Heads Up Super Stock

A New Way To Race
NHRA & IHRA SS Cars

12/9/03

t's no secret the natives in Super Stock (along with their kin in Stock and Competition Eliminator) are pretty restless. Why so? Simple. They're losing National Events they can compete in. (The new, "Skip The Event So We Have More Room" program from the NHRA). Opportunities for heads-up class racing are reduced too. Now, if you have a SS car, this can spell major pain. Why? To most people these are just cheap sportsman racecars. Whoa. That's a minefield, and unfortunately, plenty of autocrats from the respective sanctioning bodies don't get it either. You see, something as "lowly" as a Super Stock/JA or Super Stock GT/E car can cost the racer a figure that approaches seventy-five large ones. And that's just for the car ready to run - it has nothing to do with spare parts or getting the thing to the track. The vast majority of these cars carry much more sophistication than even second-generation Pro Stock cars (for example, Bill Jenkins' Vega Pro Stocker).

So, what's a body to do, stomp your feet? Whine, complain and snivel? Fashion a wildcat Sportsman Racer strike? Park your car in protest? Forget it. All of the above have been tried before - and the results always proved the same, sufficient racers showed up at National Events. And from the sanctioning body perspective, nothing changed.

On the other hand, NHRA SS racer and bona fide door car chassis guru, Mike Pustelny of MPR in Almont, Michigan took another approach, become pro- active. Mike noted that a very large percentage of SS cars in general fell into the 9-12 pound per factored horsepower range (for example, SS/GA through SS/JA; SSGT/CA through SSGT/HA along with all SSGT trucks). Now, if you're a student of Super Stock, you also observe this is really where the majority of cars that consistently go rounds also exist. In other words, it was a densely populated area of Super Stock.

Pustelny carried a couple of other observations through that made sense (at least to us). What's wrong with using a Super Stock GT engine replacement format for all SS cars? In other words, why can't a 1972 Nova Super Stock car have the same engine options as something like a "more modern" 1980 Monte Carlo GT car? This way if you have a perfectly nice 1972 Nova, and you'd like to use a late model fuel injected small block, you could. Another of Mike's observations went this way; forget the antiquated maximum ballast rules that have been part and parcel of the Rule Book for decades. The reality is, there are plenty of "legal" SS cars out there with considerable ballast tucked away out of sight. If a car has to carry 400 or 500 pounds of weight to make class, what's wrong with that if the weight is properly installed and the car weighs the right amount? By liberalizing the ballast rules, then more cars could physically fit into Mike's overall race format brainchild. Finally, Mike noted that there are a few stick shift cars out there, but they certainly aren't dominant like they used to be. Modern automatic transmission technology has closed the gap to the point where there really isn't one. So, Mike reasoned, why not let the sticks run heads up with the automatics? The only prerequisite is that the sticks be limited to conventional clutch operation and a maximum of four forward speeds.

So far, so good. But now Mike had to find a place to race. Enter Tony DePillo of the NSCA (formerly the NMCA, and before that, the NSCA - another story). It's no secret Tony is a die-hard drag racer who also manages to run a pretty neat sanctioning body - one that exists primarily for heads up door cars. In addition to running his own sanctioning body, DePillo also campaigns a SS/B Mopar, so he also understood the ramifications of the new racing regulations from the left coast. As it turns out, Mike and Tony joined forces. What follows is an overview of their very short and succinct regulations (basically, one takes the NHRA Rule Book, then uses the following "modifications"). A four or perhaps larger race schedule is planned (more later), with all races in the Midwest and East.

What's our take on this arrangement? We think you just might be looking at the future of Super Stock racing. We'll see ya' at the first race in Atlanta.