Please leave your boring GM product at home!

[AdvAutoBob]

[BBR]

Sorry BBR, but neither of my Hemi powered Hot Rods won't be ready in time, so I have to drive my "plan C" GM. At least it is a semi-respectable Muscle Car. We don't need no stinkin' plan B new pickup trucks and SUV's hogging up the lanes...

Dangit that sucks.

As far as pickups and SUV go, to me there's really no difference between driving a late model SUV/pickup or a virtually stock late model Vette, Camaro, Mustang, Challenger, or whatever. Not much challenge in driving any of those 1000 miles, but if they are registered, they have just as much right to be there as anyone.

[JWS4621]

Dragweek back up plan. Everyone it is nap time when I go to make a pass

[38P]

JWS4621 . . . that's about the only Honda I like

As far as pickups and SUV go, to me there's really no difference between driving a late model SUV/pickup or a virtually stock late model Vette, Camaro, Mustang, Challenger, or whatever. Not much challenge in driving any of those 1000 miles, but if they are registered, they have just as much right to be there as anyone.

I've found plenty of "challenge" in running DW twice with a late-model "man pedal' car . . .

Unbelievable wheel hop problems in 2012 . . . Nitrous kit drama (still only two sprayed passes out of ~ 70 DW passes) . . . Daily tire swapping, loading and unloading hundreds of pounds of stuff. Overnighting and swapping out a broken aftermarket control arm (split urethane bushing). Track-side fueling and keeping the tank levels low for less weight . . . Looking for unlighted checkpoints at midnight . . . Trying to find that handful of hundredths that would have made the difference between 33rd and 32nd-in-class in 2012 . . .

And when the thing just shut off in the middle of the night in Paris, TN (bringing out nearly every dealership tech in town to diagnose it), the challenge was off-the-chart, IMO.

In fact, I was so exhausted at the end of DW '13 by running that "virtually stock late-model" that mid-way through swapping the drag radials for street tires (in preparation for the 750-mile trip home), I climbed into the driver's seat just to rest for a few minutes, fell asleep, and did not wake up until the Bowling Green track officials rousted me the next day.

On the other hand, the "all-motor" E.T. dropped nearly a second and a half and the best run on the safe "baby shot" of spray is almost two seconds under what the car would run under showroom-stock conditions. And I did pick up an .000 reaction time slip. As G.T.O. said in "Two-Lane Blacktop," "Those satisfactions are permanent."

Sure, running a late-model isn't like Larson rebuilding his Lenco between rounds, or JeffMcKC patching his intake manifold with a beer can, or swapping a blown-up transmission just to get to the next venue, but if you try to do it right, it can be very exhausting.

[Hemi Joel]

I have no idea what my Olds will run on the strip, I have never made a full pass down the 1/4 with it. If it is capable of running sub 13.5, (which is kinda doubtful) it'd be illegal anyway because it is a convert with out a roll bar. 13.5 ain't gonna make the q32 in DD, so I'll just be having fun, seeing what I can squeeze out of it, hoping to get kicked off the track, and hogging up a spot that a more worthy car on the waiting list could have used.

[corvettedad]

I luv reading this stuff, mabey one day I can make DW and experience the drama in person!

[BigG]

BBR, you are not being nice. I wasn't picking on anybody! I was just implanting a thought in everyone's head that might otherwise not have thought about it. And 16 seconds was just a number. In all reality if 300 cars actually show up you too will wish the slow cars would have stayed home. I'm actually thinking they should make a rule that anything slower than 13.0 is not allowed and anything newer than 2000 not allowed if it is slower than 11.0.

[Orange65]

New rules for next year, BigG. Maybe you will get your wish! Or not.

[38P]

BBR, you are not being nice. I wasn't picking on anybody! I was just implanting a thought in everyone's head that might otherwise not have thought about it. And 16 seconds was just a number. In all reality if 300 cars actually show up you too will wish the slow cars would have stayed home. I'm actually thinking they should make a rule that anything slower than 13.0 is not allowed and anything newer than 2000 not allowed if it is slower than 11.0.

This is total horsecrap. Why the hate and unmitigated bigotry against post-2000 cars? Is it really a better "show" if someone shows up in a hooptie 1999 Camaro that wheezes to 13.0 on spray than if someone is running harder in one of the new Detroit late models? Is all of hot rodding just one big rich-man's "nostalgia" event, with no room for people who choose to work with current technology? I remember the day when HRM was packed with "here and now" new stuff, not just "recooking the same old meat" as DF once wrote.

And how, pray tell, would HRM administer such a rule?. DF jokes that the event is the biggest collection of vehicles that weren't running until just before the event starts (a quip he's said at least 10 times). So if one had to send in timeslips with their entry, everyone building a car would be hosed. And who's to police whether or not people sent in legitimate timeslips for the car they intended to run at DW? The potential for fraud and abuse here is huge.

Or are they going to have a qualifying "race-in" on-site? Or regional qualifiers?

[CDMBill]

Hmmm, interesting idea about a "race in" for the guys who show up without a spot on the list or the wait list, or maybe the show up hopefuls and the wait list guys run to fill out the 300?

[BigG]

Don't get me wrong, I love the event! I was totally amazed in 2007 when the Camaro ran 7.90s all week. I was not at all amazed when Joe Blow,s 1998 Durango went 17's sort of amazed that the 46re and junky 9 1/4 rearend could handle multiple full throttle shifts. Wait a minute, I got it all wrong. The 7 second camaro was made to go fast with heavy duty high dollar race car parts and driven by an intelligent guy with lots of money that is not amazing! Any smart guy with money can do that! I really am amazed that a dumb poor guy can get a junky Dodge to drive 1000 miles with parts built by the lowest bidder. Why didn't that get in any magazines? I will have to call hot rod tomorrow and ask DF what the heck is going on over there! My attempt at sarcasm!

[ksj2]

Good luck on getting a return call.My attempt.LOL

[ksj2]

Between DW and that other thing called Power Turd they have enough info for a year.Who is the dumbshits? Us. LOL.

[MoparBilly]

Some guys should leave sarcasm to the professionals. It takes years of practice, and on internet boards, it's very easy to overshoot your intended audience.
You'd think someone with 3 jackets hanging in the closet would get what the event was all about, clearly that's not the case, and that saddens me.

[squirrel]

interesting post for a moderator to make...