From a PERFORMANCE standpoint they're garbage..go to the track and try to find one guy who seriously races using a thermo-bog lucky if you can(unless they're running a certain class specified)..and i can tune carb/engine just fine..
So you fall into the HOLLEY=PERFORMANCE category, I take it?
I have no argument against the whole Holley issue. They are a great, user-friendly, easy to tune carb that, if tuned correctly, you can squeeze a whole lotta ponies out of. I love my double pumper.
That being said, I think the reason nobody "seriously races using a Thermo(quad)" is because those people don't understand, are afraid of, or are too lazy to learn the attributes of the TQ.
I'm sure you can tune a carb/engine and I have no doubt you can probably tune a Holley better than a TQ. They are tuner/user-friendly. What I take exception to is writing off the TQ as a "piece of junk". It's not. Ask anyone who has learned how to tune one.
Were the ones you dealt with in the past the early performance models/CS series, or the later (post-'75) 'emissions carbs'? There is a difference.