I'm building a F/SA '68 340 Barracuda, I can confirm for you all it isn't cheap. I already own the Dually, LQ trailer and attend various divisional, national and association events throughout the year none of which will change, just the tool I bring when I go.

Anyone who thinks they want to give it a try I'd encourage to go bracket racing for awhile first. The investment is usually less, you won't need to worry about heads ups and ultimately you're going to hone the skills needed to be competitive in Stock or Super Stock, which is a glorified bracket race 95% of the time.

No to mention all the bogus "ringer" cars the factory used to throw in when everyone ran off their record......

I've been around Stock class racers of all makes for years. Every make out there has been dirty or helped by liberal rules at one time or another. The reason the eliminator became a bracket race was because of all the shenanigans going on.

Bottom line is IF you want to be top dog in your class or set national records in the upper classes, budget will not be in your vocabulary. If you can be content with a car that will just qualify anywhere you can get away a lot cheaper. Then all you have to worry about is heads-up runs, and if you have chosen your class wisely you may never have one.

Really? Because for decades the factoring has killed, and I mean flat out KILLED packages and they've never been fixed.

What little crumb the NHRA throws on the floor for Stock and Super Stock is just nothing compared to what GM gets.

I used to follow Modified and SS religiously back in the day and stock pretty close. When NHRA killed modified I was disgusted. As I got older I still followed Stock and SS fairly close but in the last 10-15 years I haven't. So maybe the rules have changed. The last time I even looked at the rules you couldn't sleeve all 8 holes and IIRC you could only have a certain percentage of the valves with seats under them. Maybe that rule has changed as well. I think I have a 2016 rule book. I may have to thumb through it when I get home.

Great car. I love that thing. Too bad it's not a stick, but then, I'm a stick guy.

I tried to find the Nation record and Index for that class but I have 3 different issues of ND here and none of them have either.

All you have to look at is the SS/AH class. Yeah, NHRA gave them their own class. It's certainly not factored correctly as more than half the Challenge competitors at Indy do not qualify for the SS field. Ludicrousness!

Click 1000' & 1/4 mile records.
Scroll down to the bottom for Comp., SS & Stock.

NHRA National Records

My neighbor Earl runs F/SA with a 68 340 FB Barracuda...Having lunch with him tomorrow..

Even before the hard index, most of the Indy non-qualifiers were A-AA (before AH) cars. AH is Super Stock's version of Pro Stock. A handful of engine builders supplying the top power, with a few people following behind running yesterday's leftovers. The hard index is to encourage these guys to actually run them out. A few have asked for a 9.50 index, but there are a few cars capable of hitting that magical 1.2 under spot (8.30 on a 9.50) that would get them triggered with horsepower/weight, therefore hurting everyone.

As far as the valve seat replacement, I just sold a pair of AH legal cast iron Hemi heads towards the beginning of the year that were just as they were taken off a running car a few years ago. Every seat had been replaced in those heads.

You also have to remember that at Indy there are a lot of really good cars that won't get in, no matter what class, especially this year when they turned off the AHFS.

Thanks Myron. Do they not publish that stuff in ND any more?

I haven't kept track specifically, but they have cut back a lot. Not sure how often they do publish it, if at all. It could be to save a couple of pages of print and/or perhaps there aren't as many people setting records and all of the "minimums" don't look good.

Interesting stuff guys. The OP was just a general question, but have learned a little more about the class from your comments. I didn't think I would open a can of worms

A few years back, the top stock eliminator qualifier, at Indy, was a turbo PT Cruiser.

I just took delivery of an Intech trailer exactly like you described. Pretty expensive piece but very cool.

https://www.flyingamotorsports.com/default.asp?page=xInventoryDetail&id=5203687

Dragster has cut back on a lot of information that was useful to the sportsman racer. Points standings, payouts and purses, contingencies, indexes and records. All that is on the NHRAracer site now. They don't even do a real story about the national event winners in the sportsman classes like they used to. Got rid of all the Dragster staff to hire a few more media experts and marketing people.

I bought a set of X head castings from him last year for this project.

InTech builds a very nice trailer, I would love to have one.

I sold him a set of X heads about 2 yrs ago..LOL

Nice. I'd take white with an escape door and could leave off a couple options to save a few bucks.