Hi Mark….

I recall running stuff (engines, transmissions, rear axles) low on fluid, so I wouldn’t put it past someone to run a Lenco empty. Don’t imagine since it is a planetary trans, how happy it would be though <g>.

I have some other interesting figures for anyone who cares. Last year I did a whole bunch of work on a drag race special magazine special for Race Engine Technology out of the UK. I talked them into a section on Sportsman Racing. Some of the itsy bitsy facts and figures are startling. My old pal, Mike Pustelny tells me the average front to rear wheel drive conversion Super Stock GT chassis now goes out the door for $125,000 or so, less engine, trans, headers and a few accessories (!), while a custom built recreation of a B029 or L023 Mopar Hemi Cuda or Dart will go out the door for between $125,000 an $175,000! Mike says there are between 450 and 525 man hours necessary to build a state of the art SS/GT FWD conversion car and 550 hours necessary to build a Super Stock A Hemi car. You’re not done yet. Charlie Wescott (the leader of the Warfish bunch) tells me you better bring $65,000 to the plate to bring home a new Super Stock race hemi. I’m sure Ray Barton gets an equal amount for one of his bullets.

A bit closer to home for me, I also spoke to Robin Whitcomb of B-A-M (Oregon) regarding a Stock Eliminator big block Chevy. The Sorenson brothers run out of his shop and have held the A/SA record on and off with a L72 ’69 Camaro. That engine (are you sitting down?) produces 641 HP at the peak with an extremely wide powerband. It’s also fragile when on “kill” according to Robin, so it needs a lot of maintenance. You can buy a near twin to that engine from Whitcomb for a mere $30,000! Robin tells me a more pedestrian engine combination such as a 250 HP 327 Stocker motor will only set you back $17,000 or so.

Moving over to Competition Eliminator, I spoke to Bob Panella Jr. (some of you might remember his cool dad Bob Sr. – he used to run the Panella Trucking Gassers). Anyway, Bob Jr. tells me that a 320 cubic inch, 15-degree, single four barrel wet sump motor costs in the neighborhood of $50,000! Add a dry sump and multiple carbs and the price jumps by another $10,000.

When it comes to Sportsman racing, purses aren’t exactly large either. At Indy (US Nationals), the winner in Stock Eliminator received $2,500. A Super Stock win could garner $3,000 while taking home the Competition Eliminator “Wally” was worth $3,500. In all fairness, contingency awards increase the purse, but the racer is at the mercy of the participating manufacturer as to when (or now it seems, if) he or she is paid. If you spun the clock back twenty-five to thirty years, I think you’d find the purses were proportionately stronger (by a country mile). We used to always figure if we won a National Event and collected all of the contingencies, we could just about cover the cost of the racecar.

Figured this info might prove interesting to some. And I’m sorry to the original poster – we got a way off track!

Wayne Scraba