There were quite a few of those 60 4drs. around. They fell right at the minimum weight break with a 170 horse combo ,back then. Most serious racers didn't care what body style they ran, as long as it was an advantage.
I went in the USMC in 1969 and you still needed them in Div 1. When I got out in 1971 they were no longer required. So sometime between those years is right.
This is news to me. There was nothing in the early NHRA Rulebooks that required an OEM exhaust system or even a functunal exhaust system to be in place. From 1962 - Stock Car Section "EXHAUST SYSTEM: Dual exhaust pipes, with mufflers, are permitted. Headers are also accepted, but exhaust must be routed through mufflers and tailpipes. Open by-passes may be used, but must be installed in front of the muffler and in such a manner as to direct exhaust away from the strip, tires, and car body. The outlet for open exhausts can be no larger in diameter than the diameter of the original head pipe. A maximum of two (2) outlets per car permitted." In 1963, they added: "All mufflers must be production type and installed in the stock location with tailpipes extending at least to the rear axle." Note that it did not require stock mufflers, only the vagure term "production type". In 1963, the rules were also ammended as to the diameter of the header outlets. 3.5-inches max. In 1964, it was word for word the same. In 1965, it was also the same, but was ammended to include this sentance: "The main body of any replacement muffler must be at least 18 inches long." I have all the NHRA Rulebooks from 1958 through 1965, and I there is no reference to the non-acceptance of replacement mufflers in the Stock Classes during those years. Many of the S/S cars used exhaust tubing for the head pipes and tail pipes that were smaller in diameter than what originally came on the car. On the Chevy 409 cars, for instance, most used the single exhaust pipe system off of the 6-cylinder engine, which were smaller in diameter, and light weight straight through glass-pack mufflers, and had no problems from NHRA at National Events.
George, that pretty much matches up with my recollection of the chain of events. When we began running a Stocker in Division 7 in 1963, I recall that there were relatively few "purpose-built" cars at the track and most of those were in the Super Stock (stick and automatic classes). In fact, many of the cars were driven to the track on a weekly basis. I remember Dave Kempton driving his '62 Plymouth to a points meet in Ramona in 1964 and winning the Stock Eliminator category. Most of the rest of us were driving the cars on the street to some small degree at the outset, including the A/SA station wagon that we ran, so we could only get away with relatively minimal tweaking of such accessories. (Also, I it is my opinion that the local police were somewhat more aggressive in dealing with noisy mufflers in those days. I recently observed a Honda weaving in and out of traffic on I210 that was making as much noise as an unmuffled small block Chevy Stocker.) In any case, the station wagon came from Milne Brothers with Horsepower Engineering headers installed and the stock exhaust system was bolted to a tap into the fenderwell headers. Can't say that I ever crawled under any of the dealer/major shop-prepped cars such as Nicholson, Profitt, Hanyon, or Lloyd Cox but they may have been equipped with more imaginative arrangements even then. The real demon in this scenario was the rate of change within Stocker technology as an adjunct of organized drag racing after 1963. As usual, Wally Parks and Farmer Dismuke were working overtime to keep pace with the "innovations" in rules-bending that were overtaking even the lower Stocker ranks. The progression of definitions related just to exhaust systems that you posted are a beautiful illustration of how fast Stock and Junior Stock evolved in the eight years between 1963 and 1971. My hat is off to you for hanging onto all the documentation and supporting materials related to all of drag racing over the years. You have accumulated a real goldmine of resources! Thanks for adding the perspective. c
My involvement with the Super Stock class really began in 1961. By 1965, S/S was basically over for me. NHRA tech could get very picky when they wanted to, and you had to pay particular attention to the words in the Rulebooks. The sentance, "Headers are accepted but exhaust must be routed through mufflers and tail pipes.". We used to see guys weld the front of the headpipes to the side of the header collectors, with no hole actually drilled through the collector itself. One time I saw one of the tech guys stick his finger inside the collector to check to see if there was an opening, which technically was an infraction. On one of the cars I was associated with, we drilled a 3/4" hole in that location, through which the exhaust could "flow". It proved to be "legal" as the rules said that "the exhaust must be routed through the muffler, etc.", but it didn't say that ALL the exhaust must be routed. Note the size of the exhaust pipe on the red '63 Plymouth. Does that look like the OEM diameter of the head pipes on the 426-inch engine? It's no wonder that NHRA eventually dumped all of that "exhaust system" nonsense, everyone was running open headers anyway...
Looks like the rule on exhaust changed in 66. This is a link to NHRA rule books that was posted on here several years ago unfortunately it only goes up to 68. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2006u57wp7sqpxt/AACM-ODeOoOU2bqgK-e-UxAGa
NHRA could be ticky-tac at times in interpreting their rulebook. In 1962, Hayden Proffitt's '62 Chevy 409 was the Stock Eliminator at the U.S. Nationals. The Rulebook allowed aftermarket gauges to be installed on the dashboard (many OEM gauges consisted of only a red light in the event of a problem). Anyway, Hayden fabricated a nice little aluminum box to hold four (if I remember correctly) gauges mounted in front of the driver. In order to mount the gauges on the dashboard, Hayden had to remove the speedometer. This was declared to be an infraction by NHRA tech, and although he was not disqualified, he was told to remove it for the future. NHRA used to have (and maybe still does) a rule that covered ALL things in ALL classes, which basically read; "If a particular modification is not mentioned in the Rulebook, that modification will not be permitted.", or words to that effect. I would have to say that members of the United States Supreme Court have never read the words in the U.S. Constitution more closeley that racers in the Super Stock classes did with the NHRA Rulebook in the early 1960's, or as Richard Petty once said about NASCAR, "It ain't cheatn' if ya don't get caught.". I was at one track (can't recall which one for sure, it might have been San Fernando) in 1961 or 1962, for a regular Sunday non-NHRA event. There were 6 or 7 S/S cars entered that day, all driven by the better S/S racers (including several factory sponsored drivers) in the SoCal area. After the event, there was a tech inspection of all the cars. All were P&G'd followed by an intense visual inspection. Every car was declared illegal for one infraction or the other. As soon as the first car was disqualified, the driver pointed to other cars with infractions, and so on and so on, until everyone was out and nobody picked up the plastic trophy. One year I was standing near the scales at the top end while the Super Stock class was running at the NHRA Winternationals. All the cars had to go over the scales. One car had just cleared the scales when a tech guy asked the driver if he could hitch a ride back to the starting line, and then opened the door and jumped in. The car had the OEM bench seat, and when the tech guy sat down he went right down to the floor. It turned out that the driver had cut out all the springs under the front seat on the passenger side to cut weight (which had to save less than 5-lbs.). Ohh, those were glory days in the world of S/S class racing in the early 1960's...
To paraphrase Smokey Yunick's assessment of such situations - " I wasn't cheatin. I just had a superior reading of the rules. "
In my opinion, it was amazing that NHRA did as well as they did trying to maintain order with both the Rulebook and the Tech Inspections. This was particularly true with regards to the Stock Class section, and particularly with the Super Stock cars between 1961 and 1965. Just keeping track of the documentation from the factories must have been a nightmare for them, with the constant up-dates, etc., plus the devious nature of the Stock Class racers
In 1967 at any NHRA event you would have not been permitted to run in competition without a functional exhaust system connected to your headers or stock manifold.
I think that is just neat. Obviously I wasn’t there back then but the idea that it was rolled by just money and anybody had a shot at making a particular combination work is really cool. I can’t think of anything like that today. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I found this link for rule books https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2006u57wp7sqpxt/eZJPZZcJdZ Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
From the link posted by old chevy luver. 1968 rule book. prior years are similar. Yes they WERE required in 1967. No weight requirement shown. Note the generator rule is next in line.
Yes, that first sentance was missing in the Rulebook up to 1965. It would have eliminated small diameter exhaust pipes being substituted for the OEM exhaust pipes, not that it would have made any difference in performance since the exhaust really didn't go through the system with open headers. The smaller diameter tubing and light weight mufflers were used mearly to save weight. It didn't make the vehicle lighter, they still had to weigh at least as much as the curb weight published in the NHRA Tech Book. But, the racers could add the lost weight where they wanted it, toward the rear of the car. With the 409 Chevy's running in S/S in the 1960's, weight could be saved by using a lighter weight (shorter) muffler, which was under the front seat area, and adding weight to the inside of the resonators, which were much closer to the rear axle housing. I worked on one well known 409 in '62 that had the resonators filled with cement, to add weight to the rear of the car. Remember, the maximum rear tire width back then was only a 7-inch tread...
That's what I am talking about, cement in exhaust for rear ballast,thats just good shit. They had to wonder why the rebar for exhaust hangers.Lol. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
In truth, much of the shenanigans that the S/S racers did in the early 60's had very little effect on creating a "competitive advantange". I think that it was done mostly to see if we could get away with it, to "beat the system" so to speak. "Cheating" was defined as having more displacement, or using an illegal camshaft, everything else was just "fussing around" with the car to get it to run better...
It's the same in dirt racing,for every 10 thing u try maybe one actually made a difference. But fun trying. Traction control was the big no no. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The exhaust collector hole (as mentioned )is what they used. Talk to my brother, he said there was a 3"or 3 1/2 " IDx 4" long piece of pipe that was sliced and had hole drilled on the side. A small lead-pipe was welded over the side hole. That slid up on the collector over corresponding hole drill in collector. It was held in place with two hose clamps. He thought the techs held a board against the end of the collector and if exhaust came out tail pipe, you were good. First pic shows pipe slid over collector and clamps. Other pic , can anyone tell me anything about the headers by the little of them showing? Primary size? Or if there was different style of stahls Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Set of stahls for tri five that were for sale on internet. I know am looking at it wrong, but the header on the left and primary tube farthest to left looks kinked , or really a tight bend. Anybody have other pics or dimensions of stahl headers. Haven't seen any others for sale anywhere . So going to try to make a set. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I remember from somewhere that it was "supposed" to be 10 % of the exhaust gases passing through the stock exhaust system with the headers collector open to the air that is why there were holes in the collector to fit a connection to the exhaust system. But I can't find that requirement in the rule books. I can't remember where we came up with that percentage but that was what everybody went by back in those days when determining how large a connection to make to the stock system.
That's what they did factory exhaust connected to the side of collector. Brother thought they just made sure something would come out the factory exhaust and u were good. I also see the collector wasn't suppose to point at the track. Don't know how they got around that one. Or maybe I read it wrong. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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