Stop light to stop light, or the run to 3rd gear racing is all about getting the car to move. When you know how the car your butt is sitting in works, it doesn't have to be a 10 second car to beat a 10 second car, it just has to be a car you can get moving better then the other guy, and not screw up its progress for a very short time frame. Kick azz up to 50 mph, then your done. Short shift, keep the motor in the low end of the power band, don't spin the tires too much. It really doesn't matter how strong a car can finish in a quarter mile if the finish line is a lot closer to the start line, what matters is how fast it starts. Most street races were way shorter then 1/8th mile runs, maybe 100 to 300 feet, and that may even include shutdown space.

An early production Hemi Challenger on slicks with a driver that knew how to get it off the line, would have been a potent combo through the early years of the 1970s. The story said he quit racing when things got to dangerous, it didn't take many years into the 70s before the races got longer and the speeds got faster.

It even worked pretty well into the mid 80s, and a guy didn't need a Hemi. In stop light to stop light street racing, I kicked a lot of drag racers butts, they couldn't comprehend the short race process. Most cried about wanting to run a "real" race, I always told them they came on my turf to pick a fight and they lost, now go home. I knew better then to run them at a drag strip, that was a much different environment for a much different car then I had.