Rule Snippet Attached Below Since I sold my g***er project that I just never fell in love with, I have casually been looking for a drag and drive project that would fit into the Hot Rod cl***. I have a couple of questions, mainly related to ch***is and suspension. I figure there are probably some guys on here who run in that cl***, and I know there are some avid Drag Weekers. I know I can message the Motortrend Folks but in my experience while they do answer it might take months. Im trying to find a car (or preferably a 40s truck) that already has some part of what I need done to it. I kinda break it down to three big things, a V8 swap, a Roll Cage, or a strong rear end swapped in. Ill take any one of those things and be happy to do the others. I just don't want to have to do all of it. 28-48, easy enough. Simple and Straight Forward. Same with engine. But I get hung up on ch***is and suspension. A ton of solid deals are out there that are either Mustang II front ends, or are on s10 ch***is. Are either of those allowed? Would an S10 be considered a "street-oriented aftermarket replacement?" Its not a tube ch***is. I feel like the Mustang II should be allowed as long as you are running front fenders. I think in years past there was a "no coilover" rule, but now its just no struts. Ive not done a car earlier than the 50s before but I ***ume the rack and pinion steering give you more room. There doesn't appear to be any rear suspension rules. I saw a truck for sale a while ago that had a c4 independent suspension rear grafted in. Didnt look particularly traditional hot rod, but probably effective, and you wouldn't really see it anyway. Appreciate any clarification someone can give.
We can talk about how they're not allowed, and that he should get an original or reproduction frame, and run an axle up front, eh? even if he might be able to use the IFS for Drag Week, it would just be lame.....
Thats a pretty obscure pull, I just searched Mustang II and got a ton of hits. So if that's a hard and fast rule Im clearly not the only rule breaker. The S10 part I guess I could give you, I didn't really think about it. I would bet there are some of those swapped too. Im not asking how to do it, or suggesting anyone else do it, nor is it my preference. I would prefer a straight-axle car FWIW. Truth be told I would even prefer a traditional powerplant like a nailhead, but I don't know if budget would allow me to be compe***ive with that. But for the purposes of my search for a Hot Rod eligible drag week project, I just want to know how wide or narrow my search can be is all. If I find a project that has good stuff that I need, a 9.3 out back and a v8 swap up front, but has a mustang II, or even a nova subframe, do I need to p*** on that for rules.
It kind of seems that they just don't want you using race car ch***is. But like you said, getting an answer any time soon is iffy. I'd play it safe and go with an original frame and axle front end. But I also took the IFS out of my Chevy II, and run in G***er/AFX cl***, which allows IFS if it sits up high.
I guess what I dont get, is the intent of the "you must run front fenders if you have IFS". I mean wouldn't the old knee action suspension be considered IFS? They want that hidden? Or is s the fender rule specifically there, because so many hot rods have Nova/Camaro/Mustang II front subframes and to hide those? I also dont want to make it way harder on myself than it has to be, take way longer in searching to find the perfect car, then I show up and find out that half the cl*** field has IFS and I wasted my time.
I get that.... I think they don't want to see IFS because the cl*** is supposed to be about "traditional looking" cars. Like the HAMB is. And like the HAMB, covering up the IFS with fenders, and not mentioning it, is acceptable.
Which makes perfect sense, but I wasn't sure if the "allowable" independent suspension options were limited to era vintage units like the Knee Action. Trying to read between the lines I feel like the fact that they drew the hard line at struts, meant that the 70s era stuff was okay. The 80s S10 stuff I get is a bit more stretching the intent, and as I said isn't my preference. The only reason I mentioned it is Ive seen several very reasonably priced project trucks sitting on those frames. At the end of the day its just a leaf spring rear with A arms. Not very different from a 57 Chevy. The fact that there are bolt in v8 brackets makes it appealing. Ease and cost starts to overwhelm my hot rodder dignity at a certain point.
Why not use a aftermarket frame for a model A or 32 ford ? Install cab and bed. Keep the straight axle front end. Your going to need to build it to go at least 10 seconds to be compe***ive. There has been trucks going faster in the hot rod cl***. Figure on at least 700 hp. Good luck and have fun.
Exactly, the cl***es are getting quicker and quicker every year, and your stuff has to survive a grueling week.
otoh you can just go kind of slow like Kevin with a sedate hot rod, and have a lot of fun! or build something traditional but pretty darn fast like Joel, and suffer through all kinds of weird problems
The winner of the hot rod cl*** in 2023 was Mark Fisher with a 9.1497 Average and average MPH of 146.694. Everyone says you don't need to win to have fun. You can have an eye on eventually being compe***ive, but what it will take is to go 8's if you want to win the cl***, and you'd have to have an 8.50 cage to go that fast. Think Freiburger's F-rod for an idea of what that takes in an early Ford hot rod (has run 8.501 but isn't set up to be streetable). The rules to me are pretty clear. If it's not on a stock ch***is for that model (with upgrades), then it has to be aftermarket but a street-style. No pro-street cars or drag-specific ch***is. If you show up with your car on an S-10 ch***is you may get shoved into another cl*** because it clearly says aftermarket in the rules, and S-10 isn't aftermarket. If you have IFS, cover it with fenders because we want these to appear to be cool old hot rods. They can look street roddy, but just don't show us the goods. You may try getting in touch with Keith Turk, I understand he's the tech guru for drag week. You'll need a pretty wild engine if you want to be compe***ive in that cl***. Then cooling becomes your big concern. I would build something that you can run 12's to 14's and easily go down the road. Build the base well, but don't worry about being compe***ive. Try drag week and if you love it and want to go faster, you have a tested car that you can make faster, put an 8.50 cage in, etc.
Also, here are the 2023 results. Hot Rod is on page 4. https://www.motortrend.com/uploads/...ek-2023-day-5-results-september-22-update.pdf
Getting forced out of the cl*** during inspection is exactly why I brought it up in the first place. I know its getting faster, which is why I put a roll bar on my big list of needs/wants. Initially, I don't plan on doing F-Rod numbers, but I feel like if you can run 10s, and someone else gets some bad luck you can at least tell yourself there is an outside shot. The field is so much smaller in that cl***. If you are running 13s, you cant even lie to yourself. So that's the initial goal, is 10s. Get faster every year. This is a long term goal of mine, like many of you I have more projects than budget. So Im thining the herd this spring and the plan is the open up garage space and money for a drag week project. Preferably Hot Rod, but possibly Gas/B. Just depends on the car I luck into for a good deal. Thats also just drag week, there are more drag and drive options than ever, including a couple of 3 day events local to my area. Which a 10 second hot rod cl*** car might be more naturally compe***ive there. On the aftermarket 32 ch***is, Im completely open to that. However, as I alluded to, I would prefer a partially done vehicle. Not just for money but for time spent. I would like to be able to enter some of the localish later events this year, even if that were in a less-than-compe***ive ride. In a perfect world, I would like an ugly but strong roller vintage race car, where the ch***is and suspension (especially the rear end) are solid. Ill do the drivetrain, a cheap paintjob, and probably brakes. Because every old car I have ever bought needed brakes. Im a big believer that the soft underbelly of the old car world is picking up other peoples projects that they have moved on from. Where some real money/effort was already spent. Hell Ive sold some like that myself that I put a bunch of work into and lost interest in. Doing everything from dead scratch is rarely economical. I did it with my 67, and don't feel the need to ever again unless its a super special car. I think Keith answered a question I sent in a few years ago. Absolute wealth of knowledge, but the HAMB tends to be more available
If you just want an answer, sure. If you want an accurate answer look him up on Instagram and ask. Might cut out the time of getting the question to him.
That a good idea. If I have a questionable car that I’m considering purchasing I’ll do that. Hopefully I find one that is a no brainer. after I posted this yesterday a 48 Buick came up that had been converted to open drive with a ln SBC and 9inch. It’s local and tempting, I just don’t know if I want to play the no ***le game. I might throw out a lowball offer because of the no ***le and see what happens. It’s also a heavy car, which would be a handicap in that cl***. Looks cool as hell though.
I’m not a hard no, but like I said earlier about how a car needs to be special for me to want to take on a “needs everything” project. No ***le is kind of the same. I don’t think this one is special enough. Looks cool and is local, but it still needs a lot. Dude says, “Its an old car, easy to get a ***le”. Yeah okay, then why didn’t you do it? Doable? Yes. But don’t act like there aren’t a bunch of hoops to jump through.
Honestly I need to sell my wwii jeep and my 911 first anyway. It’s just hard not to look at what’s out there. Consequently on the off chance someone wants to trade a hot rod project for a cool old 1943 Willys hit me up!
Study the rules a lot! ***le or not, that 48 Buick is too heavy. You're building a street driven race car. Make it light. Mark Fisher has the right idea to be a winner. Freiberger too. Light little model A, simple, reliable, and cheap BBC, automatic. Keeping it simple and reliable. But that approach doesn't work for me. I've always marched to a different drum. Early hemi, 8 carburetors, manual trans, heavy bigger Plymouth body and frame, etc. The car has actually been pretty reliable, except for the heads, and the occasional weird problems and mostly the self inflicted ones like lack of testing and not being ready when I should.
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