Some classes become the "country club" of the drag strip LOL Proper shorts and hat needed so to speak..
318 - Best Bracket Engine ..... IMO
- Thread starter 318willrun
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Oldiron440
Big blocks rule small blocks drool!
Back in the early eighties when I switched to Mopars the general train of thought for bracket racing was light car big engine. With a few parts and a little work you can make an easy 550 hp with a 440. That’s piston’s, valves, cam/lifters/springs intake, 850 Holley and 2” headers. You would spend some time working on the ports and oil pump but you could get it all done for about 2500 in the eighties. Basically a stock motor with a few good parts capable of 500 to 600 hp.
I had a friend that ran one in a 4100 lbs 1964 Chrysler K running high 10s low 11s for fifteen years before it expired and he ran it a lot, sometimes two or three times in a weekend.
But at 550 hp could be done with pump gas in an Abody and then run easy 10s very reliable with the only parts breakage being in the drivetrain.
I know the cost of the 440 core has gone up over the years but they are still out there and if you’re going to play with the stroke there are plenty of 400s for less.
I guess my point is that you always want to go faster and a 10 flat ride is always better than a 12 second ride. Build a car that 60 foots well run them down and then play with them at the lights. If you use all the power just to make the pass you don’t have as much to work with.
I had a friend that ran one in a 4100 lbs 1964 Chrysler K running high 10s low 11s for fifteen years before it expired and he ran it a lot, sometimes two or three times in a weekend.
But at 550 hp could be done with pump gas in an Abody and then run easy 10s very reliable with the only parts breakage being in the drivetrain.
I know the cost of the 440 core has gone up over the years but they are still out there and if you’re going to play with the stroke there are plenty of 400s for less.
I guess my point is that you always want to go faster and a 10 flat ride is always better than a 12 second ride. Build a car that 60 foots well run them down and then play with them at the lights. If you use all the power just to make the pass you don’t have as much to work with.
I've been waiting for this analogy.
Sure better than looking in the rear view mirror.
Like I said, most would rather chase than be chased. But in the end, it makes no difference if you cut the tree down and run your number.
B3422w5
Well-Known Member
Street/ sportsmen class at my track run 1/4 mile. Must be 11.60 and slower.
Some of the Mopar events I race at are 1/4 mile, but most all bracket racing these days has become 1/8 mile most anywhere.
Not sure what your car count is where you are, but we commonly have 250 cars on bracket days in the 4 classes. Top, mod, sportsman and juniors.
That's healthy run in the Chrysler
Does your track pull from Detroit area?
B3422w5
Well-Known Member
That was, is and will always be the train of thought. Bracket cars are generally light, gutted to save weight and run lots of cubes to help longetivity and speed , cost effectiveness.
Sometime though, you get knuckle heads like me that like my cars to look stock, don’t care much about weight, and insist on a smallblock
VAD Gold Rush
Well-Known Member
I'm building my 1971 Plymouth Satellite Sebring into a light street strip car using a 318 and an A833. I love the 318.
'71's are great looking cars! I like the 4 speed!
33IMP
Well-Known Member
LOL!
One of the deadliest racers at the OLD Irwindale Raceway was a guy nicknamed Wally Rambler.
Rambler American, stock six, half drunk almost all the time, a 21 second lap for him was a good one.
He won more than his share of Saturday races. (Still remembered forty years later, he was doing something right!)
33IMP
Well-Known Member
When Pomona first ran "street legal" drags, (a couple decades ago!) they started out at 1/8 mile, they were afraid the average street car driver couldn't handle a full quarter.
They got so many complaints, they started running full 1/4 mile.
NOW? I'd be happy to run any amount of track.
(Nearest 1/8th is 120 miles, nearest quarter I CAN use is 180 from my Cali home. Boy, do I miss Irwindale!)
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Oldiron440
Big blocks rule small blocks drool!
You’re missing half the ways to win the race!
Back in 91 I won an 1/8 mile race by running the same number seven times in a row and it wasn’t because the car did it. The race started in the afternoon and ended around one in the morning.
Remember we’re talking bracket racing here so if I did draw a faster car then I had a switch for the brake lights on the dash, the car was usually a couple tenths faster than my dial in.
Another advantage is having the slowest car in the class and let some of them guys sit for 3 to 4 seconds thinking about it.... lol. That messes with tree timing a bit. My last outing was Octoberfest, and I won trophy. Final was my 14.00 dial against his 10.79 dial. I cut a .014 and he cut a .08. Guess who got the win..
That guy was double dipping in classes and got some cash from that final right before his next "final" against me.
Me, I'm there to test n tune. I would rather break out and be out and run a PB in the project I happen to be in. Trust me, I've had the race locked and stayed in it because I felt the best ET was there.
Sorry to hear that, that's crap.
I'm lucky for now the track is 29 minutes away.
I'll be a knucklehead myself too. I want my car to look factory. However just the paint job and a bumble bee stripe. The big direct connection pro stock scoop won't be stock but period correct.That was, is and will always be the train of thought. Bracket cars are generally light, gutted to save weight and run lots of cubes to help longetivity and speed , cost effectiveness.
Sometime though, you get knuckle heads like me that like my cars to look stock, don’t care much about weight, and insist on a smallblock
B3422w5
Well-Known Member
No. Those guys usually( not always) race at Milan. But depending on the event, some come over when we have higher paying special weekends
We get Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, the lakeshore, Indiana border, etc.
And some guys race at mid Michigan and come down when there are other things going on there, and vice versa
In no box/ modified, the class I run in, we typically have 70 to 90 cars, usually an 8 round race with buybacks
Yeah, there are 3 tracks surrounding me that are 1 hr to 1.5 hrs away. Cordova, Byron, and Earlville. Many racers will go to all 3 depending on what's going on.
I assume you mean a 318 short block? Stock short block to me would be all factory components (pistons, rods, crank, block). It would have to be really, really, reeeally light to go 10's easy with just heads, solid cam, and 4bbl. I assume we are talk'n without power adders (NOS/Boost)
9secRR
Well-Known Member
i do. i don't play the game, i trust my car.
My old machinist had essentially a stock low comp 318 in a light car with a solid cam that would run 11.00's with an airgap so they replaced that with a performer not the RPM manifold to slow it down so as not to break out of the 11's bracket. NA
Well... I'd have to have a lot more details than this ^^ for me to call it a "stock short block" with an air gap. And how light is light? Was this a rail? Slingshot?
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I think the car was either 2300 or 2600 pounds with a 904 and maybe a 9 inch. Stock bottom end down to the rod bolts low comp 8 to 1 stock cast pistons. Heads from memory were 318s with 1.84 valves. 1 3/4 inch pipes cam was a slid 256 @ 50 490 lift on a 108.
From memory it was running 120 mph
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