A tech bulletin issued by NASCAR on Wednesday afternoon announced that the new aluminum Holley 650 CFM four barrel carburetor has been approved for all Late Model Stock events effective immediately.
Four-time NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series champion Lee Pulliam said that the decision was made specifically to cater to any new teams who would be unable to utilize the now obsolete zinc Holley 650 CFM.
“This is really just an addition to the book,” Pulliam said. “Holley quit making the carburetor we have been running but if somebody new were to come into racing, they wouldn’t be able to buy the old zinc ones.”
Under the new guidelines, an aluminum Holley 650 can be installed on either the Ford D347SR, the Harrington Enforcer or one of General Motors’ crate-type engines.
Pulliam believes that the transition into using aluminum Holley 650s being used with Late Model Stocks was inevitable due to the demands of the average consumer out on the road.
“With this racing deal, a lot of stuff we run isn’t up to date like with a passenger car,” Pulliam said. “Otherwise we would be fuel-injected right now. Sometimes manufactures quit making things like [the zinc Holley 650] because they aren’t a popular item anymore.”
Pulliam added that the aluminum Holley 650 will not cost any additional money and that teams will still be allowed to use the zinc carburetors for as long as they wish.
Pulliam does not know how many of his fellow competitors will end up buying the aluminum Holley 650 in the near future but he intends to stick with the carburetors in his shop unless he needs to buy a new one.
“[NASCAR] is not changing anything,” Pulliam said. “This is for people who are new to the sport. There’s nothing to it and we’re going to keep rocking with our zinc carburetors.”
An even mixture of zinc and aluminum Holey 650 carburetors are expected to be in use for Late Model Stock events all around the country this weekend, with that number expected to slant more towards the aluminum variety over the next few years.
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