Isn't bending the rules what all of hot rodding was founded on? If it's plated, registered and tagged it is a street car. Who gives a [censored] what it does or doesn't have.

I use Rainx on my windshield and have not a single piece of a wiper system, drive on the street regularly. Has Jaz style plastic ragin buckets and a cage. No horn, radio or speakers either. I can tolerate all of the issues that come along with those things that 98% of the US population would consider a hassle. Hell most people won't buy a car without power windows, door locks, proximity keys and a lazy way to open their trunks... I don't want a stitch of any of that [censored] which is why I daily drive a 1986 Grand Wagoneer. To each their own but don't try to tell others what they should tolerate in their street car.

Been doing this forever it seems.
What used to piss me off was guys who had capable combos to run mopar kos and win would gripe and moan that they didn't have a chance. So they wouldnt come. If you are a racer race. If not stay home.

I do understand rule enforcement, ringers, and guys like Monte that would literally burn their stuff to the ground to win. I learned if you want to win you have to try. Try means raise the chip change the jets to uncomfortable levels.

As fae as the OP I think invitatiinal races where you have sponsors pay for showing is the only way to put on a great show. This is what they did in the 60's. I just read an okd flyer from when my uncle match raced. They knew how to promote back in the day.

Let everyone run who wants to run, but when it gets down to the final four guys in the money, the rule set is enforced IMO. Rules are meant to be broken, and cheating is cool until you get caught.

Our local pro street class has went to no rules until the 4.70 index. Any faster and you must fit the rules to win. The class record is hi 50's low 60's so it's a good deal for a guy like me. My car is 500 pounds light to fit there rules, but my car has never ran a 4.70.

Cheat neat!

If a track says car must have stock suspension, and a ladderbar car is allowed to run, why have rules? Im all for no rules. but don't make me abide by rules that limit me, and then let someone else do as they wish.

Doesn't have anything to do with what is or isn't a street car. It's about what they had for rules. The original rules were tagged 3400 for bb, 3200 sb and 13.50 x 30 et street was the biggest tire. Next thing you know there buddy has a all fiberglass lexan window car getting to run. I'm not stupid to run heads up against something that's 800 pounds lighter than me.they need not have so any rules. Tire size and weight. My car has no wipers ir radio and a funny car cage and is tagged and insured

Street cars vs race cars on the street. Our local track caves in due to low car count for the "true" street KOS class. But it never gets a chance to get off the ground because the regular racers stick a few items on their race car so that it "qualifies".

I do think that it is shame that when a class is set up to try and bring in some fresh blood (like guys who don't regularly race), and they get blown off the track by guys who race all the time and just throw a few pieces on their race car to meet the qualifications. Beating up on the newbs or the inexperienced doesn't prove a thing and can be counter-productive.

I like that thinking. Lets guys get their feet wet without building a spec car.

I know Cecil County in Md loves them and I believe its because they get a large car count. I agree many of them in my eyes are just race cars with tags. They are usually all the power added cars as you cant compete without a power adder with the ones I see run or one big costly N/A stroker.
Its cool if thats what the track likes but I could not afford to build one even if I wanted to. As for me I love the Nostalgia Super Stock racing myself and race in that when I do get to the track. But the street car shootouts at Cecil pack them in. Ron

Our local track has an arm drop race once a month.
4 index classes & 2 "unlimited" classes.
Most of the guys in the 1/4 unlimited are Drag Week & NMCA True Street competitors. These are some of the basic rules that are policed by the competitors. best turn out so far this year for all classes has been 150 total.

1/8 mile rules
No Lights (each racer will receive their half of the time slip)
Leave on .400 Pro Tree
Must be licensed and insured
Must have head lights, tail lights, turn signals, horn
Any tire & Any tire size
Any front & rear suspension, tube chassis car allowed


1/4 mile rules
Must be licensed and insured
No Lights (each racer will receive their half of the time slip)
Must have head lights, tail lights, turn signals, horn
Any size drag radial or DOT slick upto 29 x 11.5"
Any rear suspension, no tube chassis cars
Must have both front seats, door panels, carpet, and factory appearing dash
Must have cooling & charging systems
No lexan allowed for window except for rear truck windows
No wheelie bars
Vehicle must be driven to the lanes and back to your pits following the pass. You can push your car once it is in the staging lanes.



10.50 / 11.50 / 12.50 / 13.50 Heads Up Racing
Lights will be on for these classes
Leave on the Arm Drop Breakout rule applies, you will be DQ if you run faster than the index in competition
Must be licensed and insured
Must have head lights, tail lights, turn signals, & horn
Any tire style or size
Mufflers are required, cutouts are allowed, muffler delete allowed only if tailpipes still exit from stock location
Any Front & Rear suspension, no tube chassis cars
Must have both front seats, door panels, carpet, and factory appearing dash
Must have cooling & charging systems
No lexan allowed for window except for rear truck windows
No delay boxes, throttle stops, or other bracket racing style electronics

Some vid i shot from the final last year.
2015 Fall Street Car Shootout

Everybody wants to win...........unfortunately it's NOT going to happen and you can't keep just making classes for people to get into. Any class with the name "heads up" is eventually going to evolve into a step up, or step out class. That's just the way it is. Same way with rules. Its easy to make a class impossible really quick by adding a ton of rules. Few will build something to run in ONE class at ONE track. And I hate to say it, but if your car is 5 or 600 hundreds pounds heavier than others in the class........you picked the wrong car. Regardless of how heavy some "street" cars are.........a 3400lb big block class is pretty damn heavy.

Don't want to hear, that my Cuda, Challenger, Duster, Roadrunner, whatever, weighs 3800lbs and won't get lighter. YES, it will, but you have to TRY.

My GTX was all steel except hood. Chrome bumpers, factory floor pans, iron block, factory glass, full back seat. Weighed barely over 3200lbs with two bottles, full of fuel and ready to rock, with me in it. That means it was 3000 ready to race

The op didn't ask who can get there car lighter. He asked do they follow the rules. The rules for the race I ran in were 3400 bb. So you would of had to put 200 lbs back in your car because those were the rules. Just like if the rules were 4000 lbs. If no one can run in those rules then maybe they need to re look at what ever rules they have. But not hold some people to the rules and not others.

Exactly...I know my car is a sled, but I will not gut or cut THIS car up. That's beside the point. All I'm talking about is following rules! We all know interior doesn't make the car any faster other than weight loss. But when it's in the rules that the car has to have interior...if they're in the lane next to me, they better be sitting like I am.
Like I said earlier, you wouldn't want them to allow a 29.5 car to run in a 28/275 shootout would you?

FWIW...I do fairly well w/ my 3900 lb. sled in these shotoouts most of the time. Been to 3 finals and won one of them. Lost one to a slower car b/c I spun the tires. When my car decides it wants to hook, I usually go rounds, lol.

This type of stuff is exactly why I will not be running any more of these races (and I'm not alone). I put slicks on mine so I can hopefully go faster and not worry about being legal for some class that the rules get bent for certain people. The difference is that now that my car is on slicks, I won't even try to get the rules bent for me.

If you want to race without specific rules and guidelines about specific items that outline the basic make-up of your car, they have a place for that. It's called bracket racing.

If you want to participate in a class with defined, specific rules, it's up to you to make your car fit the class. It's supposed to be harder, a challenge to test your skills and knowledge.
No one is saying it's supposed to be easy, and the rules will by nature, exclude a lot of people from participating. That's just how it is.
In the northeast, one of the classes with the highest car count at NHRA events is Stock eliminator. It's also one of the most restricted. If you want to play in that class, you can't just show up in some gutted, tubbed, lexan windowed bracket car and whine to the officials.
You have to build a car to fit the rules and restrictions.

Dwayne...my road runner w/ the wedge will be footbrake bracket raced. The cuda is just a toy.

I'm on your side on this one Chip. I know your frustration in showing up legal for the class only to find the rules aren't being enforced. Now you're not interested in going back.
So, they appeased the illegal car and maybe kept him(although he has no real vested interest because he didn't build a car for the class, he just showed up and they let him race).
But the legal car is discouraged. I doubt your the only one. How many were thinking about making some tweaks to their car to try it out, but are now having second thoughts after seeing how it's run?

IMO, one of the easiest ways to discourage current and future participants who were eager to try racing in a series with more guidelines than basic bracket racing is to not enforce the rules.

This is where I'm at.

I may as well gut my old 65 Dart, put in a strut front and four link, lexan windows, set the motor back about four inches and go play with them. It would be as much a street car as a lot that showed up and raced at my tracks street car shoot out.

Dwayne... I know and completely agree w/ what you said.

JustinP...Yessir, me too. That's why I decided to just play w/ the cuda on T&T night and set up my road runner for the footbrake bracket class.

Around N. Alabama a competitive KOS street car is in the low 5's or faster and carries a chute. And they do a cruise before the race. That is what I want to do with my Demon, and drive it to the track, but without a blower I don't think it will happen.

That Nova sounds like Clyde's "nukular banana" which he tried to run at the fall Radial Fest and sheared off the lugs on one side at the launch with the TB. He came back this spring with the same rear axle and new studs and repeated, but this time it put him in the wall. New 9" rear end with better stuff was sitting on his shop floor. The excellent track prep at RF is what kills these cars that are not ready for it. At the spring race they broke 3 cars and cost the program about an hour in cleanup.