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GM Performance Parts Top Stock To
Assault The 9-Second Barrier At ACDelco Nationals presented by Chevrolet
The first meeting of GM Performance Parts Top Stock could mean shattering one of the few remaining great barriers in drag racing. Stock Eliminator cars have never posted a 9-second Elapsed Time on the scoreboards, a chase that has come into focus in the sportsman category over the last two years. There is no nitrous oxide, no superchargers, no mountain motors, no Pro Stock hood scoops, and no tube chassis or trick suspensions, just stock muscle massaged to perfection. The potential is there for a 9-second run, following recent performance levels at high-altitude tracks in the west. Virginia Motorsports Park lies just 168 feet above sea level, and is well-known for record-breaking performances.
GM Performance Parts Top Stock showcases the most powerful of Stock Eliminator cars, running heads-up on a Pro Tree with no breakout. A standardized weight break allows cars with different engine combinations and transmissions that typically fit A, B, C or D Stock classes to compete on an even basis. Each car carries 8.6 pounds per factored horsepower, such that the higher horsepower cars carry more weight than the lower horsepower cars. With the introduction of Crate Motor combinations into the fray, the variety of vehicles have expanded, as has interest in the class. Sticks versus automatics, carburetors versus fuel injection, and new cars versus old all come together on an even playing field to pound the quarter-mile with wheels reaching for the sky.
Many question marks remain for this first event, however. The rumor mill churns constantly. Many drivers are trying to keep a low profile going into the event in order to surprise the competition. Some entries have fallen victim to breakage in recent weeks, forcing their owners to scramble to not only get their machinery in working operation, but also have the time to test prior to the race. Still others are waiting to see how the Crate Motor entries stack up against the more traditional Stockers.
Bobby DeArmond, one of the threats to break the 9-second barrier, suffered a post-wheelstand crash at Atco Raceway in New Jersey, but rumor has it that he is thrashing to get the car back together. Several drivers from that area came out unscathed however, so you can count on George Cottell's B/S Camaro, and the Max Wedge Plymouth of John Shaul being at Virginia.
Stay tuned for all the heads-up, wheels-up musclecar action from Virginia Motorsports Park this weekend at the ACDelco Nationals presented by Chevrolet, as GM Performance Parts Top Stock takes you back to racing the way it used to be! Qualifying will be run Friday, with eliminations slated for Saturday, finishing under the lights during the Night of Fire! HOME
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Norwalk,
OH – Turn back the clocks and get ready for the heads-up
wheelstanding musclecar performance of IHRA’s GM Performance Parts Top
Stock at the ACDelco Nationals presented by Chevrolet at Virginia
Motorsports Park!
The
brainchild of Mike Keener and Terry Bell, Top Stock was a hit with fans
and the media in its debut at Norwalk Raceway Park’s Mopar Parts World
Nationals last year. Top Stock returns in 2001 under the GM Performance
Parts banner for five IHRA Summit Drag Racing Series national events, plus
a sixth event at the independently produced GM Performance Parts U.S.
Class Nationals.
Last
year’s number two qualifier and semi-finalist at the Mopar Parts World
Nationals running of Top Stock has made the most noise in the headlines
recently. Joe Aluise, Jr. is the driver of the ’63 Belvedere 426 Max
Wedge car commonly referred to as "the Tiger". Aluise wowed the
crowed at Norwalk with tremendous wheelstands and numbers on the
scoreboard that were equally impressive. Last weekend, Aluise made history
by setting the first official 9-second NHRA record in A/SA by running a
10.266 at Boise, Idaho, an altitude factored facility. NHRA equated the
10.26 pass to a sea-level run of a 9.93. Although the car must carry an 40
pounds more weight in Top Stock than in Stock, all odds still point to
Aluise as the best bet for a 9-second run to appear on the scoreboard at
Virginia Motorsports Park.
The
Team Checkmate cars from Mike Keener’s stables will also be in
attendance, and factor heavily into equation. Keener’s teammate Mark
"Big Y" Yamarino drove his stick-shift ’68 Camaro to the
runner-up at last year’s meet. Another ’68 Camaro Checkmate car,
driven by Paul Mercure may be remembered for his bumper-scraping,
"all four wheels off the track" wheelstand and resulting
aftermath at Houston, TX but that should not overshadow his stout 10.09
blast recorded at Delmar, DE. Keener competes in another nearly identical
A/S ’69 Camaro, while John Cavataio adds to the huge sportsman team with
a decidedly different combination, a small block, fuel-injected D/S ’94
Camaro.
Bobby
Brannon has already scored in "Spring Training", as he took the
Top Stock Shootout title in a special show during Red River Raceway’s
Holley Sportsman Championship Series event. With help from Stock wizard
Jim Cimarolli, Brannon ran 10.20’s in the Louisiana air, which is sure
to be improved upon at Virginia. After being held (like most competitors)
to 10.50’s in the heat of the summer at Norwalk, it becomes apparent how
important weather conditions are to Stock engines. "Jim began with
the motor. About the only thing left unchanged now is the transmission.
Jim has rebuilt this car front to rear," said Brannon. "Without
all his hard and dedicated work my A/SA (T/STK) 1969 Camaro would not be
possible."
Brett
McFarland quietly slipped into the No. 3 qualifying spot last year with
his A/S ’68 Camaro. Look for him to make some noise at Virginia. His
teammate Dale Garrison wrote to let IHRA.com in on their winter projects.
"We are getting a fresh motor in the car. We went to Orlando in
December and were down on power. We came back and found some problems.
Parsons and Meyers went over the motor and we hope to be strong
again," explained Garrison. "We really had a fun time last year.
I think there are going to be a lot of new cars this year, so I think the
competition is going to be wide open. All of Keener’s cars are running
strong, Brannon is hot, Helms is always a contender and you can't rule out
Al [Corda] defending his title."
Lest
we forget the dark horse winner of the inaugural Top Stock event at
Norwalk, Al Corda will be at Virginia to defend his title. With the
implementation of some slight but significant rule changes, Corda’s ’99
Firebird will carry more weight in 2001, but will certainly not be taken
for granted.
The
Ford-driving brothers Rusty and Steven Hall will be at GM Performance
Parts Top Stock season opener as well, making the trek from Texas along
with their ’68 Mustangs. To try to fight off the Fords, long-time Chevy
campaigner George Cottell will be there with his B/S ’69 Camaro.
Mike
Walter falls into an unenviable predicament, after a blown motor at the
IHRA Holley Spring Nationals held him to runner-up finish with his F/SA
Camaro. Although the blown Stocker motor was not the same engine as the
385 fast burn crate motor combination that Walter is exploring for Top
Stock, having to develop two complete engines for his harried racing
schedule will require a superhuman effort to complete. That is not to say
that it cannot be done, as Walter is well known for being one of the
hardest working Stock racers on the circuit today.
Walter
is not the only ‘traditional’ Stocker taking a look at the crate motor
route for Top Stock, but the established crate motor drivers may certainly
have a developmental time advantage. Former IHRA Stock World Champion
Monty Bogan, Jr. has already been spied with the T/STK designation on his
502 cubic inch A/CM GM Performance Parts Camaro en route to a win and a
runner-up in Earl’s Stock competition this year, but rumor has it that a
385 fast burn small block in an early body Corvette may be his final
destination.
Matt
Morgan fell victim to a similar incident during testing at Maryland
International Raceway with his C/SA Mustang. Morgan told IHRA.com on April
12, "I'm trying to get our car back together for the Petersburg race.
We tore the race car up pretty bad testing a couple of weeks ago. The
engine should be back together by Sunday. The car is coming off the frame
machine today. A new replacement converter and drive shaft for the stuff
we broke just rolled in off the UPS truck. I'm hoping that the new front
wheels and headers show up sometime soon. It will be tight for me, as I
just had eye surgery last Friday, but baring any real problems we should
make Petersburg." Morgan is a tough, hardworking competitor, who
thrashed through most of the Norwalk event, which paid off with a second
round defeat of No. 1 qualifier Jim Waldo.
The
east coast contingent has been surprisingly quiet, as they play the
stealth game with the rest of the GM Performance Parts Top Stock
competitors. Two of the most feared cars in the northeast could upset the
entire field at Virginia… the A/SA Fairlane of Richard Todd and the A/S
Camaro of Tom Baird. This pair recorded the quickest side by side Stocker
pass in history two years ago at the Pennsylvania Dutch Classic, posting a
10.12 and a 10.13 on the Maple Grove Raceway scoreboards. With two years
of development behind them, the history books may be re-written once
again!