Pro Stock. The good old days

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pittsburghracer

pittsburghracer

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I can hardly stomach pro stock anymore. I usually fast forward to the final.

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Technology take the fun out of it, that's just my thoughts on pro stock..
Also why street outlaws is ok to watch..but I lose interest quick and fast forward a lot.
 
I just ran across my Mopar Action Feb. 91. Covers the Wayne County Daytona. Very interesting read on the engine combo used. Real close to actual big block Mopar.
 
The Avengers were about the last of the cars that looked like the real car. Well, each manufacturer's car that is.
 
There was a lot going on then. The Daytona body was pretty much garbage. After 150 MPH they generate lift so that had more wickerbill than other body styles.

Wayne County was the LAST team to switch to the 5 speed.

At Seattle I asked them why they hadn’t made the change yet because they were getting their asses handed to them.

And the crew chief (whose name I can’t think of right now) said “we make more torque lower than the other brands so we don’t need a 5th gear”.

Needless to say, I told him that was the dumbest thing I’d heard.

When Alderman had his scuff up with NHRA (which was one chickenshit deal) and they had the one car.

They put Geoffrion in that car and he didn’t fit it well. He was getting gate job’d to death. The team blamed him for being slow and he called bullshit.

Finally it came to a head. They took the car to the track with a switch set up on the clutch pedal the so they could track when he let his foot off the clutch and they had a light set up on the car like the staging lights.

So they could measure the drivers reaction time and the cars reaction time separately.

When it was all said and done, he was way quicker than that junk car/clutch. He was vindicated.

Some guys don’t realize the reaction time you get on your time slip is based on drivers reaction time and vehicle reaction time.

Some cars are slow to react and it makes the driver look bad.
 
I remember when the Wayne County shop was vandalized. I don't think they ever found out who did that and some people speculated it was an inside job. I know that pretty much did them in.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I remember when the Wayne County shop was vandalized. I don't think they ever found out who did that and some people speculated it was an inside job. I know that pretty much did them in.
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pretty funny that the cars never ran the same after that break in wasn't it?
 
abodyjoe said:
pretty funny that the cars never ran the same after that break in wasn't it?
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Yeah it put a dent in them for sure. Was the nitrous thing ever substantiated? I know they got accused a good bit.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I remember when the Wayne County shop was vandalized. I don't think they ever found out who did that and some people speculated it was an inside job. I know that pretty much did them in.
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I remember that , x block was beat on with a sledgehammer i believe, and parts.. its faint but I remember
 
I found this. A nitrous tank exploded on Eckman's car that ws right next to the Dodge Boys. Maybe that's how they kinda got caught up in it, but it doesn't say anywhere they were involved.

www.caranddriver.com

Blowup

A nitrous oxide explosion and a hefty fine blows up the career of NHRA Pro Stock racer Jerry Eckman.
www.caranddriver.com www.caranddriver.com
 
if i remember the doge boys over those years had a lot of backfires that people said could only be caused by nitrious.

 
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I actually remember seeing some of those backfires. I don't think it was ever proven, but you know that bout had to be what it was.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I actually remember seeing some of those backfires. I don't think it was ever proven, but you know that bout had to be what it was.
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the claim is that they were caught but it was not officially released because of the dodge sponsorship which was the reason for the break in. unofficial suspension. kind of like when in basketball the rumors are when jordan retired the first time and went to play baseball it was because he got caught gambling and it would have been too big of an embarrassment to the nba to let that out so they made him "retire" for a year.
 
I remember reading that the alleged nitrous system was in the oil pan or the oil pan rail or something like that . I also think i read that the engine was based on the low deck and B1 Heads .
 
abodyjoe said:
the claim is that they were caught but it was not officially released because of the dodge sponsorship which was the reason for the break in. unofficial suspension. kind of like when in basketball the rumors are when jordan retired the first time and went to play baseball it was because he got caught gambling and it would have been too big of an embarrassment to the nba to let that out so they made him "retire" for a year.
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Sounds about right.
 
I'd like to think they didn't cheat. Idk. Lot of development going on then. GM's DRCE was and still is THE platform. NHRA, as per usual, wasn't going to let GM look like clowns for too long getting beat by Mopar. Regardless of sponsorship. The Mopars even ran an identical GM based engine, but, still didn't run as well. I think with Pro Stock, with drag racing in general, the hey day was in the beginning. When it was line up and run. "Before the dark times. Before the Empire." .......
 
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