Forgive my Ignorance.

I am interested in making a drag truck out of my '77 Ford half-ton, but wanted to do some research on the particulars of each class and what might interest me. Can someone explain the criteria for a "Back-Half" class? Just throwing out questions at this point to see how much I want to spend vs. competition within each given class. Thanks in advance, this forum has never disappointed.

What exactly is a "legal back-half" car is a hard question to correctly answer. There are too many variables & accepted "rules" across the country. Forgetting the label "back-half for just a moment, just building any type drag car frame/cage assembly that needs a cert sticker can vary a bunch depending on if it's going to be certified as just a NHRA/IHRA "rule book" legal spec., or the faster SFI legal specs.

Now as for label "back-half" , that is a designation that can cover a very large group of cars ranging from a little more extensive build than just a "mini-tub" build, to an actual full chassis car with a stock front clip added. Just depends on who you ask, or what your local Back-half class(s) or touring circuit(s) have accepted as their guidelines. Some require factory floor sheetmetal from the firewall to behind the drivers butt. Some say as long as it has the factory firewall, you can do what ever you want from firewall to rear bumper. Some require a box tube frame rail, & some allow all round tube frame if you want. And some dont even care about the firewall as long as the car has factory front frame rails.

if your just building a bracket car you can pretty much do what you want. But if your trying to race a given local back-half class or touring circuit you better get a copy of their accepted rules to really know how far (wild) you can take the project.

At one time around DFW one local back-half circuit's rules were pretty loose. Over time they started to see guys showing up with cars that were old ex Pro Mod & Top Sportsman cars that were reworked with a stock front clip added. Now after years of changes & reworking their accepted rules the local class is more refined. Now I think the Texas King Of The Hill (K.O.T.H.) class has to have stuff like a factory fire wall, full door jams, full rocker panels, etc, etc, etc, all in factory locations to be accepted. But then a while back like idiots for some reason they decided to allow an after market "bolt-on tubular front clip" in place of the heavy factory clip.........as long as it was made by one (and only one) supplier.