Ok, before I as the question I knkw a bit about drag racing a hot rodding history but can' remember all the rules of the day. I have a chance to get a repo 1962 vette body on some trade and boot. And am thinking of building a modified production car out of it to run. And need to knkw if tunnel rams were allowed. Thanks in advance.
I think it got out of hand pretty quick but believe the original concept was to give the guys with a late model car with a cam, headers and intake swap a class to run in and not have to race against purpose built gas class cars. That said, it was bad enough to have to run my G stock 69 Cutlass S against a purpose built 62 Chevy wagon with a 409 and 4 speed in it that had a series of national record holder stickers on the back windows. We were running off his 12.79 Record and my Olds could run a 14.25 at Little River.
Thxs for the answers. And yea i remember reading that in the 67 rule book awhile back. "This class was made to fill the gap between the stockers and the gas classes." Or something of that nature. Would like to build a 409 one day.
There were three main factors between MP and Gas class, induction was limited to carburetion, and no engine set back or straight axles. The allowed set back was 10% in a gasser.
Good to hear you are contemplating building a modified production example from the days gone by. On the Modified Production thread we had a discussion in that regards and with all of the attention paid to "gassers" it is refreshing to see someone go in another direction that I believe can be equally good. I spent a good deal of time at dragstrips in the mid to late 60s to early 70s and MP cars were certainly some of my favorites-especially the early Corvettes-I got hooked on them. If I could make a suggestion to go along with some of the other posters who have posted is pick a year and try to replicate it as per the rule book. Some of the builds I see seem to pick an era and add items from different eras (or years). My avatar car (also a 62) ran in a number of classes including MP and I bought the remains of a 60 Vette that ran in gas and MP-they were both very different animals as one raced in the 60s and early 70s and the other ran up until very recently down in Alabama. The thing to keep in mind is to not raise the front suspension and leave the moon tanks to the "gassers". I have tons of pictures of Corvette MP cars if you wish and if you buy the car I will help in anyway I can. Good luck and I look forward to your purchase and hopefully your build of the car.
I suppose there may have been some allowance early on that may have been used by certain tracks and the AHRA (or even IHRA) may have been different but the NHRA in let's say 1967 may be a different story. I pick 1967 because that may have been more realistic with a tunnel ram (some may claim the early Pontiac manifolds or some may say 1968 is when tunnel rams became available and I am not sure I want to get into that discussion). It is true that cars that came with straight axles could use straight axles and that may have been true about the car pictured. The 1967 NHRA rulebook in regards to the suspension states" Each car in this section must use the full stock suspension as produced by the manufacturer on the assembly line for the body used. The front suspension, body and frame must be of the same year make and model..."
You are correct and I should not have stated my interpretation of the rules the way I did. As Jim Dillon said above the suspension had to have been available on the vehicle. In the case of the ‘40 Chevys shown beam axles were used as was the infamous knee-action IFS on the Master Deluxe series. There were full fendered 1932 Fords that ran MP with the stock engine position and allowable engine modifications so certainly a ‘40 Chevy Master 85 could have. I appreciate the correction, thanks.
My Grandfather who bought a 61 vette from a buddy that was leaving for Vietnam. It wasn't long before he was messing with it. And it ran in C/MP for awhile before he got drafted. It sat for a few year. In 73 he got it fixed up. Took her to the strip and left reat tire blew on the too end and in the wall she went. So thinking of recreating it.
1967 is beyond the scope of the H.A.M.B. As it releates to the 1964/1965 NHRA rule book no such verbiage was used.
You are absolutely correct a 1940 Chevy Master 85 did use a straight axle from the factory. However the above pictured car is a 1940 Chevy Special Deluxe which used IFS from the factory. So the belief that the suspension had to be exactly as "born with" from the factory would be inaccurate atleast as it relates to the 1964/1965 NHRA rule books. Anything beyond those years isn't relative to the H.A.M.B It may be also worth noting the Gilbert's M/P 1940 Chevy was a top tier car and Eastern Drag News record holder for a period of time. So any thought this was a fringe car that may have somehow slip through NHRA tech would be grossly incorrect.
The OP wanted to know if he could run a tunnel ram in his contemplated MP car. The short answer is yes but of course on the HAMB any discussion of tunnel rams has the ability to go sideways as to when they really came into use. Some say 68 and others 67 and some will point out certain examples of what they believe is a tunnel ram (such as early Pontiac intake manifolds or modified Corvette fuel injection doghouses etc) that may have come along prior to 67 or 68. I chose 67 to avoid the inane arguments that often arise with this topic. I see you have 19 posts which may have an effect your incorrect statement that 67 is not relative to the HAMB.I am sure if you go through the Modified Production thread you will see that Ryan allows some leeway in certain areas. Drag racing is one of them as long we don’t get stupid with loading images of Camaros and Chevelles etc. I am sure you wanted all of us to be aware that straight axles were allowed in MP which if they did not come on the car originally they were not allowed. There were examples of cars slipping through the cracks with God only knows what that did not meet the rules and that is why I mentioned it. If you do not agree with that statement there is nothing I can say to help you believe. I never insinuated that the car you posted slipped through the cracks as I believe it rightly belonged in MP. I only mentioned the caveat to avoid once again some off the wall posting that would set us all straight that a certain example ran on a certain track at a certain date. If people want to run a tunnel ran with a MP Corvette I feel it would be better to find the right tunnel ram. I have a 61 Vette built in 1968 to run gas but instead it ran altered. It ran with a tunnel ram as I have a picture of it when the car was built in 1968. I looked for the exact tunnel ram so any rebuild would be correct. When looking for the correct tunnel ram I discovered that finding tunnel rams made prior to 1968 are a bit hard to find. I stand by my 1967 analogy.
Gilberts Chevy was one of my all time favorite cars. I had the privilege to see it run at a lot of east coast events. Pat
Hmm, and all along I thought that just taking the bumper of the front of a 55 Chevy was all you needed to get forced onto MP. As I remember it was where the guys that had a car with only a small motor had to go when they put in a larger motor. IE a flathead converted to a Y block. Didn't the motor have to be the same manufacture as the body?
So is this Eastern Drag News record holding 1940 Chevy Special Deluxe that came from the factory with IFS (not a straight axle) 1964 NHRA M/P legal? You say on one hand that a straight axle was only legal on cars that came with them originally. The car in question did not originally come with a straight axle. On the other hand you say that you believe this car rightly belonged in M/P? How can both statements possibly be true?
I couldn't agree more!! This 1939 is also one of the great early eastcoast M/P cars. I believe it won Indy in 1965.
I cannot deny that it has MP on the side so the tracks that it ran at obviously allowed it to run in MP, that is a fact. For me to state that it did not belong in class would be silly-it happened and the tracks knew more than I do about the requirements of what it took to run MP at their track (s). What years it ran at I am not sure-you know more than I do in that regards. I ran with a team and on my own back in the late 60s but we did not run MP but I was familiar with friends that did. In the early seventies I went to the track numerous times with a friend that did run MP and remember guys breaking the rules with the components but they still kept the stock height. Tracks not only bent the rules but sometimes the tech guys were lax at the very least. The OP wanted to know the answer to a particular question. I believe it was answered. You apparently want to belabor the point of an exception to the rule regarding straight axles on MP cars. I have stated my point and have actually gone too far in response. If you want to believe that straight axles were the norm then knock yourself out.
I most likely will not run a tunnel ram. Probably a scorpion single plane with an old 4150 double pumper on a 327. So I can keep the stock hood
No one ever said anything about straight axles being the norm in M/P. What was said is per the 1964/1965 NHRA rule books straight axles were LEGAL.
Good choice 283 NC. Now if only you had given us that option we could have avoided a few posts that went nowhere. Next weekend I will be running my black 62 Vette with a 327 with a 4150 double pumper. I plan on running stock. I hope the tech guys don't give me trouble with using a non stock carburetor.
The 1965 NHRA rule under suspension says: "Any suspension system used, other than original, must have been originally designed by the manufacturer to be used on a vehicle whose weight is equal to or exceeds that on which it is now being used." I am sure this was written to address any problems that arose out of nothing in the 64 rule book about it. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/nhra-rule-books-1958-present.870742/
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