This week’s American Powertrain Parting Shift is awesome both for what it is and what it isn’t. What the video is, we love. A heads up drag race between a 4-speed, 340 powered Duster and a 455 powered Pontiac at Lebanon Valley Dragway in West Lebanon, New York. What it isn’t, we love too. It is not overly long, it is not overly produced, it is not filled with bad music or bad sound. It is just a straight up video of the type of drag race we have all been in at one time or another. A race so tight you literally have no idea who won until you see the win light on your side of the track come on or you drive by it and there’s no illumination.
The 340ci Chrysler small block did not have the shelf life of the 350 Chevrolet but it stands as arguably the best small block engine of the era. The things could be wound up tight, they were underrated horsepower-wise and they make hellacious little stroker engines as well.
The neat thing about this race is we see two cars with vastly different engines both do what we would expect. The mighty Pontiac is strong down low and in the middle but when the top end comes and the rev counter rises the little small block is right there to make a nuisance of itself at the stripe. The best part is that the kid driving the car does a nice job with a stock long throw shifter in the A-body.
This is some drag racing purity that we absolutely LOVE!
