It was a warm, sticky summer afternoon at Maryland’s Capitol Drag Raceway back in the mid-1970s. I was fresh out of high school when a ’63 Chevy II roared up into the staging lanes for a smoky stage.

With 500-inch big-blocks and nitrous oxide, mega horsepower and torque have become easy targets to hit. Combine that power with sticky DOT-legal tires or slicks, and the strain on axles and rearends ...