69 camaro running in the 10s

One thing I forgot was this itsy-bitsy piece of trivia. When I worked for National DRAGSTER, I was off to Indy for the US Nats. I spent a lot of time in the sportsman pits (hey – these guys read my column…I doubt any of the Top Fuel or flopper folks cared….<g&gt. One of the Super Stock guys I knew was really in deep trouble with his car. It wouldn’t build oil pressure. Guess why not? At the time (late nineties), it was the in thing to remove every second tooth off the oil pump in an effort to reduce internal friction. Apparently, it worked reasonably well if you were careful with oil choice. But this racer also used the latest and greatest 0-wt oil (yes, it does exist….it resembles water in consistency). Coupled together, the small block just couldn’t build PSI. Now, to be fair it was afterall, INDY!. The car was running in class eliminations. The racer needed everything he could throw at it. The problem eventually was resolved by switching to a “heavy oil” (likely 10W or something in that range). It just goes to show how over the top little guy racing has become.

Cheers!

Wayne Scraba