I just came back from a road trip ( me and Hot Rod Ron picked up a car for an other buddy of mine )and all those hours on the highway gave me to much time to think. So here is my question : If a guy would build a Topolino with a French Flathead, could he run it at the import Drags??
Good question! Can you run a Honda that was designed in California and built in Ohio at the import drags? And if you can, can you run a Dodge at the import drags? I'd be just as curious to hear the real answer! What is the Import drags? Is that a particular event or are you talking about drags in general where the cars are mostly of the "rice" variety? (My Japanese-American next door neighbor has a T shirt that says GOT RICE? I'll ask him tomorrow...)
The DSMs (Diamond Star Motors cars, Mitsubishi = 3 DIAMONDS and Chrysler's Penta-STAR or Talons Eclipses and Lasers) were all made in Illinois or Indiana, not sure which. ALL of them, whether they said Mitsu, Eagle, or Plymouth, at least the ones on this side of the Pacific were. I think they used a completely different car in Japan. They compete in "Import events." Most of the import events started calling them Sport Compact for just this reason. Firebird here in PHX has some night every week where it is Sport Compacts Only. I've heard it is more of a show n' shine than racing. So, I guess the Topolino would have no problem competing in a Sport Compact Event, they might make you prove the "sport" part, but my guess is, Metalshapes would have that part taken care of.
Pretty thoughtful question 'o yours, actually. They have import racing here locally at the Samoa Drags... Makes me wonder if a '70s MGB like my dad once had would count as sport compact.
I don't know anything about this, but in the latest issue of the German "Chrome & Flames", there's a feature of a Dodge Neon drag car based on the Dodge Neon SRT-4 that's running in the sport compact class in the states. The article says that it was built according to the NHRA's "Hot Rod"- and the NDRA's "Pro-4-Cylinder"-rules. It's the class with front wheel drive, so the fat tires are in the front, and the narrow wheels in the back, which looks butt ugly in my opinion, but they are quite fast. That dodge neon has a 156ci with 925hp (with a little NOSSSSSSSSSS ) based on the standard 148.2ci 205hp engine and runs 8.53 seconds @166.38mph on the quartermile. But if I look at that car, I don't understand why it's called a hot rod, even a complete billet rod looks more like a hot rod than a neon does. NHRA, where are you going... So if you want to waste a fine topolino to build such a front wheel drive car...
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