NHRA and IHRA Super Stock racing is a playground for the engine-building mad scientists that want to maximize a combination, wringing every last drop of performance possible out of their tightly-regulated class rules. The cornucopia of possible combos can make for some interesting racing, and this past weekend at National Trail Raceway the grounds were full of Super Stockers for the inaugural Auto Meter Northern Class Nationals, and included class eliminations, which pits all of the cars in specific categories in a heads-up, no breakout contest. Among the stronger fields was Super Stock/K — a field of high-winding, manually-shifted small block machines — many of them early Chevy II’s — that put one heck of a show.
Super Stock is the big angry brother to Stock Eliminator class racing. The rules in Super Stock are a bit more loose than Stock, but the premise is still similar in that factory shipping weight is divided by NHRA-factored horsepower ratings to arrive at the class each car competes in. There’s of course a lot more to it than that, but that’s the basis for how things work. In Super Stock you can perform some additional modifications to the engine beyond what’s allowed in Stock, but must use the correct block, heads, and induction system.
What makes the SS/K shootout totally kick ass is the fact these are all sub-350 cubic inch motors rocking four-speeds. The weapon of choice for the 10-car field was the classic Chevy Nova, with a first generation Ford Mustang and a Malibu mixed in for good measure. The official index for SS/K is 11.00 when these cars are class racing, but since the shootout is a heads-up format, the gloves come off and these guys are running all out. Stephan Belanger won the event, ripping off a string of low 10-second passes, and capping his weekend with a 10.10 at 130 miles per hour in the final.
Check out this video from robzneed4speed’s YouTube channel for all of the high reving, gear jamming, wheels-up action. These SS/K cars may not have big cubic inches, but the put on a big show.