"Shut Down" revisited

[Joe C.]

Re: "Shut Down" revisited

You will beat him in a 1/4 mile run from a standing start.
You will probably lose in a 1/4 mile run from a rolling start.
You will lose in a run up to 100 mph.

[Gene M.]

Re: "Shut Down" revisited

If you guys are running repro bias ply tires the win goes to the best soft pedal off the line. If I recall correctly the Camaro will have 2x the original bias ply tire foot print of the Vette. Winding it up out of the hole is not going to get the job done without a lot of tire spin.

[Dennis O.]

Re: "Shut Down" revisited

"short" is a '50's, '60's slang for a hot car.

[Michael J.]

Re: "Shut Down" revisited

"short" is a '50's, '60's slang for a hot car.

Thank You!

[Robert K.]

Re: "Shut Down" revisited

Back in the day I ran my 62 with H70x15 Goodyear polyglas tires and could only lanch at 2000 rpm, otherwise I'd just spin. I would feather the throttle until it hooked up. If you are running 670x15s all you are going to see are the Camero's taillights at the start if he knows what he is doing, so maybe a rolling start is to your advantage. No chance of breaking anything on the launch unless you use slicks. I would have liked to have seen that 413 back in the 60s, that would have been fun. I had a 327/365 engine, Crane cam F285, a Tarantula manifold and a Holley 780 and walked BBs in 4th gear. I spent many Saturday nights at Seneca, Md. We had as many as 500 people there on a good night. I remember one night I dropped my date off and headed out there. I came over the hill and there was flashing lights and a line of cars that looked like they were waiting to get into a Beach Boys concert. All the cops did was write inspection tickets, tire, exhaust, etc. Never saw it but was told that Hot Rod magazine name Seneca as one of the best street racing spots in the country. Ha yes, those were the days.

Additionally, I never broke a rear end I set up. I did break several that I had not worked on. I set my rears up a little tight. I figure less slop the less momentum the pinion has before it contacts the ring. No science just my thoughts. It seems every ring and pinion I broke was from a worn rear end and had play. I had a trick for setting backlash. I miced a sheet of newspaper at .0015". So I would set the back lash so the ring and pinion would start to bind when a wound a strip of newspaper between the gears. Backlash set a .003". It worked for me.

[William F.]

Re: "Shut Down" revisited

My '62's running 215/75/R15's. Camaro's running repro radial F70's. How does that affect thing-whether I shold do standing start or rolling start to have advantage. Good to hear all the comments and stories from when drag racing ruled. Let's hear some more!

[William C.]

Re: "Shut Down" revisited

Remember the old saying, "you cant beat Cubic inches" also the airflow difference between the FI and the Holley work against you...Did a little dragracing in the late 60's early 70's, Spent a LOT! learned some, but you can't beat cubic inches and large holley's will outrun an FI at the big end...

[William F.]

Re: "Shut Down" revisited

William C,
Remember, my '62 is the 340 hp with Carter AFB, not a fuelie. Still Camaro has a Holley 780cfm. See your point, but hoping my lower weight, and maybe tricking Camaro to loose traction off the line might give me an advantage.

[Kenneth B.]

Re: "Shut Down" revisited

Remember the old saying, "you cant beat Cubic inches" also the airflow difference between the FI and the Holley work against you...Did a little drag racing in the late 60's early 70's, Spent a LOT! learned some, but you can't beat cubic inches and large holley's will outrun an FI at the big end...

I agree. I had a 63 1/2 Ford 427/425 I bought new. I was never beaten by ANY stock small block.The MOPAR Hemi's were another story. As you said running a HP SB against a BB is like taking a knife to a gun fight. As Zora said I love ZEE torque. In IN, we had a 1/4 mi. layed out on a straight road. On Friday nights you could hear the cars all the way to Garrett 4 MI. away. I went through clutches & rear tires every 4/5000 mi. God we had fun. I would not trade those days for anything.

[William C.]

Re: "Shut Down" revisited

Remember he has more tire than you do also.

[William B.]

Re: "Shut Down" revisited

My '63 Chevy 409/425 was never beaten by a 427 Ford...well, except for that one time. Anyway, the side by side that still gives me the chills was in a friends 406 tri-power racing a new '65 350hp Corvette when the Fords clutch let go punching holes through the hood, floor and plastic heater parts onto my lap but still winning the race!

P.S. I'm still mad at Ray Brock writing in a 1961 issue of Hot Rod that 409's were truck engines and too heavy to be competitive in Super Stock racing.

[Joe C.]

Re: "Shut Down" revisited

I agree. I had a 63 1/2 Ford 427/425 I bought new. I was never beaten by ANY stock small block.The MOPAR Hemi's were another story. As you said running a HP SB against a BB is like taking a knife to a gun fight. As Zora said I love ZEE torque. In IN, we had a 1/4 mi. layed out on a straight road. On Friday nights you could hear the cars all the way to Garrett 4 MI. away. I went through clutches & rear tires every 4/5000 mi. God we had fun. I would not trade those days for anything.

Are you sure about that?

[Walter F.]

Re: "Shut Down" revisited

The thing that always puzzles me is Chevrolet built the Corvette as a sports car. Yet most buyers bought them to drag race. If a quick quater mile was all a person wanted would it be wiser to invest is a Impala, Chevelle, GTO, Camaro or some other mid size car with the biggest engine available? There was plenty of cars that could out run a Corvette when set up right. You could still go fast in a quater mile and have a little cash let over. I always felt the Corvette was made for a quick turn rather then going down a straight track fast.

[William F.]

Re: "Shut Down" revisited

Walter,
Don't be puzzled.In the 60's it was all about drag racing.Still think" handling" is overrated.We've got lots of long straight highways in USA.Acceleration pushing you back in the seat is what feels good and what performance is all about. You'd have lost your money betting on a GTO "with the biggest engine" against a good SB Corvette. Personally say a '64 365 hp wax a-- on a '64 tri power 348 hp tri power goat.But yes, the Corvette, especially mid years, had (and have) a good balance of straight line performance and cornering with a good ride compared to some of the strictly muscle cars of the era.

[Stuart F.]

Re: "Shut Down" revisited

I never lost a race with my 63 340 hp under my rules. You see, I was running a 3.36 final and the drag cowboys would sucker for a 30 mph on up run just to have a race against a Vette. They were, of course, running at least a 4.11, but more likely a 4.56. There never was a specified race length so you went until someone chickened out some where above 130 mph. I can't tell you how cool it was to wind past a BB who was wound as tight as it could go as you finally went for fourth gear. To look over and see that exasperated look on their faces as they were bang shifting through the gears and you were just cooly motoring on by casually shifting at each red line.

Stu Fox