Years ago I used to frequent Tom Beatty's shop off of Glenoaks Blvd, in Sun Valley. We would talk about all kinds of stuff but mostly Bonneville and El Mirage and his Belly Tank which had a swing axle, with only one universal on each side, just like a early VW Bug.
He told me about the time he was invited to run his belly tank at a dirt track oval in the Los Angeles area. He said in qualifying he was going way too fast into the first turn and said to himself that he messed up, but had to turn the wheel, and to his amazement the car stuck and did not roll as he had anticipated. Ended up setting the fastest qualifying time. As I recall they did not let him race after the qualifying run as the car literally put grooves in the track from the tires. If you think about this scenario the tank body rolled to the right which dipped the right axle and lifted the left axle which made the wheels look like \ \ going around the turn, which would make them dig in, hence the grooves in the track.
He also told me about running at El Mirage, making a U turn after the run and passing the push truck on the way to pick him up.
Nothing wrong with running a swing axle, what you have to look out for is the body you put over it. Some work better than others.
IMO early REMR suffered from short wheel base. 90 - 100 inch wheel base and driver in front. Driver had maybe 48 inches of hood to look down, and could not feel when the car was coming around, then when they realized what was going on it was too late, spin and possible crash.
Tom G.