Camaro Sportsmans, What am I missing?

H

hotracer11f

Member
I have recently decided to get back into racing with the sportsman division at Highland. In doing so I have spent the past few weeks in search of that perfect car in my not so perfect price range.What I have found and bought is a '75 Camaro. Very beautiful car for what it is. Like any other person new to the sport or even returning after a period, no matter how long or short, I have spent a great deal of time reading and re-reading the rules for the class at the track. What I have found Intrigues and puzzels me all at once.
For this particular class a factory "full frame" car(metric monte carlo, chevelle,cutlass,e.t.c.) using a factory rear coil suspension,J-bar, and Pullbar must weigh in at 3000 lbs. with driver. And yet the Camaro "stub" car using ONLY the factory style leaf spring rear suspension(no j-bar or pull bar) need only to weigh in at 2800lbs with driver.Said Camaro may also utilize a FOUR BARREL CARB as long as it has NO suspension helpers.
To me, and I am only speaking for myself, it seems that the Camaro would be lighter and have more potential power. I may be way off base with this, but if for some strange reason all the planets have aligned and I am correct then why is there so few of these cars even left running on our local tracks let alone the fact that nobody is taking advantage of this rule? Have these cars gone on the way side? Are parts just too hard to find or exspensive?Should I just keep looking for another sportsman or stick with the Camaro I just bought? Any insight would be great . Thanks guys. Dave
 
Because the stock 4 link or leaf car wont hook like the pullbar cars.You can make 600 horsepower according to the sportsman rules at highland, with 4 barrel, but you cant hook it on a stock 4 link.
 
I may be wrong...but i beleive the rule is...a stock suspension car..with 4 coil springs..must weigh at least...2800..stub cars 3000. Thats what i was told...to even the field out. And...cant hook to the track with a leaf car...is not true. Its al about..angle....making the suspension free and to work right to not bind it up..and control rear end pitch on acceleration. It can be done...i know this for a fact.
 
I toyed with the idea of building a leaf sportsman but decided to stay with the metric frame for a number of reasons. 1. The success we've had against other leaf cars at the big shows at Brownstown IL. 2. The adjust ability you have with the coil springs, jbar and pull bar. You can dial it in faster and more consistently with the coils I believe. 3. maintenance, It's a lot easier to check rate on a coil spring. All this being said I don't doubt that the leaf spring car could be made to be fast, it just seems like alot of tricks have to be introduced into the design which would not nessesarily fit into the "factory style leaf spring" rule. There are some tracks where the leafs do dominate the coil cars and there are tracks where the coil cars dominate, Highland and Brownstown happen to be a couple of them. Leafs are also allowed by Allied and I don't know if any cars that have em have been competitive. On another note if you really want to run the camaro stub you would be better off with a 70 to 74 if I remember right they're a little lighter. If you have a complete 75 camaro, ya have a title and its in good shape you may be better off selling it and going with another car. Pete Cory has a really nice Extreme car for sale
 
my wife just reminded me that the Camaro we bought is in fact a 74 and is for the most part race ready.Im hust very currious as to why the rules are set the way they are. It seems to me, and I very well may be wrong, but the rules favor the stub cars. Weight v. weight , 2 bbl v. 4 bbl but like I said I may be very wrong about that. Thank You for all your input guys. I greatly apprecate it. Dave Fetsch
 
i would have to agree with extremeracecars the 3 link cars are just easier to adjust to the track counditions and much easier to drive and they are alot faster (just my opinoin) i have a extreme sportsman and they are good cars i have i would be will to sell race ready if your interested just send me a message i am looking to get back in a mod.
 
ExtremeRaceCars said:
I toyed with the idea of building a leaf sportsman but decided to stay with the metric frame for a number of reasons. 1. The success we've had against other leaf cars at the big shows at Brownstown IL. 2. The adjust ability you have with the coil springs, jbar and pull bar. You can dial it in faster and more consistently with the coils I believe. 3. maintenance, It's a lot easier to check rate on a coil spring. All this being said I don't doubt that the leaf spring car could be made to be fast, it just seems like alot of tricks have to be introduced into the design which would not nessesarily fit into the "factory style leaf spring" rule. There are some tracks where the leafs do dominate the coil cars and there are tracks where the coil cars dominate, Highland and Brownstown happen to be a couple of them. Leafs are also allowed by Allied and I don't know if any cars that have em have been competitive. On another note if you really want to run the camaro stub you would be better off with a 70 to 74 if I remember right they're a little lighter. If you have a complete 75 camaro, ya have a title and its in good shape you may be better off selling it and going with another car. Pete Cory has a really nice Extreme car for sale
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Very true...good post. Leafs can be fast..but..yes..little harder to adj the suspension. Ride height is real critical. Well said
 
dirtracer56m send me a good pic of that car I'll put it on my site. I always like to hear where some of my cars end up. If it's the one I'm thinking of I built it for Brian Dawson, then Lonnie Casey raced it a couple of years before he sold it to Randy Tyson. That was a good car Brain won a few big races at Brownstown with it. Lonnie won a feature at Belleville in it and I believe randy also won one or two features.
 
Hello,is this Camero you have 108"wheel base or more?Where are you planning on running this car?I think they have a 108"min wheel base at Highland and Granite and maybe Bellvagas.Just a thought.Tuner
 
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