"Competitive" being the operative word here. I know guys who run Stock or Super Stockers and have fun at it. But they are a few generations behind on the trick, go fast stuff and they try to stay away from the heads up races with the fast guys. These days, with quotas at the Nationals and not as many guys showing up at the points meets, that's easier to do, especially if you chose your class carefully. The advantage is you can pick up used "good" parts for quarters on the dollar from the hitters. And as discussed, entry fees, diesel fuel, tow rigs, etc., all cost the same for everyone.

FWIW, the D/SA Duster that Jerry Hatch ran a 9 a few months ago with...has a $35,000 340 according to the guy who owns the car. The car's usually in the late rounds & has a few National Event wins.

I talked to Jerry at tha Dutch Classic A few months ago , how impressive it was to have the 340 running that fast, he said thanx it was a lot of hard work. I told him about a bow tie racer I know who told me he changed classes because he couldn't run with the Mopars, he chuckled. They found something in those 340s to really pick them up and from what I've read it's not the LD 340 all the bow tie guys think it is . Great to see all the 340 cars running so fast, gotta love it.

Aren’t the small blocks allowed to run Eddy heads now?

Yes, but they need a lot of work and $$ to do it. All the Chevy guys are crying real hard over how the 340's can run now.

The LD340 will no longer be legal beginning 1/1/2019.

Ritter block..eddy heads...ld340...roller rockers..solid lifter cams...everything a 340 came with from the factory..LOL

Right. They really muddied up the waters for many combos. Worst ones are a metric 200 trans behind almost any GM product. And 3 speeds replacing powerglides.

When a 1968 327/275 Nova legally runs in the 10's then the rules are way off base.

Stock is just a name, nothing stock about it. 8 second late models, Aluminum rads, racing seats, fuel cell, light weight disc brakes, roller rockers, any valve spring, etc.

But it is fun to watch.

Ironic story about the LD340 no longer being allowed ... one of the biggest critics and lobbyers about its use , a true bow tie guy actually let me use his shop and helped me change a motor in my Dart years ago as At the time I had no place to do it. He has worked on several Mopars he isn't anti- Mopar just a Stock purist. He has helped a lot of racers and has built some really good cars. That being said I m sure there are plenty of questionable parts in some of the fast GM cars also. I can see allowing aftermarket heads and blocks , trying to find a 340 block that passed a sonic test was quite a task years ago as well as finding an X or J head that wasn't cracked. Great to see guys putting the " R and D into these combos , mid Tens and high Nines out of a 340 is downright awesome and impressive.

Stock Eliminator NHRA/IHRA, Stock Purist, now that's an oxymoron. I will in defense of IHRA, they had a PS Pure Stock class, 99 44/100% pure.

I love the stock, S/S stuff. It's just beyond my budget. The N/SS stuff is low maintenance. Just as competitive. My entire car was WAY less than that 340 motor.
Doug

Heck 35,000.00 for an engine to attend races that pay out around 1200.00 sounds like a deal to me. But I think I will stick with my R3 small block that cost me 7500.00 to build and runs 9.40's and hit some 20,000.00 to win races. Then again I'm a budget racer. LOL

Part of the problem was and is was they are running out of legal head castings. They ain't making that stuff new any more.

As with everything, as the cams for Stock evolved, the rockers were no longer even serviceable. Guide life was next to nothing.

Blocks have the same issue. I forget the number of sleeves you can run but it isn't all 8. They didn't make that many 340's and the price of those is going up. Why make a guy spend a ton of money on a used junkyard core (that may be .030, .040 or even .060 over already) when you can get a block that can start at a standard bore size? GM gets to do it, why not the Chrysler guys?


The sanctioning bodies have crapped on the Chrysler guys for decades. They have factored once competitive packages right out of competition. They have so hobbled other classes that you have a zero realistic shot of winning if you have to run class.

So if the retarded sanctioning body finally threw the mopar guys a bone so be it. Think about all the guys jumping ship to the newer cars just because they don't have to recycle junkyard blocks and heads.

Also, I'm relatively sure the computer controlled cars are playing with traction control and NHRA just can't (or won't) catch them.

Good points for sure, it was good to see many of the Stock Class winners at Indy were Mopars , a lot of tissues for the others. Factory Stock was great ! A Mopar Winning the Chevy Nats. but the cry babies did something about that too. added weight and the Mopar still Won after that.

These last 2 posts by madscientist and 11secdart illustrate why NHRA has been on the slipperiest of slopes and why other sanctioning groups, specifically NMCA and NMRA are growing. Flexibility is what makes racing fast and growing. S/SS are just expensive bracket races. Pick the flavor of racing that you want, can afford and all importantly BE FUN!

Actually NHRA has allowed many aftermarket parts because of the lack of serviceable stock cores. So much so that many purists are complaining. Aftermarket rockers and solid cams in Stock are a few of the more recent. As far as blocks, NHRA has approved the P5153478AB and Ritter blocks for small blocks and Bulldogs, Kolenos and P5155072AB for big blocks. Aftermarket heads are also accepted for most applications. These people get approval for this stuff, then can't supply it. It's unicorns. Don't blame NHRA.

I started racing NHRA Stock in the 1973, I've raced and help other Mopar racers race and set world records up to 2005, trust me when I say NHRA does NOT like or care about doing anything good for the Mopar class racers in Stock, Super Stock or any other class that helps Mopar sell cars
I've been through their grievance procedures when the then national tech director instructed his tech. guys to throw out all the Mopar stock class winners in Phoenix one year due to all of them that were outrunning the Chevy and Fords in the same classes allegedly having acid ported heads from the same guy that sold them to the Chevy and Ford racers the year before. No lie
Politics exists everywhere, DANG IT

This should be a sticky because it's a FACT. It's documented and has been documented for decades.

So if the purists and Chevy lovers are bitching it must be a good thing.

Yes you can sleeve all 8. The chevrolame guys are sleeving 454's down to 396. been going on for a decade or more.

I know of some 340 racers who were doing the same before new blocks were available.

As far as GM guys crying foul... let's go down the Mopar path... '62 413's with '64 heads and intake, '62-64 Max Wedge cars in any possible B-body combination you can think of, "Nascar" Hemis, trim-less hardtop Plymouths, Dodge hardtops with Sedan trim, AAR hoods on any fresh air package 1970 'Cuda, and my personal favorite...'66 Hemi cars with scoops. We probably wouldn't bring so much attention to ourselves if we didn't do such bogus things...