This brings us up to present day, where Troy and Gary are seated at opposite ends of the pits, staring each other down in anticipation as another man takes control of their babies and rides them down the track. Actually, that's not exactly right. The two volunteers for our little horsepower orgy were quite friendly, and the only real battle that occurred at the track was between magazine guys over the last Dunkin' Donut. We had piles of awesome wheels and tires, a gaggle of spectators willing to spin lug nuts in trade for the opportunity to witness an all-day drag fest, and two amazing cars that looked great in just about every situation. Our hardcore "showdown" evolved into a great day at the racetrack, with plenty of dragstrip passes, tire-howling jaunts through the slalom course, and insane tire-frying burnouts for all. With a giant 6-71 blower sucking through triple carbs, we fully expected Troy's Bow Tie brawler to be the king of the 'strip, and we weren't disappointed. Interestingly, while we were certain that the Jag-suspended Deuce would reign supreme in the handling categories, we were shocked when the solid-axle car started posting numbers comparable to a modern European sports car. Apparently, handling prowess is all about engineering and proper setup, and Troy's Speedway Motors-supplied tube axle and hairpin frontend (we know you're not supposed to combine those two, but perhaps this will give old-school critics something to think about) totally outshined the Jag suspension on the track. However, had the open-wheel '32 been equipped with front and rear sway bars, which look sorta ugly but were designed for a reason, things might have turned out differently. For more information on the performance numbers, check out the sidebar packaged with this story.
As the setting afternoon sun shimmered in waves across the hot black asphalt at the Golden State's newest raceway, there were no losers, only a group of grinning men giggling like schoolgirls as the scent of fresh roasted radial wafted through the air. We got to pit two amazingly different cars, built for very different purposes, against each other in a tribute to two of the coolest stories in R&C history. We were given the chance to check out a wide array of bitchin' wheels and tires, ranging from the highest of tech to the most stunningly simple. Most importantly, we got to bask in the glory of horsepower, hot rods, and old-time drag racing. Our Ol' Dad would be proud.
By The NumbersOn paper, this looked like an interesting, if not completely mixed up, match-up. The plan was to take a very basic but powerful hot rod with solid-axle suspension and drum brakes and pit it head-to-head against a full-tilt modern street rod riding on four-wheel independent suspension with big disc binders all the way around. The old-school car rolled in on bias-plies, with big slicks in back and skinnies up front. The high-tech car relied on giant billet wheels shod in modern high-performance rubber for traction. Since we had an entire day to waste at the track, we ran both cars through a battery of performance tests on the wheel/tire combo they were already using. Then we put identical sets of 17-inch wheels and BFG gForce T/A performance tires on both cars, so we could see not only how they pitted against each other with matching shoes, but also how the numbers changed when compared with their standard setups. For reference, the '32 is a sedan delivery with a fully trimmed leather interior, so it definitely has a little more heft to it. Power comes from a pretty mild, naturally aspirated 350. On the other hand, the '34 is as bare-bones as it gets, without so much as carpet for creature comfort. Power comes from a supercharged and uncorked small-block, so the power-to-weight ratio is skewed. These cars didn't compete against each other so much as they competed against themselves. Here's how things played out.