14.59 @ 94.94: The Pure Stock Drags draws an amazing diversity of cars. One of our favorites is Gary Walker's '67 L79 Chevelle. The L79 option cost only $198.05, and Chevrolet built 4,048 of 'em. Gary had his opponent covered, but dropped Round 2, then redlighted in Round 3.
The benchracing stops here. The Pure Stock Drags, the two-day drag race for stock musclecars only, separates fact from fiction, truth from myth, winners from losers. It happens each year two weeks after Labor Day at the Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, Michigan. This year, a record-breaking 152 cars rolled through tech and were cleared to race.
Friday is open track. Run all you want, tweak your car, and run your best time. Your runs will be averaged, and on Saturday you'll be paired with the car running closest to your average elapsed time for a best-two-out-of-three shootout.
The racing is spirited and highly competitive, and the variety of musclecars is truly amazing. Small-block, big-block, rare or mainstream, you'll see it all, and see it run. One of the best things about the event is that the pits are wide open and the racers are friendly and usually welcome a conversation about running better.
Most of the cars in the Saturday shootouts qualified within a 10th of one another. Winning the shootout means tuning your car right and driving your best. Cutting a sharp light can overcome a faster car. A consistently quick 60-foot time can mess with your opponent's head, put him on the defense, and often cause him to redlight.
But win or lose, it's probably the most fun-packed weekend on the calendar. There are no electronic leave boxes, air shifters, or any of that kind of stuff. The Pure Stock Drags is all about old-school vintage musclecars running heads-up on a full tree, just like how we raced back in the day.
For most of its first 10 years, the fastest car at the race went back and forth between Mopars, Buicks, and Chevrolets. But since 2005, Chevrolet has had a mortal lock on the Top Gun spot. The L88-spec Corvettes have outpowered everything else in sight. This year, the top three cars were Chevrolets. Feel free to rub that in the faces of your Brand X buddies.
The Pure Stock Drags happen in the boonies of Michigan. You can fly into Detroit, Lansing, Flint, or Grand Rapids, then drive an hour or two to Stanton. You have to put forth some effort to get there, but once you do, you'll discover the greatest little undiscovered event in the musclecar world. Once you've experienced it, you're hooked. The great majority of attendees come back year after year. The basic info can be found at www.purestockdrags.com.
The Pure Stock Drags is open to all makes, but Chevy turnout is always strong. Scott Pennington, one of the event's up-and-coming young racers, debuted his sharp '70 Camaro SS396, packing a rev-happy solid-lifter L78 engine, four-speed, and 4.10 Posi-a stout package. The split-bumper SS ran a best of 12.85 at 111.60 before slowing due to transmission trouble. Julie and Terry Pennington, Scott's mom and dad, are both front-of-the-pack racers, and we expect he will be, too. | 
14.40 @ 96.92: Tammy Spinrad, piloting this '64 Corvette roadster, is one of a growing number of women racers. Tammy's light 3,290-pound Corvette is built as a 327/365hp car and runs a four-speed and 3.55 Posi. She knocked off a 455-powered '70 Olds 4-4-2 in back-to-back rounds to win her shootout. | 
13.60 @ 102.41: You gotta love Paul Vitale's Impala SS427. The handsome full-size bruiser, tipping the scales at 4,255 pounds, was outfitted with a classic musclecar drivetrain, a four-speed, and 4.10:1 gears. Paul knew how to drive the big SS, too, cutting an unbelievable 1.90 60-foot time in Round 3. Paul was battling a hot Boss 351 Mustang, but his throttle linkage fell off, dropping him out of contention. |
This is the only event for bone-stock musclecars. Most racers are from Michigan, but the Pure Stock Drags draws them from as far away as Rhode Island, Louisiana, and Texas. The staging lanes fill with the most amazing cross-section of musclecars you've ever seen, and the quality of the cars is mind-blowing. Turns out the best car show in the country is actually a race. | 
14.37 @ 98.39: Mark Barber cuts a hot light in his ever-popular 350hp '70 Chevelle SS396 to shut down his opponent, a 360 Plymouth Duster. Mark quick-shifts the big Chevelle to mid-14s, even with 3.31 cruiser gears. He cut a near-perfect .001 light in Round 1, and simply outpowered the Duster in Round 2 to slam the door on the Mopar. | 
13.16 @ 108.64 Chevelle SS454, 13.53 @ 102.36 Monte Carlo SS454: This was a battle of the 454s, the 450hp LS6 in the Chevelle vs. the 365hp LS5 in the Monte Carlo. Both qualified in the 13.50 range. In Round 1, Mike Waligoria speed-shifted the Chevelle to a 13.222, far ahead of Eric Simpson's Monte Carlo. Round 2 had Eric out front with an early lead, but Mike was letting it all hang out to come from behind. It was his best run of the weekend-13.167 at 108.53-but was more than .350 quicker than his qualifying time, resulting in a DQ. Winning at the Pure Stock Drags isn't always about more power. |