Originally Posted by
Morgs153
hotshoe65s - You get the hitting the nail on the head award right there.
98-06 I worked as a tech in NASCAR. Our series ran 390 carbs on 9:1 engines. We had all those neat tools and go-no go gauges to check those carbs plus a box stock Holley we could could compare to. Why then at the time were some of those carbs costing teams $4500, and maybe more?
Well, they were buying technology from teams that ran BGN (now Xfinity) and those teams also ran 390cfm carbs at places like Daytona, where they also ran the plate. So, they had to get every little bit of air through that carb and still make the power they wanted, and still pass the tech test. Big time engineering and costs just trickled on down.
So, right there is a good example of how that "cost saving measure" in the form of a box stock Holley, race ready for your short track series, became a very expensive part - a part that many teams thought they needed just to be competitive and stay near the front runners.
I remember holding a conversation with a DLM driver after a show and he brought up to me that maybe the series he was running should consider going to a 390 carb. My reply, "NOOOOOOOOO." When I explained the above example in a bit more detail he reconsidered.
You were spot on in your comment.