# I Want to Buy a Street-Legal NASCAR Car **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 10, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-buy-a-street-legal-nascar-car/577825 "2011-04-10T02:19:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-buy-a-street-legal-nascar-car/577825/21 "2015-07-17T17:41:41Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > how many street miles can you get with a nascar engine … I wouldn’t think many. 500? 😃 a ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-buy-a-street-legal-nascar-car/577825/22 "2015-07-17T19:07:06Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > How many street miles can you get with a NASCAR engine … I wouldn’t think many. You’d be surprised. They wear out quickly in racing applications because they’re constanly revving to 10,000 RPM. That won’t happen in road use. NASCAR enginges are really quite simple in many ways; they still use carburettors, for example. However, racing engines use ultra-low viscosity oil, and NASCAR engines in particular are mostly iron, so they’ll corrode astonishingly quickly. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-buy-a-street-legal-nascar-car/577825/23 "2015-07-17T20:24:56Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You’d be surprised. They wear out quickly in racing applications because they’re constanly revving to 10,000 RPM. That won’t happen in road use. NASCAR enginges are really quite simple in many ways; they still use carburettors, for example. [Not anymore.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_injection_in_NASCAR) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-buy-a-street-legal-nascar-car/577825/24 "2015-07-17T21:14:22Z")
Oops. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-buy-a-street-legal-nascar-car/577825/25 "2015-07-18T12:48:03Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > 500? 😃 > a That’s what I thought, every part of a racing engine is specifically designed to run 500 miles at 10,000 rpm … intake manifolds, piston shape, ring end gap, etc etc etc … one would get even less miles if they idled the thing too long at stop lights. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-buy-a-street-legal-nascar-car/577825/26 "2015-07-18T13:38:54Z")
I remember (barely) the good ol’ days when a stock car was exactly that. They’d even inspect them to make sure there were no parts in them that the ordinary Joe couldn’t buy at his favorite dealer or parts store. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-buy-a-street-legal-nascar-car/577825/27 "2015-07-18T16:36:10Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > I remember (barely) the good ol’ days when a stock car was exactly that. They’d even inspect them to make sure there were no parts in them that the ordinary Joe couldn’t buy at his favorite dealer or parts store. As I remember, the builder had to produce 150 cars before they could be allowed to run one in races. So you could just buy one off the assembly line. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-buy-a-street-legal-nascar-car/577825.md?page=1)