With the New Year comes the annual release of the Great Race Event Regulations for the upcoming season. As usual, there are only minor changes from past year’s regulations. There are also some “clarifications” and the cleaning up of wording to make it as user-friendly as possible, as we try to do each year. One clarification to note is in the Authorized Modifications section about newer engines. This was done with the input from the Great Race Advisory Board of Jim Menneto, Doug Sharp, Gary Martin and Buddy Green.

As more and more newer cars are entering the event, it has been common to see a stock-looking 1957 Chevrolet with a 350 crate motor under the hood as an example. We have been scoring a car like that as a 1967 based on the first year availability of the Chevrolet 350 instead of scoring the entry as a 1957, but not everyone was aware of that fact. Starting with the 2016 race, we will also be adding a “Scoring Year” column to the results so everyone can see which cars are being scored differently than their car’s model year.

So we have added the following clarification to Section IX.C.4.b. so you can see in print what we have been doing all along:

IX. C. 4. b. An engine other than original vintage may be used on an individual review basis, with written approval of the Event Director required. IX.B.1 will apply. Some examples:

–A 283 small block Chevrolet engine in a vehicle manufactured before 1957 will be scored as a 1957

–A 327 small block Chevrolet engine in a vehicle manufactured before 1962 will be scored as a 1962

–A 350 small block Chevrolet engine (including a new crate engine) in a vehicle manufactured before 1967 will be scored as a 1967

–A 292 Ford Y Block engine in a vehicle manufactured before 1955 will be scored as a 1955

–A Ford FE 390 engine in a vehicle manufactured before 1961 will be scored as a 1961

–A Ford FE 427 engine in a vehicle manufactured before 1964 will be scored as a 1964

–A 21-stud Ford Flathead engine in a vehicle will be scored as a 1932 or the model year of the vehicle, whichever is later

–A 24-stud Ford Flathead engine in a vehicle will be scored as a 1938 or the model year of the vehicle, whichever is later

–Engines not listed here which are in vehicles manufactured earlier than the engine became available will be scored as the first year that size engine was first put into production (the burden of proof is on the owner of the vehicle)

c. In no case will the vehicle’s scoring year be earlier than its model year (example: a 350 engine in a 1969 Chevrolet will be scored as a 1969 and not as a 1967).

Another section to note is IX.C.12.b. about transmissions. Although no change or clarification was made (because we didn’t feel like it was needed), the rule will be enforced at tech inspection. Here is the wording: “Transmission must be ‘original type’ and year model and may be modified internally to improve reliability and performance. Transmissions other than original will be accepted or rejected on an individual review basis, in which case IX.B.1 applies.”

You can access the 2016 Event Regulations on www.greatrace.com under the Rally Details tab or by clicking the link below:
https://www.greatrace.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/event_regulations_2016.pdf