well ive decided to try this. there is a track down in joliet illinois and i bought a car for $100 so why not.
the car is a 1995 ford taurus gl sedan. currently it has a 3.0L v6 in it. luckily my buddy has alot of mustang parts that he sold me for cheap. i am in the process of dropping a 5.0L from an 89 stang in it. i got the engine with all the harnesses and trans for $300. also we will be converting it to rear wheel drive. i will be posting pics on my car domain site very soon.
my question is how beefed are the cars that usually race there?

no body here has ever stock car raced or knows anyone that does?

My friend did some racing back in Michigan, but in our area every track had their own rules. So, I'd ask your local race tracks what their rules are.

well im sure a v8 in a taurus will be fine, im just wondering if i even have a chance of winning

I have no idea.

The guy I knew was a poor college student so he just raced in a class where you could only have a four banger. For regular stock cars, I don't know if they run small blocks or what. I would think with a 5.0 you might have a shot.

The cars I see have full roll cages, fiberglass body panels, Plexi windshields, tubular crash bars all the way around etc.... There is a lot of work that goes into the cars that I see racing on the circle tracks around here. As was noted earlier, you will have to talk to your local tracks and/or veteran racers to find out what kind of safety measures they will expect on your car, AND you as a driver.

Yeah I assumed he knew about roll cages. Also need fuel cells, battery tie-downs, etc.

But I think his question was more whether a 5.0L engine would compete with what the other guys are running (small blocks maybe?). I really have no idea...

Most tracks depends on the class that is being run. Most of the time the car has to run the motor that was origally equiped with. When you get into the modifieds where you can put just bout any motor you'll find they are more dedicated race car chassis.

Like said before you start dumping money into a car get the rules for the class you would like to run in and go from there.

hmm do u think i could slap a 3.0L V6 sticker on the engine and fool them?

my uncle used to race stockish cars here in michigan at a local track. I think his was a t-bird aluminium body, but it had the full cage and everything else to go with it.

couldn't hurt to try, :p

X2