For straight line acceleration, the drive tires NEED some sidewall. When I see an old car with larger diameter wheels on the rear than on the front, my first thought that it is somebody who cares much more about "looks" than actual performance. When I was much younger and participated in "contests of speed" on public roads, I'd size up whatever was next to me based upon their rear tires - no way somebody with huge diameter rims and 30-series sidewalls is going to be able to hook off the line.
I wish I could find my old "Team T/A" BF Goodrich newsletters. When BFG first introduced drag radials, you had to be a team "member" (no cost) to be allowed to buy the tires, so I joined. They sent out a bunch of informative newsletters. In one, a BFG engineer wrote that the reason wheel diameter had increased on performance cars, was to allow for larger brakes - but the wheels only needed to be big enough to allow for caliper clearance.
I'll concede that NOW, it is virtually impossible to get a quality tire (other than drag radials) that is smaller than 17" diameter.
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'73 T/A (clone). Low budget stock headed 8.3:1 455, 222/242 116lsa .443/.435 cam. FAST Sportsman EFI, 315rwhp/385rwtq on 87 octane. 13.12 @103.2, 1.91 60'.
'67 Firebird [sold], ; 11.27 @ 119.61, 7.167 @ 96.07, with UD 280/280 (108LSA/ 109 ICL)solid cam. [1.537, 7.233 @93.61, 11.46 @ 115.4 w/ old UD 288/296 108 hydraulic cam] Feb '05 HPP, home-ported "16" D-ports, dished pistons (pump gas only), 3.42 gears, 275/60 DR's, 750DP, T2, full exhaust
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