And that's how the term belly button came about.

Every one has one.

I have an aluminum high compression head, split exhaust, electronic ignition, Dual throttle body EFI waiting to go on the 230 I am building. No belly button there.

But not everyone can think outside the box.

Its interesting that you guys want to compare the 6 cylinder 1/4 mile times with the record book 1/4 mile times.

The guy that were serious about racing were not running 6 cylinder motors unless it was a 6 cylinder class, or the 6 had a big advantage in some class for some reason. The fast guys were using the biggest V8 they could get their hands on, or the hottest V8 their checkbooks could back up.

The bellybutton concept developed because it didn't take very long before the smart guys figured out he could buy a V8 motor out of a wrecked car in a junk yard, and get it into his hot rod for less money then he could get the same HP out of the 6, if he could even get the same HP out of the 6. Everyone was doing it because it was the cheapest way to go faster, and for the guys supporting a family and trying to race, going faster for less money often was a matter of being able to race this week or not.

The guys with money wanted to try to shame the little guys with the belly button stuff. But those with money were changing to the big V8s, and then spending money to make them go faster.

What goes around comes around. These days every car on the track is a bellybutton. They all have exactly the same parts from the same companies designed by the same guys on the same computers. If you don't have all the parts, unless you got really lucky, you were an also ran. Modern racing is bellybutton. Innovation is dead. The 3.9 Dodge V6 in my 38 Plymouth coupe and the 5.2 Dodge in my 49 Dodge truck and no longer belly button. Those would have to be the modern Hemi or the Chevy LS, or whatever Ford is calling their 5.0 these days.

My '59 "El Savoychero" was the last flathead 6 I owned, and with a "3 onna tree" it was ok, if not speedy. If we're talking slow cars in general, I had a 1986 Olds Custom Cruiser in immaculate condition, and I bracket raced it a lot. No one could judge me at the finish line as it ran the 1/4 in a little over 60 MPH and in the 20's. It actually never had an ET in the teens. THAT was a real pooch but I won many rounds at the track with it because my competition closed on me so fast at the top end they were either standing on the brakes at the stripe or breaking out. All I had to do was cut a decent light and I got pretty good at that.

The United States Constitution says all men are create equal, not so according to some women I have had the opportunity to entertain
AKA, this is the great U.S.A. were we get to choose what we like and don't like, thanks be to God that not all of us like Chebys
I am a die hard Mopar guy, I had a 1955 Dodge D500 17 ft. long flatbed truck that I haul logs and firewood with, it had a 264 C.I .Dodge fatt head inline six cylinder in it with a 4 speed truck tranny and a vacuum operated two speed rear end (Desoto cars had the same C.I. motor in some of the early models) there was one more bigger C.I. Flat six that came in the cheaper Chryslers cars and the D600 and maybe also in the D700.
That motor had a freeze crack in it along the bottom of the cooling passages on the drivers side before I bought it, I tried all types of stop leak including pepper and other home remedies, nothing help so I would drainit when it got cold and put water init when I wanted to use it.
I ended up changing the motor to a 1957 Chrysler 392 Hemi motor New yorker motor rated at 325 HP. I also switch it from 6 volts to 12V, that was the best thing I ever did to that truck, with the six cylinder in it with a car on the back I had to use the brakes to slow it down going down grades like the Cajon Pass when I let off, it would flat speed up After swapping the motor it would slow down on its own when I let off the gas pedal with the Hemi motor in it, the rear end shifter better under a load also, more vacuum = better truck
It road like a truck with a race car on it, I ended up selling it to a guy who wanted to haul a medium size tractor on it and bought a 1957 dodge one ton converted to a car hauler, same deal the motor was worn out and I had to swap a newer model 318 truck motor into it
My message is live life like you want, screw everybody else and what they think and say