[aumoore]

From a post above
"You certainly nailed it. It take two laps for a Nascar stocker to get to 195 but the Cobra can do it in 1/2 mile??? I can't understand why Shelby built the coupe if the roadsters were faster. Where the heck was Dick Smith when they were running LeMans. I'll bet he could have run 250 on that long straight they got."

You guys are forgetting an important fact about the restrictor plate NASCAR stockers. They only put out about 450hp and with the gearing it does take 2 laps to get up to speed but before the restrictor plates Bill Elliott was lapping Daytona at 210MPH average and the unrestricted cars could reach top speed by the end of the back streatch.

Another fact lost is that the speeds posted at Daytona for NASCAR is the "average" speed not the top speed recorded with a radar gun. I would guess that even now the NASCAR boys are reaching top speeds of over 210 at the end of the straights and dropping down into the 180's in the turns. I think Bill Elliott was running over 220 in the straights when he set the qualifying record of 210. With that in mind I can see a 500HP plus lightweight Cobra hitting its top speed of 198 in 1/2 lap.

Have you seen some of the old iron at the Salt Flats running over 200? Some of these cars make a Cobra look like a streamliner.

I think there was a FFR small block running 180 somewhere?