Fantastic cars, fantastic era Jon!
I agree, think from 1990 to about 2003 there were all types of racing to the point had to decide on a weekend which one to go racing
Some races local and some having to drive long distance to do
Would Always say, this is the last go fast mod I would do and following week doing another
Meet lots of racers who became long time friends and lots of trophies to have some proof blowing all the money and labor was worth it
But also the tough times, like :
1. had a shop change a rear end gear ratio
During a race at high speeds, the driveshaft came off the yoke of the diff
To find that shop never tighten the U joint clamps, and believe me when the end of shaft hit and dragged on ground at high speeds is not a position you want to be in
2. Was doing the Super Sport division of Open Road Racing (ORR) which allowed a max overall average speed of 170 MPH
I wanted to move to the Unlimited class, which means no max speed limit
I contacted the guy that handled the tire tech inspections for those racing, and he told me what tires I MUST have which I bought at around 2,000 for all 4 and had them installed
Trailered the Vette from Ca to Texas, lots of money spent for entering that class, plus all my time
I get there, go to inspection and the same fricking guy fails my Vette saying the tire thread had to be shaven down to only
3/32nds left, which he never told me about
So I had to enter back into the SS class and boy was I pissed A!
So now back home I had to find a shop that shaved tires.
Place I contacted swore they were pros at doing this and tires would roll correctly
Being the Snakeskinner was never a real production Corvette, I could not drive it on public roads to test those shaved tires
So I travel to next ORR, again pay entry to unlimited class, same ahole tech guy passes the tire this time
Off to race, once over speeds like 150 MPH the tires were so out of shape that my teeth were bouncing and eyesight blurry :-(
I was so pissed I did the whole 80 miles that way and in the end had to can $2,000 of new tires, plus shaving costs and start over again:-(
But in the end, the Corvettes I owned during those years did a lot of racing, ass kicking, and only once since 1974 did I have engine failure
except when I tweaked 2 valves downshifting too high of RPMs at the 1/4 mile traps of drag strip
