el caminos

[ulrace]

can an el camino run in  a modified pickup class? made my first trek to bonneville this year and got the fever. Currently building a chopped top studebaker but wondered about the el caminos.
 thanks
 bob

[RichFox]

As has been pointed out here before, most of these answers can be readly found in the rule book. Those that can't should be directed to the people listed in the rule book as able to answer questions with answers you can count on.         Look at the bottom of page 55 in the '04 book in big dark letters.

[dwarner]

Short answer - no
 
 El Camino & Ranchero type vehicles based on sedan chassis run in the Production, Gas Coupe or Altered classes depending on modifiecations.

[Sumner]

Rich I know where you are coming from, but still I don't see a problem with people asking rules and technical questions here as that appears to be the purpose of some of the forums on this board.
 
 I have rule books from the past 6 or 7 years and due to the nature of the written word sometimes one person takes what is written to be something different than intended by the writer and frankly some of the wording is open to interpertation by the reader.  More than once I have understood the rule book better by answers to questions posted on here and I appreciate both the questions and the answers.
 
 I have also e-mailed and tried to reach some of the technical committee people with less than satisfactory results and if someone on here can clarify something then that also means less questions for them to answer.
 
 I agree that the person building the car should still make sure that the information he is using is accurate to avoid a problem come inspection time on the salt.
 
 Some of the questions do become reduntant if you have been following the board for some time, but still I like to think we want to do everything we can to encourage new people who are looking to build a car and might not yet have a rule book or that are having a hard time understanding it.
 
 I have also appreciated your posts and have learned from them, so I hope I can post this without causing a problem.  These are just my thoughts.
 
 c ya and thanks again for all of your input,
 
 Sum

[RichFox]

1FATGMC-My point is, if the question can't be eaisly answered by looking in the book, the person asking needs an offical answer. The last thing I would want to see is some guy in inspection saying "But Rich Fox said it was OK." A good example of a question that could have been answered by Ed Whitely would be "Can I run my chopped Studebaker pick up in Mod Pickup class?" Now my answer and the book would seem to say "No". But something more official might be in order before ulrace gives up on his project.

[ulrace]

Sorry if the question was redundant.My newest rule book is 2003 and if it's there I missed it. when I get a new one it will be an 05 and i guess it's there. I just joined the website because i need a lot of answers on my chopped stude which will run in A/GCC since it was chopped nicely when i found it.Just happen to like El Caminos. Been following the tire discussion and someone had mentioned ther super speedway tires. Are they readily available? thanks for the info.
 
 bob larimore

[RichFox]

A few years ago "Talageda" tires were used on some of the Bonneville cars. My friend Larry Climbie used them on the rear of his GTO. At the time someone mentioned a shop in the south east that sold tires after most big races. I'm sure someone here can put you on to them Rodger Krause in Castro Valley, Ca. could help you. make very sure the tires are the same circumfrence. Larrys were not and caused handling problums.

[jimmy six]

The El Camino/Ranchero question was never a problem prior to the advent of pick-up classes being added to Bonneville. Pickups were an El Mirage Class (with 2 engine breaks) for the guys to keep the meets going when there were problem getting entrants. It was understood and may have been in the some of the old books but it's now specified. Cuts the confusion.  
 
 The competitors choosing to run the "Talledega" style Goodyears alwas asked for to 2 right rears when buying those styles in the past. A word of caution, they have a tendency of loosing some traction because of their wide footprint. A few years ago a competitior with a pretty fast T-Bird ran with them; then quickly changed to front runners of the same diameter and went 10 mph faster. The wider tire "floated" accross the salt instead of "digging" in as a narrow foot print would. However some of the guys loved them. Good Luck

[Freud]

Years ago Slick Gardner had the same problem with the wide foot print tires on his L88 Corvette. It wouldn't go straight and it didn't go fast. He changed to B'ville tires and gained 10-15 mph along with an easy drive.

[RichFox]

Tone- Thanks for clearing that up. I was surprised to find that the El Camino question was not answered in the '03 rule book. Ulrace, My bad. The rule appeared in the book until '98 when pickups became a Bonneville class and the rule was left out till '04. Larry used two right fronts marked the same but the rool out was different. Larry had a spool and with an open rear I don't think it would have been a big deal.