By admin 
If you are a fan of old school American Muscle, the smell of burning rubber and want to see cars floor it with no repercussions, then the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Race has you covered. Over a hundred muscle cars and around 700 fans were in attendance on Sept. 26 at the Mid Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, Michigan, to see classic performance cars do what they were built for. They raced over a 1/4 mile track to see whose classic car truly had the most muscle.
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What are the rules?
As you could probably tell by the name of the event, “stock” is the most important part of the event, meaning as-is from the factory. Cars made between 1955 to 1979 that don’t have any performance modifications were eligible to race.
According to the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Race website, “Factory lightweight cars built for sanctioned drag racing and dealership-built/modified cars are not eligible to participate. Cars must be factory equipped with a minimum of four-barrel carburetion, dual exhaust, and other factory-installed equipment that promotes a high-performance intent and image.”
Cars were paired up based on time trials. They competed in three races.
If a car was suspected of having lightweight parts or other mods that aren’t allowed, they would be thoroughly checked and banned from the event if illegal parts were found. At this year’s event no one was disqualified but a driver last year was under investigation and didn’t show up this year.
All-American horsepower
At the event you were surrounded by American muscle cars and the only foreign vehicles were in the spectator parking lot. Lyndon Hughes, one of the orchestrators of the event spoke about what makes Pure Car Stock Drag Race stand out from other car events.
“The crowd just loves the era of these cars,” Hughes said. “Most of these people come here, love muscle cars and they like what we do here with them because they actually use them for what they were intended for, not just watching them at a car show.”
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Race day
Last Thursday the cars arrived on trailers and were unloaded. Friday was qualifying and Saturday was race day. On Saturday, the gates opened at 9 a.m. and the shootouts began at 2 p.m. There were three timed sessions on the drag strip and the slower cars went first while the fastest were saved for the end. Each race would start off with both cars doing a heavy burnout to warm up the tires then getting in position. They would then take off once the light turned green and at the end of the strip a screen showed each time and top speed of each car. The event had 126 cars entered but seven broke down. With cars this old it’s expected for some to not reach the finish line, or the starting line in some instances.
After each shootout session the cars would park and get any repairs they needed while the owners mingled with their crew members and other drivers. The event featured famous muscle cars such as Dodge Chargers and Challengers, Ford Mustangs, Chevrolet Chevelle SS’, Plymouth Barracudas and many other American icons. While most drivers brought only one car to race, there were a couple of families that had the parents and kids all driving throughout the day.
Keenan Thompson is a car culture reporter for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Keenan at [email protected]. Follow him on Instagram at @keenanautos. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Vintage, not retired: Racing muscle cars still have something to prove
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Reporting by Keenan Thompson, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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This story was originally published October 3, 2026 at 2:30 AM.