Jim, it can still be done. There are a lot of guys racing old school Hemis in NSS, but, if you are starting from scratch it would be hard to match the cost/performance factor of an Indy headed wedge, which is what most guys use. The heads are about as good as the stock, old school Hemi heads. There is still a lot of old school stuff out there, cams, especially that can be had reasonable. Heads are still pretty reasonable, you can get new ones, but the blocks are getting tough. We built a Hemi Dart out of old school stuff we had laying around, basically a 484 inch crate motor, and it runs 9.70s and does a real good job in NSS. We don't have $10K in the whole car. It can certainly be done.

Personally, I think racing one in NHRA Stock/SS is a pipe dream for most. Barton gets 75K for a motor. That's ridiculous. The motors have become so far away from what they were intended to be it's not even funny. Years back, a buddy of mine who works for Chrysler was pushing hard to force them to keep to stock type cross rams, but the big money guys pushed for the sheetmetal intakes, and now, you have to have a 10,500 rpm motor to compete. Most folks who have this 'dream' really have no concept in what it takes to do it. And, you have to have the money to buy EVERYTHING, not just part of it. If you only have 8 of the state of the art stuff when you should have all ten, you are just pissing your money away, will become discouraged and quit soon.

Put your stuff together, run NSS, and have some fun.