While the term "muscle car" is broadly used today, by definition, a muscle car is a mid-1960s-to-early-1970s intermediate American car—typically a coupe or two-door post sedan—with a V8 installed to produce maximum acceleration and fun. Back in the heyday, muscle car performance was escalated by drag racers who tweaked engines, transmissions, gearing, and suspension. In the process, they created the great American quarter-mile war between racers and manufacturers. The fierce competition morphed into Stock and Super Stock Eliminator, where wins on Sunday translated to sales on Monday.

Each factory wanted the fastest car, so along with improving their machines, they found the hottest drivers to bang gears. "Stock" car drag racing was the rage and it helped create legendary racers including Dick Landy, Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins, Ronnie Sox, and even Bob Glidden, who made their mark in muscle cars—either match racing or competing in Stock and Super Stock Eliminator.

Amazingly, 50 years later Stock and Super Stock continue to showcase factory performance on the quarter-mile. The latest Stockers are technologically advanced with supercharging and electronic fuel injection, but to muscle car purists, nothing beats the thrill of watching those carbureted beasts from the late '60s and early 1970s. And dozens of weekends per year, NHRA drag racing offers the chance to hear it all, from the newest Ford, Chevy, or Dodge, to the thumping cam in radical 426 Hemi or Max Wedge Mopar, the scream of a 427 Chevy, or the mighty howl of a 428 Cobra Jet Ford. And the classes are filled with many small-block combos, too.

Stock and Super Stock cars continue to be classified by a horsepower-to-weight formula. So, when you see "AA," "A," "B," or "C" on the window, you can assume it's a big-inch motor in a lighter chassis. The thrill for many racers is to get the most out of stock parts. And by "most," we mean horsepower, traction, and overall efficiency.

If you're curious about what engine is under the hood, simply ask the owner, or look for the small NHRA classification sticker. It's usually located on a side window and it denotes the engine and horsepower rating. This makes it easy to determine the combination and keeps you in the know.

These days, Stock and Super Stock is made up of a mix of 50 years worth of American performance cars, so you'll see the latest EFI-packin' Cobra Jets, COPO Camaros, and Dodge Drag Paks, along with the mighty muscle cars that we consider classics.

As you can imagine, there are more restrictions in Stock. Rules allow for engines balancing and blueprinting, a stock-lift cam, and induction must be stone stock. Inspectors regularly check part numbers and casting numbers to ensure each car is legit. At times, this includes a complete engine teardown. Stockers must also have a full interior and factory body panels with glass, and part of the challenge is finding traction on the small 9-inch-wide slicks. Super Stock rules are more liberal, allowing for any camshaft, valvetrain, mild head porting, and an intake manifold can be used, but the carb or throttle body must be stock and in the stock location. Lastly, 14-inch rear slicks and modified rear suspensions are allowed.

On track, the performance is downright breathtaking. It's amazing to watch these racers push their classics in the 9s and beyond and to see the insane wheels-up launches, which at times carry 200-300 feet. Actually, the wheelie show is something we all love so we've put together a gallery of muscle cars launching from our adventures in 2018. We started in Pomona, headed south to Gainesville, FL, and then headed to Charlotte, NC for the Four-Wide nationals.

See all 109 photos Chris Whitney is a west-coaster who prefers big-blocks and four-speeds. Here, Whitney got an early start with his '67 427-powered Ford Fairlane.

See all 109 photos Steve Comella is another pilot who prefers to jam gears. His rowdy '68 'Cuda sports the popular 426 Hemi engine that's backed by a four-speed. Comella's 'Cuda regularly runs low 8s at 150 mph.

See all 109 photos Not all Stockers or Super Stocker use the factory combination, but this one does. Richie Paulie's 1968 (135 CJ) Mustang was born with Cobra Jet power and he's not shy about tossing the front end to the sky.

See all 109 photos Dan Fletcher is a familiar face on the NHRA tour. Fletcher has scored over 100 national event wins, many of which have come behind the wheel of his 1969 Camaro which his late father purchased new. In fact, no other drag car in history has been to victory lane more times.

See all 109 photos Leo Glasbrenner of Chino CA was using all the torque in his Pontiac 400 at the NHRA Winternationals. Glasbrenner ran mid-10s with his sharp Firebird.

See all 109 photos Ford fans will drool over Bill Hawk's 1967 Shelby GT500 that runs in B/SA. Hawk has pushed the limits of the 428 for decades and has run 9s with this Mustang.

See all 109 photos Keri Angeles slipped into the 9s with her Super Stock '69 Bird.

See all 109 photos Fred Moreno from La Verne, CA was flying high at the 2018 Winternationals. His Cobra Jet Mustang ran 9.56, which got him qualified in the number 2 slot.

See all 109 photos Stock and Super Stock are filled with all types of classic Mopars. This is the 1965 AA/SA Hemi Plymouth entry of Jim Nichols that runs consistent 9.80s.

See all 109 photos The Winternationals final in Stock came down to a G/SA heads-up battle between Larry Gilley and Ryan Magnus. Gilley nabbed a slight holeshot (0.009 to 0.012) and his 340 Dart ripped to a 10.62 to defeat Magnus' Camaro, which ran 10.66.

See all 109 photos Emily Volkman was wheels-up at the NGK Spark Plugs Four-Wide Nationals in Concord, NC. She was a quick runner, going 10.0 with her Chevy.

See all 109 photos Cobra Jet Mustangs have done well in NHRA competition since their debut in 1968. One strong-running example is this '69 Stang run by Minnesota's Lance Line. We caught up with Line in Charlotte where he was running 10.0 at over 130 mph.

See all 109 photos Super Stock GT allows racers to mix and match combinations. This is John Stock's Shelby Cobra that is motivated by a late-model Windsor Ford with EFI. Stock told us the 352-cube combo will soon give way to a big-block Super Stock 427 engine.

See all 109 photos Bill Zaskowski was quick in Gainesville running 10-flat with his gear-jammin' 1966 Nova.

See all 109 photos You'll find a Hemi under the hood of Don Little's 1970 Dodge Challenger. The long-time Mopar campaigner is always a threat to go rounds. Little competed in AA/SA at the 2018 Winternationals running as quick as 9.81.

See all 109 photos Todd Hoven has been the man behind the wheel of Al Carp's 1965 Coronet that packs a Ray Barton Hemi. Hoven is consistently in the 9s with this big ol' Dodge.

See all 109 photos Gene Bichlmeier made the long haul from Norfolk, NE to Pomona, California to ram the gears in his Super Stock '66 Nova. Bichlmeier qualified 11th at the Winternationals running 10.04.

See all 109 photos La Grange, NC's Mickey Whaley getting air with his ragtop '69 Camaro.

See all 109 photos Division 1 runner John Gray can be seen up and down the East Coast with his retro-painted A/SA '69 Camaro. The Chevy is motivated by a L98 aluminum-headed 396 that's rated at 375 hp, but with performance in the 9.80s, it's safe to say Gray's big-block makes closer to 600 ponies.