It’s kind of what Arron says. Most low 13/12 second cars are standard displacement sized and built with Hyd cams and mid compression ratios for easy pump gas use and near zero maintenance. They mimic what was done in the 80’s & 90’s when many of the board were just out of or in high school. That was pretty bad *** back then for a teenager to have.
The engines & cars required very little to keep going and when track time came around, they were not so high strung as to not be able to drive to the track and back. An occasional light to light run was done or where I grew up, the back alleys of industrial parks or very late night Hwy runs. A quick hit if and quit it, get the hell out of there deal.
I myself have a 4spd manual that was my double duty car for a long time. I wasn’t to keen on it when the cam duration was in the upper 240’s or low 250’s in the car.
The biggest limiting factor was the final drive of 1:1. It just wasn’t that great with a 50 mile round trip into work where at least half of that was stop and go bumper to bumper traffic for an 1-1/2 hours.
For that, I ended up swapping out the double duty ‘Cuda for my ‘79 Magnum with A/C, bolt on performance parts and a mild Hyd cam. While not exactly exciting… LOL, it did have good Hwy and mileage manor’s with good passing abilities.
In the end, it’s really what gets the job done for the person behind the wheel and what there living around.
