a "tibute car" no matter how close it is to the real thing so maybe building a car just to win the event isn't the best idea.

Regards,

Stan