Still more editorial favoritism.......

Had a reader respond to the last post about another magazine blatantly favoring one car over another. The magazine was Musclecar Review and the test was Cobra vs L88. They located two guys-one who had a for-real, documented 427 Shelby Cobra and another who had a documented L88 Corvette, and they were willing to drag race them and show once and for all who was really "King Kong."  Initially both cars ran very low 13s and very high 12s depending on whether they spun the tires halfway down the track or all the way down the track. The problem was the street tires. Both cars then were equipped with drag radials. With decent traction the Cobra's time dropped into the 12.30-12.40 range. The L88 ripped off a string of 12.0's and the best was a blistering 11.88 at 121 mph!!  Then they decided to run heads up two out of three, winner take all. The L88 won the first run. On the second run the Cobra broke an axle shaft and the Corvette's clutch let go. They decided to meet again at a later date after both cars were fixed. At the second meeting, the Corvette driver had trouble with the new clutch. He couldn't make the car launch properly either slipping it or dropping it. He still ran a 12.47 which was barely beaten by the Cobra's 12.41. The second round-same thing the 'Vette ran a 12.50 and the Cobra ran a 12.39. So the magazine writers declared the Cobra the winner and still undisputed heavyweight champion....Huh?  What about the first time when they ran both cars about ten times in practice runs and 10 out of 10 times the 'Vette was at least 4 tenths quicker-which in a drag race is 4 car lengths!!!???  How about a third meeting after letting the 'Vette guys resolve their clutch issues?  Like the reader said-he's reminded of what Jimmy Stewart told the reporter in the "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance".  "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."  People get caught up in this and will not listen to reason. A while back someone sent me a profanity-laced email saying I was a bald-faced liar because I said my RAIII '69 Judge had beaten my buddy's 440 Six-Pack Super Bee in a drag race and that my '73 Hurst / Olds "didn't have to take crap from little boys in "5.0" Mutangs.  Let me give you some details. My buddys Super Bee was bone-stock with a Torqueflite and 3.23:1 gears and G70-15 street tires. My GTO was a 4-speed and had 4.33:1 gears and N50-15 Mickey Thompson "Hot-n-Sticky" drag tires. Those things alone would give me the win, However-my car also had Hooker Headers, a hotter than stock Crane Cam, and an Offenhauser dual-quad intake with two Afbs's on it.  So yeah-I was lying when I said my pumped-up,4-speed, 4.33:1 geared GTO walked away from a bone-stock, automatic, 3.23:1 geared Super Bee. Damn! You caught me. As Wayne and Garth used to say "NOT!!!!"  As for the H / O, there were no road tests available for a '73 Hurst / Olds but I did find two on 1973 442's with the 455 / TH400 powertrain. High Performance cars ran a 14.65 in the 1/4 and Car Craft ran a 14.90. Now we all agree that the '87-93 Fuel Injected "5.0's" are the quickest ones. In researching road tests of various stock "5.0" models by various mags-Hot Rod was the quickest with a 14.72 and Motor Trend the slowest with a 15.29. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to do that math. Hmm...One car runs between 15.29 and 14.72,and the other runs between 14.90 and 14.65...Gee,which one is faster?  Before you start spewing hatred on someone because they said Car A beat Car B, make sure you have all the facts.  Mastermind