Bench Racer With Steve Turner—Street Heat
By Steve Turner
It would seem that I am not the only one who is into fast street cars flexing their muscle on the drag strip. From drag ‘n drive to True Street, road-worthy racers are all the rage. As I recently wrote on this page, the NMRA embraced this phenomenon with the likes of the wildly popular SunCoast Performance 8.60 Street Race category, and recently added the Street Bandit 10.10 class.
Now it’s time for the NMCA to get in on the action and Scoggin Dickey Parts Center Street Warrior 10.10 presented by Chevrolet Performance is the latest championship class to join the Red Line Oil NMCA Muscle Car Nationals fold.
Made clear by its name, racers in the class will run on a 10.10 index but do so in streetable rides that must carry a license plate, proof of current registration, and valid insurance. The vehicles must also meet the SFI and NHRA regulations for the times they are running. Randomly paired via chip draw during eliminations, racers will compete on a .400 Pro Tree and the quarter mile.
Much like its sister category in NMRA, Street Warrior 10:10, this class is also geared toward a specific manufacturer. In this case, the vehicles must be powered by General Motors engines — including those from Chevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and GM. Those engines can be in any American production vehicle that fits within the regulations, so it could bring out a diverse combination of engines and vehicles.
Though Street Bandit 10:10 is a championship-level class that runs the full schedule while competing for winnings and a championship, it offers more flexibility than a traditional heads-up class with more rigid rules. All-out heads-up classes, even sealed-engine classes, require purpose-built rides. This class is open to a wide range of combinations.
Since I fell in love with cars, I have always had a special appreciation for cars that could walk the line between street driving and racing excellence. While all-out race cars are amazing machines, their singular purposes allow a level of focus that dual-purpose cars can’t commit to. Sure some of these cars will push that envelope farther than others, but eventually they reach a limit that pure race cars don’t have, particularly when it comes to moving weight around or minimizing critical systems like charging and cooling.
In the NMRA world, only Ford machines compete, but in NMCA any domestic ride with any GM powerplant is allowed in this class. This will add a few wrinkles to the competition. It will be interesting to see what cars show up and what engines rise to the top. While I am not a fan of swapping engines in other vehicle brands, you could see something like an LS-swapped Fox battling it out with a Buick Grand National.
The class could be dominated by LS-powered Camaros, but it doesn’t have to be. When modern racers are allowed creativity, it often spawns unexpected combinations that deliver impressive performance. Of course, running on an index ultimately puts the owns on the driving and the chassis tuning, as power has become a commodity.
I am looking forward to seeing what cars show up in the class. Based on the popularity of the street-oriented index classes on the NMRA side, the NMCA should see robust competition in this class. It may draw out some of the single-digit machines from the True Street ranks that can now compete at a championship level, which provides a great path for racers to step up and grow with NMCA.
By Steve Turner
It would seem that I am not the only one who is into fast street cars flexing their muscle on the drag strip. From drag ‘n drive to True Street, road-worthy racers are all the rage. As I recently wrote on this page, the NMRA embraced this phenomenon with the likes of the wildly popular SunCoast Performance 8.60 Street Race category, and recently added the Street Bandit 10.10 class.
Now it’s time for the NMCA to get in on the action and Scoggin Dickey Parts Center Street Warrior 10.10 presented by Chevrolet Performance is the latest championship class to join the Red Line Oil NMCA Muscle Car Nationals fold.
Made clear by its name, racers in the class will run on a 10.10 index but do so in streetable rides that must carry a license plate, proof of current registration, and valid insurance. The vehicles must also meet the SFI and NHRA regulations for the times they are running. Randomly paired via chip draw during eliminations, racers will compete on a .400 Pro Tree and the quarter mile.
Much like its sister category in NMRA, Street Warrior 10:10, this class is also geared toward a specific manufacturer. In this case, the vehicles must be powered by General Motors engines — including those from Chevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and GM. Those engines can be in any American production vehicle that fits within the regulations, so it could bring out a diverse combination of engines and vehicles.
Though Street Bandit 10:10 is a championship-level class that runs the full schedule while competing for winnings and a championship, it offers more flexibility than a traditional heads-up class with more rigid rules. All-out heads-up classes, even sealed-engine classes, require purpose-built rides. This class is open to a wide range of combinations.
Since I fell in love with cars, I have always had a special appreciation for cars that could walk the line between street driving and racing excellence. While all-out race cars are amazing machines, their singular purposes allow a level of focus that dual-purpose cars can’t commit to. Sure some of these cars will push that envelope farther than others, but eventually they reach a limit that pure race cars don’t have, particularly when it comes to moving weight around or minimizing critical systems like charging and cooling.
In the NMRA world, only Ford machines compete, but in NMCA any domestic ride with any GM powerplant is allowed in this class. This will add a few wrinkles to the competition. It will be interesting to see what cars show up and what engines rise to the top. While I am not a fan of swapping engines in other vehicle brands, you could see something like an LS-swapped Fox battling it out with a Buick Grand National.
The class could be dominated by LS-powered Camaros, but it doesn’t have to be. When modern racers are allowed creativity, it often spawns unexpected combinations that deliver impressive performance. Of course, running on an index ultimately puts the owns on the driving and the chassis tuning, as power has become a commodity.
I am looking forward to seeing what cars show up in the class. Based on the popularity of the street-oriented index classes on the NMRA side, the NMCA should see robust competition in this class. It may draw out some of the single-digit machines from the True Street ranks that can now compete at a championship level, which provides a great path for racers to step up and grow with NMCA.