Carburetor scoops do they make a difference?

Dartnut said
So if they don't work and are just for looks, then why do pro stock cars all have them?
I think it's more related to the design than looks.

The design of a scoop is not as effective as everyone believes. One test in an air tunnel on a drag car showed

Better yet, the ram-air of the aero scoop was estimated to give us 24 hp at 250 mph.

Now the drag car they used was roughly 1,000 HP and an increase of 24 HP is only .024%. That's marginal at best.

Granted that running a vehicle for longer periods of time will probably allow the engine to run cooler and thus run more efficiently, but overall horsepower gains from just the scoop are not going to be noticeable.

Full article can be found here

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/body/113_0703_car_aerodynamics/viewall.html