I started drag racing as soon as I got a driver's license.  It was all street racing at first. Mostly YBlocks.  Got a lot of tickets.  Luckily, I didn't hurt myself or anyone else.  When a drag strip opened at the local airport, I moved off the street.  When Hollywood Dragway opened, it got serious. We moved to big blocks with a 1963 406 Galaxie that ran in the 12s with an automatic. When Cobra Jets came out, my buddy and I each bought one.  Mine was a daily driver and I raced it in pure stock against Road Runners and Z28s.  His was a Super Stock car and did quite well.

Over the years I've built and owned dozens of hot rods.  57 Fords, 406/427 Galaxies and Fairlanes, Shelby Mustangs, a Sunbeam tiger and at least a dozen Mustangs.  Throw in a few GMs, Mopars and some sports cars and I don't think I missed much. Some of them I wish I had back.

Bracket racing changed everything.  I bought a 1967 Camaro from a local racer.  I built a .060 over 454 with aluminum heads and a power glide.  The car would run 10.6s all day long.  My wife and I towed the car all over Florida and ran every race we could.  Bracket racing is not racing.  It's a contest to see who can build and drive the most consistent race car.  You can have all the money in the world and someone who is better at the game will take the money.  I quit racing when I got burned one night in Tampa.  Nothing serious, but it taught me a lesson.

I have friends who are serious bracket racers.  I understand that game.  These days all my racing is done on the Internet or in my mind.

Never raced a Y block except on the street as a teenager.
But I have drag raced on the track since 69. Started out running F/G in a Mustang.
About 1980 or so class racing pretty much died at least in the area where I lived at the time, I fought the bracket racing form of racing for a couple of years
but towing and hotels were just to expensive. Several kids would come into my shop talking about bracket racing and convinced me to give it a try. Now I only laugh and shake my head at the Anti bracket racers. Most are clueless as to what goes on in a bracket race and the skills and knowledge to do it well, I'll say the same thing about the ones who dislike index or 8.90, 9.90, 10.90 class racing. Clueless as to what it takes to be good at it.
In a class race (stock, super stock, modified, or most sportsman classes)when 2 cars of different classes race each other one gets a head start, the only heads up race is if both cars are in the same class. Then the other chases him down to take the finish line. But if the winner runs faster than his index at some point they will have their factor changed. So what do they do... LOL, they slam on the brakes to only take a minimum of stripe. Same as a bracket racer.
I've worked for IHRA since I before I retired in 2003 and have stood at the finish line many days and watched them get on the brakes.
Totally agree with you tbirddragracer. Brackets leveled the field up to a point. But the guy with the big bucks still has an advantage, It's just not a guaranteed win as It was back in the older days..

Dave

You had some real money in that YBlock.  I keep thinking about those tiny rods spinning around at 8,000 rpm.  I assume you used forged truck pieces?   The block is definitely strong enough. 

YBlocks were the first hot rod engines we could afford.  We bought whole cars for $100-$200.  Changed them over to a manual transmission if need be.  Swapped on a four barrel, added a 3.89 or 4.11 gear and you had an instant racer.  Those cars would burn a black streak on the road for a hundred feet.  If we blew an engine, we could buy another one for $50.  Back then, 1957 motors were what we wanted.  Luckily they were all over the place.  Here's a photo of a 57 Victoria I built in the 80s.

I own YBlocks for the memories.  Every time I open the hood on my TBird it makes me smile.  I think about all the Sunday nights I worked to get my car running so I could go to work on Monday.  I think about the clicking noise my Dad's 57 Custom made because the rockers were wore out.  I think about taking my girl friend to the drive in and the prom in that car. I don't have that car anymore.   I still have that girl friend.  

I have always enjoyed racing, street ( years ago ) or on the strip.
 The T-Bird races in the early '90's sponsored by the Big D Little Birds in Dallas was a lot of fun.
The races in the early years were mostly stock T-Birds, but by the time the races were discontinued,
high performance engines were used. My engine built by John Mummert, and freshened up by Ted Eaton was high revving.
My shift light was set at 7000 rpm and rev limiter at 8000. The engine developed in excess of 450 hp with a 300 hp nitrous added.
High rpms are possible with a correctly built engine. Heads-up racing is great, but is usually won by who spends the most money,
( hp costs $$$$ ). Bracket racing leveled the field, but required additional attention to a whole set of new challenges.
Ernie

Years ago I used to race regularly at Miami Hollywood Raceway Park and Moroso in Florida. I was walking though the pits one day and saw a Mustang drag car.  When I walked by to look at the engine, I almost fell over.  The Mustang had a YBlock with a custom sheet metal intake.  One of my friends told me it ran in a special class for early engines.  I don't remember seeing it run. 

Old time heads-up racing is still alive in the nostalgia events/groups in the mid-west. check out nostagia gassers racing assoc., brew city gassers, great lakes gassers, etc.

 

If you are going to rev a YBlock to 9,000 rpm, you better bring a butterfly net and a dust pan. (joke)

Thank you Paul. That is good to know.
Jim Yergin

That is the original Simo's data capture from that run. White line shows max peak rpm 9178 but that was just a sudden peak with tires loose... But, it didn't broke to that.  Stock forged crankshaft with Callies Compstar H profile 6.5 inch rods rated to 800 HP. Well, we have exceeded that by over 170 hp by the dyno sheet...



 Seppo from Järvenpää, Finland
www.hollowheads.net (just click the hole in the head to proceed)

..Getting back to Jim's original question!.. At some point years ago, Ford issued a bulletin about max RPMs for Y-Block regular stock valve trains. The max recommended was" 5400 RPM".  Of course this was not for Police kits or "F" code setups..  The real weak piece above  was likely the std. pushrods..

Note: Don't know if they are available anymore, but Schumann's Sales in Blue Grass Iowa used to advertise Police service valve train kits. H.D pushrods were sold seperately.  Also available was or is H.D. oil grooved Rocker Arm Shafts.. (J. Mummert sells the same ones I believe.)  Schumann's phone # is (563) 381-2416 or Fax (563) 381-2409.. ( No internet sales there)


Paul