Photograph Courtesy HSRStock cars. Big. Loud. Basic. They can be found at major vintage races as well as on the greens of The Amelia. Sure, these machines may lack the elegance, grace and sophistication of a sports car, but that’s exactly the appeal to those who love them.
“They’re a lot of fun,” says Ricky Sanders, who raced in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and ran Porsches last year in Trans Am. “These cars are 800-plus horsepower, with old-school four-speed transmissions and relatively narrow tires. We have no electronic assists. They’re a blast to drive because you have to manhandle them.”
One of the biggest proponents of vintage stock car racing is Joe Nemechek. The 60-year-old Xfinity Series champion is known for his oval track prowess–he was called Front Row Joe for a reason–but as a team owner, thanks to the driving skills of Le Mans star Ron Fellows, he also recorded NASCAR wins on road courses.
“It lets me keep racing,” Joe says. “I don’t do a whole lot of NASCAR competition stuff anymore. My business is booming as far as building race cars, driver coaching and all kinds of stuff.”
The Historic Stock Car Racing Association sanctions many vintage stock car events. Most of the races run in conjunction with either HSR or SVRA–look for them at big events like HSR’s Mitty, Sebring and Daytona weekends.
“It’s a great way for people to reconnect with their favorite driver,” notes HSCRA leader Chris Evans. “A lot of these cars were raced by the people represented on the livery. Some of the drivers are actually here, too. Bill Elliott sometimes shows up at our events.”
Vintage stock car racing attracts NASCAR winners such as Joe Nemechek, and they race many kinds of stock cars, including trucks. Photography Credits: Courtesy HSR (truck), J.A. Ackley (Joe Nemechek)
The HSCRA is open to all stock cars that ran in one of the major NASCAR series. It offers different classes for different eras and types of cars–even the trucks, which Joe runs.
Many vintage stock car racers opt for Generation 4 Cup cars built for the 1992-2007 seasons. During this era, most teams specifically built a few cars for the two road courses on the schedule, Sonoma and Watkins Glen. Ricky runs a purpose-built road course car.
“It only ran on road courses, which is kind of nice because those cars didn’t get worn out,” Ricky explains. “They could run four, five, six years and only have a few races on them.” On the downside, road course cars are also rarer because teams typically kept a primary and a spare in their fleet–and that’s it.
Oval track cars are far more plentiful. You can make them work on road courses, but it takes effort to make them turn left and right at a competitive level. It involves essentially rebuilding the car–the chassis, the body, other bolt-on components.
Finding documentation on a car can be challenging, though, especially on older cars and those run by smaller teams and organizations no longer around. “Up to the early ’90s, most of them didn’t have chassis stamps,” Chris notes. The only documentation that his 1991 Richard Petty Pontiac is an actual Petty car? The team’s Dale Inman looked at the car and confirmed that, yes, his team built it.
Another advantage to racing vintage stock cars? Cost. “It’s the best bang for the buck right now,” says longtime sports car racer Scott Lovett. “Prices are starting to creep up. You could buy a decent stock car for under $30 grand. It’s cheaper than an F-150, whereas if you wanted a BMW M4 GT4, they’re $150,000 used.”
Keeping the cars running is relatively inexpensive, too. “If you need a front clip, it’s like $4000,” notes vintage stock car competitor Carlus Gann. “You can hang a whole new body on one for about $12,000. Engines, you can pick them up for $15,000 to $30,000.”
Both Hoosier and Goodyear make tires designed for the class. The bodies consist of hand-fabricated sheet metal with composite noses and tails; the fabricators who put these cars together can still be found in North Carolina.
Proponents of vintage stock cars tout the safety of the vehicles. NASCAR stock cars were designed to beat, bang and crash at speeds exceeding 200 mph. Photography Credit: J.A. Ackley
Scott notes another appeal of driving a vintage stock car: the safety. “They’re designed to run into each other at 200mph,” he notes.
NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow debuted in 2007, incorporating many of the lessons learned from the deaths of Dale Earnhardt and others to create an even safer race car.
“Look at the big wrecks that happen in NASCAR and the driver walks away,” says Carlus. “Us as amateurs, we want to have a good time–we don’t want to get hurt.”
A good time. That’s exactly what a vintage stock car promises to deliver, according to its proponents. While the mantra “Rubbin’ is racin’” holds true in the stock car world, it’s not so much a phenomenon in the vintage stock car world.
“We’re just a bunch of good guys who consider each other friends,” Carlus says. “When it comes down to it, we help each other to get out to the grid. We come here to socialize and we get to drive some cool old cars.”