To Grudge Race, or Not to Grudge Race

My boss recently purchased a 71 Duster, 340, 4 speed, 4.10 rear, and a little rough around the edges but still numbers matching and a decent car. He's been playing with it at our local 1/8th mile track and is having fun, figuring out the car and the tree, but otherwise he's babying it (understandably)

He bought the car after seeing what joy my bone-stock 318/auto 1973 Coronet has been bringing me, and it inspired him to get back into the Mopar game after defecting to the Fox Body Mustang for nearly a decade.

He's proposing a Grudge Race, 1/8th mile, bracket rules. I contend that I can beat him in my boat simply by cutting a better light and remaining consistent throughout an evening while he claims that his cars power and gearing will be enough to overcome a slower consistent car.

We'll be racing for smallest total package at the strip (et run vs dial in vs reaction time) as a heads up race is pointless unless he misses second AND third each time.

The question is this. Do I waste my time trying this? Do I kick his butt with the slower car for office bragging rights? Do I risk hurting the relic of a Dodge that I own with tired yet capable parts? Or do I throw caution to the wind and run him 1/8th mile and have fun, damn the torpedoes, and make sure my AAA Gold membership is current in case i need a tow home?

Polls are open

Racing IS racing... If its over a 6 pack of [Insert favorite drink here] then I'm all for it.

Yes

Well if things don't go your way, it will certainly give you motivation to get the bigblock built!!!

He has everything to lose and you have everything to gain. Do it!

I love being the underdog!

YOU said you could beat him...better prove it.

Kick his *** vs. kiss his ***!

if he can drive a stick you might still have your hands full

I know I can cut a better light than he can, I know my car can be more consistent than his too. Here's the potential match-up in the pics. Both are tired, low mile cars with various issues that still need ironing out but if nothing else it could be fun. I think I got this in the bag, but only time will tell. Trying to get schedules to meet so it can go down properly, I'll post the results, if any lol

The boss . . . hope he's the understandable type if you do beat him, then will you have to be hush-hush about it ? ?

The racing is not the question - the boss is the dilemma in my eyes . . . interesting conundrum you have in front of you . . .

conv67bdere said:

The boss . . . hope he's the understandable type if you do beat him, then will you have to be hush-hush about it ? ?

The racing is not the question - the boss is the dilemma in my eyes . . . interesting conundrum you have in front of you . . .

Click to expand...

He's very laid back, and it's all about fun, not much Mopar love in that office, surprisingly. He's the one that proposed the idea in the first place lol

Drop all the easy weight you can before raceday! Take out the back seat, spare, jack, ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING out of the trunk.

Is this heads up? Or handicap (bracket rules)? Anyways, I say have fun. If it's heads up, a stock 318 in a B-body against a 340 in A-body is going to make a happy boss man

By the way, what's the 318 been running in the 1/8?

Dodge 330 said:

Drop all the easy weight you can before raceday! Take out the back seat, spare, jack, ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING out of the trunk.

Click to expand...

But the spare has never been removed from the trunk and still has Nixon-era air in it! Never seen the ground! (I've heard that's a big deal in the Survivor/Resto world, not that I particularly care lol) and theres nothing in the trunk but it, the jack, and the trunk mat. If I'm going to pull the back seat, I'll need to pull the front too as its a massive bench seat, maybe sit on a milk crate or zip tie a seat from my Acura in it lol

318willrun said:

Is this heads up? Or handicap (bracket rules)? Anyways, I say have fun. If it's heads up, a stock 318 in a B-body against a 340 in A-body is going to make a happy boss man

Click to expand...

Bracket rules, heads up would be pointless lol

318willrun said:

By the way, what's the 318 been running in the 1/8?

Click to expand...

Never run it down a track, only put 700 miles on it since I bought it in May, but my guess is going to be mid 11s, his car is in the 9's in the 1/8th, he babys it from what I've heard

I didn't know you could HURT a 318 Coronet. Hell yeah, run him for fun.

Wouldn't take much to put that 318 in the 9's for the 1/8. I had a stock 318 2bbl in a B-body with 2.94's, auto that ran 15.90's at 84 mph in the 1/4. 10.14 in the 1/8.

318willrun said:

Wouldn't take much to put that 318 in the 9's for the 1/8. I had a stock 318 2bbl in a B-body with 2.94's, auto that ran 15.90's at 84 mph in the 1/4. 10.14 in the 1/8.

View attachment 360037

Click to expand...

I'm basing my estimate off of what my first 318 Coronet (1968 model) ran in the 1/8th back when I was 17 years old. 11.20's, and that car was ragged and tired, Stella is a Ferrari compared to that car lol

PRND21 said:

I didn't know you could HURT a 318 Coronet. Hell yeah, run him for fun.

Click to expand...

I hurt the aforementioned 318 Coronet at the same track I intend to run Stella at, it was exciting to say the least.

It was my Mom's fault, actually.

We were there racing one night, me in my Coronet, she in a borrowed 383 Roadrunner. I was staged, she was in the burnout box behind me. I launched the car and cruised through the lights, and headed back to the pit. Mom did the same.

She pulls in, and proceeds to tell me I was "entirely too nice to that car", because I didn't bring it up on the converter enough and leave hard enough (1.98 60-foot time, she was right).

I didn't have a tach in the car at the time so she said to do it by "feel". Being the good son that I am, I listened to my mom.

I bring the car up thru the lanes, into the burnout box, clean the tires off (it wouldn't do an actual burnout anyway) and stage the car.

Left foot firmly on the brake, I load the converter up with my right foot, the suspension preload, the lights come down, and I hammer down with the right foot as I cleanly drop my left foot.

"ka-BAM!!"

Driver side motor mount (which was brand new) disintegrates under the sheer power that is the Chrysler 318. Flex fan goes into the shroud, destroying each other, power steering hoses rip from the pump, Trans linkage becomes mangled, carb linkage is stuck, power steering fluid goes everywhere, and the track shuts down for 1/2 an hour for cleanup.

Thanks Mom!

A Grade 8 bolt from some random racer in the pits, a length of chain from another racer, a hammer, and a lot of cussing later, and I was able to drive it home with relative ability, but the 45 minute drive turned into an hour and a half as terminal velocity was limited to 40 mph due to linkage issues and my fear of hurting it further, as it was my only mode of transportation, and as a teenager, it was life or death if I killed my car because of my Mom's racing advice.

She was division 3 champ at the time, why wouldn't I listen to her??

Long story short, you CAN hurt a 318 Coronet lol

I would go for it but chain the engine down beforehand so you don't have the same problem again. I used to chain all my engines on the driver side because I went thru a few motor mounts. Now I have a solid mount on the driver side. Racing is a blast, don't let your previous experience sway you. Just be more prepaired.