So you want to play in NHRA Stock and Super Stock? Well friends, be prepared to be invited to a teardown party courtesy of the NHRA Technical Department without notice, and make sure to bring your tools. As Indy traditions go, racers competing for class honors sometimes get picked for a day’s activities pulling your intake, cylinder heads, and if you’re lucky, a rod and piston.  There were 20 Stocker contestants in the barn today tearing down in the sweltering Indiana heat and humidity.

The NHRA tech guys randomly look at certain engine combinations from a GM LS1, Mopar Drag Pak 6.1L HEMI and 5.4L Supercharged Cobra Jets. There’s no rhyme or reason to their process and it doesn’t matter if you’re number qualifier or running in the bottom of the pack; when it’s your time, it’s your time. Sometimes there’s a theme, as you may find the same of two or three car/engine combos being raced together, being checked in the barn. Today we had pairs of Challenger Drag Paks and Cobra Jet Mustangs being scrutinized to see if they measure up with the same specs.

So you want to play in NHRA Stock and Super Stock? Well friends, be prepared to be invited to a teardown party courtesy of the NHRA Technical Department without notice, and make sure to bring your tools. As Indy traditions go, racers competing for class honors sometimes get picked for a day’s activities pulling your intake, cylinder heads, and if you’re lucky, a rod and piston.  There were 20 Stocker contestants in the barn today tearing down in the sweltering Indiana heat and humidity.

The NHRA tech guys randomly look at certain engine combinations from a GM LS1, Mopar Drag Pak 6.1L HEMI and 5.4L Supercharged Cobra Jets. There’s no rhyme or reason to their process and it doesn’t matter if you’re number qualifier or running in the bottom of the pack; when it’s your time, it’s your time. Sometimes there’s a theme, as you may find the same of two or three car/engine combos being raced together, being checked in the barn. Today we had pairs of Challenger Drag Paks and Cobra Jet Mustangs being scrutinized to see if they measure up with the same specs.

Travis Miller has teched cars for over 40 years with the NHRA, so he’s pretty sharp and doesn’t let anything slide by. There’s no grey area; it’s either right or wrong. He measures the camshaft lift, bore and stroke, cylinder head chamber, runner CC specs and valve sizes. Travis also looks over the intake manifold, carburetor/throttle body and numerous other internal parts. Travis points out: “We treat everyone the same when they come in for teardown.”

For the racer, this sentiment is not always mutual. Take Leonard Mattingly, whose 2000 B /SA LS1 powered Firebird was picked to be torn down for the third time in 12 months, for instance. He didn’t win class, but was randomly chosen for a teardown party with the NHRA. “I don’t like getting torn down, if you’re going to tear somebody down, pick somebody who’s fast, not the slower one.  It‘ll take us 2 ½ hours to put the engine back together”.  When asked what advice he’d give a racer looking to run Stock or Super Stock, Leonard commented: “If you’re not in the “clique”, you’ll be the one randomly torn down. There’s a lot of politics involved and everyone but me knew NHRA had an LS1 cylinder in their trailer to compare with ones on my car.” 

The NHRA assures there's no preferential treatment going on.

“Obviously it’s not a clique I mean it’s random checking that we do, and the other thing is also is we have a list of cars that run really fast that don’t go to national events that have never been torn apart," said  Danny Gracia, NHRA National Technical Director. "So we feel it’s only fair for the group to take these cars apart but by the same token, they’re going to learn what’s there or not. In the better interest of the category, it’s good for the other competitors to know that car is legal. This (Indy) is a prime spot to do this, so we want to make sure everybody plays by the rules like everyone so again, it’s all random.”

Other racers don’t fret too much about having to disassemble their engines for the prying eyes of the NHRA Tech Department. “If you’re scared of the barn, don’t come to the races,” said Gary Summers, who was this year’s number one Stock Eliminator qualifier and won U/S class with his 302 ’78 Mustang II. “We try to build them the way they’re supposed to be built. Since we’re the number one qualifier, we were invited to the barn.”  Good advice for a long time racer who’s been to through teardown numerous times, and has never been pitched.

Whatever the feelings may be among these elite Sportsman racers, they know it comes with the territory when you run in Stock and Super Stock and that’s what makes it even more challenging.

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