Hey Mike! I was wondering if you were awake!
The same thing that made Mino's car lethal, was the same thing that put 21 cars into the 12s at the Pure Stocks in Stanton. We just started reading the same rule book as Jim! No extrude honing or any of that other crap is allowed, either...in fact, "Certified Stock" was created to do away with all that hokey business. Blueprinting is the key, but I attribute a lot of it to getting the compression where it's *supposed* to be. Case in point: I put together an L72 exactly as the factory would have in '69, no blueprinting just slinging parts together, and it came in at 10.2:1, and went 12.70s@108+ in our Camaro...I then added 2 points of compression, and in the exact same 3800 pound Camaro it runs 12.3@113+.
I'm in full agreement the RAIV was underrated, and I'd personally love to see someone step up and show us how it's done...any takers?
