Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Yeah, that's the car Mike Morgan raced, before he switched to SS.

Mike won the K/SA class at the 2014 US Nats, before he sold it.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2014#indextop

Looks like 6 Pontiac powered cars made the 128 car field that year. It took an .882 under to make the field. Bob Michael just missed it.

Qualifiers were Randi Lyn Shipp #56, Scott Burton #70, Michael Brand #78, Mike Morgan #97, Todd Hoven #110, & Tim Gillespie #115.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2014#indextop

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

I believe that the greatest Pontiac Stock, Super Stock, and Factory Experimental -Altered Wheel Base driver of all time has got to be the Hall of Fame recipient Arnie The Farmer Beswick. He's the one that started it all for Pontiac Drag Racing. He's Pontiac's answer to Babe Ruth.

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Easy Lovin' ,

I already mentioned this.
Post image .org
It's free and easy
Just copy the third url choice from the bottom, and paste it.

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Norman Warling from D-5 with the very cool 62 Catalina. One of the coolest Pontiac stockers. Very well put together and has a great look to it.
Greg Meyer SS/GT firebird

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Yeah, he's posted that he's gonna soon have a 421SD engine to run in it.

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Here's a pic of Mike Mckinney during one of his runs at the US Nats, which he won. The car still has the "Hard Times" name on it.

As mentioned, that win was over Mick Leiferman. It was Mick's 3rd US Nats RU in a row.

https://competitionplus.com/competit...-amateur-video

"...home state hero Mike McKinney won Stock in a final-round decision over Mick Leiferman, who suffered his third straight U.S. Nationals final-round loss..."

Appears that Mick's car was a record holder from '73 thru '77. Hey ya'll, that ain't too shabby. You're the nat record holder for 5 years in a row & RU at Indy, 3 of those years !

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

So, to many people, the '64 GTO is what started the Musclecar deal. That can be debated. But, for you guys who were involved in serious class racing in the mid '60's what were some of the quickest '64 model GTO Stockers you can remember ? Post pics if you have 'em.

This 1st one has a 2-speed ST-300 trans. The '64-'66 models didn't come with a 3-speed auto. So, I don't suppose there were too many serious '64-'66 auto trans GTO's in competition. I personally never saw a single one. I suppose this is the only pic I've ever seen of one. Don't know how quick it was.

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Well, no help with the '64 GTO. Let's move on to '65.

I love this Knafel '65. '65 was my favorite body style. My 1st GTO ride was in a '65. But I wasn't able to buy a car, til '69. So, I bought a '69.

Anyhow, according to the writing on this '65, Bill Abraham was the NHRA nat champ in it. And Arlen Vanke set a nat record in it. Must have been a pretty quick B/S car, at the time. That would have been a Tri-Power 389 car, I assume.

I'm sure there were '65's running at local tracks, all over the country. Don't know of any other quick ones, specifically. Maybe you guys can help with that. I did find a pic of a '65 auto. Looks like one that would not have passed tech, at a big race. But local tracks let a lot of stuff slide.

Also found a pic of one that appears to be at a small track. Probably many hundreds of '65's ran at small tracks all over the country.

https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0509-79...5-pontiac-gto/

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

That Knafel car reminded me of the other quick Knafel cars. In fact, the writing on the side said that Knafel had the " World's Fastest Pontiacs".

One of their '66 GTO's won lots of races. I've already posted a pic, but I'll try to post it again here. I accidentally discovered that I can crop a pic a little & change the title, and post it here, even if I've posted the same pic before. Good to know.

There were several big Pontiac dealers that fielded lots of drag Pontiacs, during the '60's & early '70's. I'll be mentioning many of these, in this thread. There were also probably lots of smaller Pontiac dealers that fielded one or maybe just a few drag cars. And, some dealers probably just let an independent racer put their dealer name on the car, for advertisement. Although we won quite a few races, I was never able to even get any sponsorship help from any Pontiac dealer. By the time we began racing, area dealers were just not interested in racing.

Royal Pontiac had quite a few quick Pontiacs. Here's a Royal '66. I assume they ran the last version of the Pontiac Tri-Power/389.

Knafel even ran a couple of OHC Six powered cars. One was a 'vert.

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Gonna break in here with a '68 Bird we saw at the World Nationals race, held in Amarillo, TX, back in around '75 or '76. Was RU.

Maybe some of you older guys will remember it. Guys name is Lyndel Warren. Ran B/SA. So, I suppose it had to be one of the round port RAII engines.

He also had an early 2nd gen Formula 455HO. Here's what he said about it.

" I wanted a competitive NHRA car, so i acquired another car from Gary Moore, his factory aided superstocker, a '71 Formula H.O. Firebird.. We built it as a F/SA in 10 days & headed to Pomona. While we were in the tech line, NHRA decided to factor the horsepower & we came out of tech an E/SA. We ran under the F/SA index at Pomona, but couldn't run the E. The next year we returned to the WinterNat'ls at Pomona & was the low qualifer in E/SA, with Rock Running a close 2nd. I ran it a couple of years with some success, but local racing changed to bracket racing...The car was capable of 11.79 @ 114."

The b&w pic is from Laplace, LA. We took our 2 Stockers to a points race at Laplace in '75. But when Wesley saw 'em, he said I'd have to get rid of the clutch fan & cover the radio holes, and then bring 'em back & he'd take a closer look. I was nearly 200 miles from home & did not have the parts or time to fix everything that needed fixin, for Wesley to pass 'em. I had no idea how picky an NHRA tech guy could be. So, we just watched, then went home. Only ran at local tracks after that. And the next year, our local tracks switched over to mostly just bracket racing.

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Now back to the GTO.

I don't ever remember seeing a single '67 GTO Stocker, back in the old days.

Not real sure why. Maybe it was because they were so different from the '66. It was the first year of the 400 engine.

The Tri-Power was gone. It was the fist year of the Q-jet, on a Pontiac V8. May not have been lots of guys who knew how to do the Q-jet for racing.

Was also the first year of the TH400 in a GTO.

So, I suspect most of the guys who had been racing a '66 Tri-Power just kept running it. Maybe, a little "fear of the unknown". OR, maybe the guys who wanted to run a 400, went with the smaller, lighter new '67 Firebird. Those are still competitive today.

Anyhow, I've only found 3 pics if '67 GTO Stockers. Don't know how quick they were. One may have just run local tracks.

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

When the '68 GTO came along, I think quite a few put those on the track. There have been several in recent years.

If I understand this article correctly, Adam Strang's '68 GTO was the 1st Stock class GTO to set a nat record in the 10's. If not, I stand corrected.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/articl...8-pontiac-gto/

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

By the later 1960's there were very few competitive Pontiac Stockers that I can recall. The 1950's cars were mostly gone and the '64-'67 GTO's were never really competitive. Nobody raced them other than locals.

The HP ratings were probably a little to high and made them less than ideal cars to race.

Some later cars with RA engines were around but again not many and not usually very fast....

I had a '67 GTO and sure wish I had it today.....400 with a Turbo 400 and loaded with options including front disc brakes and had a Hurst Dual Gate Shifter...

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Old Skool you have a PM

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Couldn't post or reply to anything. Had to log out, then log back in. Will try to reply now.

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

P.J.Heck in Southern Ohio IN 1960s was the best with 389 & 421.
Anyone old enough to remember him.
Larry Eagle:)

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

"...'64-'67 GTO's were never really competitive..."

I beg to differ. There was a time when the '66 Tri-Power 4-speed GTO seemed to be very competitive. And I've already posted the pic of a '65 that was a nat record holder, & a guy won a nat title with it. Sounds pretty competitive to me.

BUT, I was not keeping up with Stock class racing, in the '60's. So, all my info is coming online. So, all the claims of nat records & pics of cars with lots of trophies may be bogus. I have no way to prove it, one way or the other. I'll just pass on what I find. And if someone here knows that any fact presented is false, they can post that info here.

Not trying to say that the old Pontiacs were better than everything on the track. But, the Olds thread gave me the idea to start a Pontiac thread & post what I could find, and hope that Pontiac racers will chime in with what they know, and pics they have. Strictly for entertainment purposes. Not meant to infer that Pontiacs are better than any other brand.

"...Apparently the guys in the Knafel shop were good. The cars that they raced were repeated winners, garnering national and world championships, and setting more new records than any other team during that era...a photograph of a 1966 GTO hardtop: hood, roof, and trunk lid laden with trophies, winner of 27 races in one year, possibly the most successful drag racer, and surely the most successful Pontiac drag racer of its time, having included among its accolades both a NASCAR and an NHRA stock eliminator title..."

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Looks like Google has lots of stuff about him. I'll do some research & see what I can learn about his racing.

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C...eDrBzQQ4dUDCAs

Hope others here who know about his Pontiac racing will chime in.

"Owner Bio: P.J. HeckSomeone could make a lot of money writing 63-year-old P.J. Heck's life story. Heck, who haunts Gallipolis, Ohio, spent 35 years as an industrial construction worker, during which he collected some pretty impressive Tin Indians. He once owned Mickey Thompson's and Royal's 1963 Swiss Cheese Pontiacs at the same time, and a '61 Catalina wagon, a '63 Ventura coupe, and this '62 Super Duty Catalina kept him from being 'another one of those Chevy-Ford-Mopar sheep, copy catting some trend setter.' One of his favorite moments in this Cat happened in the 1970s at the track. The flagman backed him up and P.J. forgot to put it back into a forward gear. When the flag went up, he jerked backwards, probably cursed, threw it into First, floored the gas, and flew by the 409 Chevy that he was racing."

He was a one time owner of this former A/S terror, driven by Jess Tyree. So far, I don't know how much time he spent behind the wheel of a race car.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/1962...e-big-stinker/

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

BY THE LATER 1960's...………. there were very few competitive Pontiac Stockers that I can recall


I highlighted the important part of what I said for you....

I was racing starting in 1966 and was at many local events as well as larger events including Indy.

The higher classes such as A and B stock were dominated by Chevy's and Fords...…

The Automatic classes too as well and Mopars…

GTO's were not in that mix...….

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

We now pick up the GTO story, with '69 models, my favorite. I assume that more '69 GTO's have been raced, than any other year. Can't prove it. But, there are definitely more online pics of '69 Stockers, than any other year.

Back in the old days, many drag cars had names on their doors. But, some had the name of their sponsor, especially if the owner was a Pontiac dealer.

Some '69's were Judge models, & some were not. The Ram Air 3 & 4 engines were available in both the Judge & regular GTO models.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/articl...ram-air-iv-x2/

How 'bout a Nunzi prepared Judge.

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthread.php?t=155904

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

And, before leaving the '69 GTO, I'll have to include mine.

NO, it would not have been competitive at any big races. But, I didn't go to big races. The first 2 seasons I raced it were '73 & '74. Raced at 2 local tracks. One was called Harmon Raceway, near Monroe, LA.

The other was just an airport runway, in Haynesville, LA, where they still ran off a flagged start. No timers at all. That was some very interesting racing. Slower cars got a "spot", of so many feet, as specified in the NHRA rules. If neither car jumped the start, the first car to cross the finish line was the winner.

That was not the 1st time I'd raced on an airport runway. When my '69 GTO had 500 miles on it, my girlfriend(now wife) & I went to the local airport race, just to watch. But, the local guys would not let that happen. They ragged me & said I was afraid my ole Goat would get beat. Well, I stood it long as I could. They ran classes first. I was in the same class with several big block Chevelles, & at least one 442. Didn't have any trouble with the Chevelles. But there was a 442 which had headers & slicks. I had hard street tires as well as factory exhaust manifolds & dual exhaust pipes, all the way out the back. I ran the 442 in the finals. With the slicks, he pulled me good out of the hole. But, I caught him & passed right at the line. Picked up my class win trophy & went back to my parking spot to watch the rest of the race.

Back then, fans could pull up close to most tracks & watch from their vehicle. At Haynesville, we had lots of Pontiac fans who watched the race from pickup beds, parked on a hill overlookin the strip. I remember them clapping & waving, as I'd drive back past them, after a round win.

I especially remember one particular win there. I ran a 4cyl Pinto. The spot was 410ft. They didn't have that many feet marked off on the track. So, the flagman just sat down on the front fender of the Pinto & road off down the track. He just guessed at the distance. The Pinto was undefeated that year. So they had a $25 bounty, for anybody that could beat him.

Well, it was real close at the line, but I got there 1st. It was a real popular win. The loyal Pontiac fans were jumpin & hollerin & goin wild. That was without a doubt, the best reception I ever got for a win. The Pinto was a street car. So, after he lost, he kept right on driving, right out the gate, & we never saw the car again. I know that story can't compare to the wins some of you guys have had, at big races. But it was a big deal to me.

At the Monroe track, they did have timers. It was the 5-amber tree. They didn't give out any RT's or 60ft times, just 1/4 mile ET. They ran off track records, for each class. I ran D/S. My track record was real soft. After I lowered it a couple of times, most other D/S cars that ran there could not run the track record. My record ended up being quicker than the C/S record. My main competition was a Stage 1 455 Buick that ran C/S. I suppose it was similar to bracket racing, except that you couldn't dial your own ET. Your dial was the track record. For '75 they switched over to the NHRA index system. More about that later.

Anyhow, I won quite a few races with my '69 GTO. And it could have been much quicker. I only had 3.90 gears. And the engine was bone stock, with just over 60k street miles on it. Hey, it wasn't quick. But it won lots of races, gave me LOTS of pleasure, and got me started in drag racing. Everybody has to start somewhere.

Hey, its the off-season, it's almost Christmas, and in some parts of the North, it's cold outside. So, some of ya'll didn't really have anything better to do than read some of my ancient history. :)

In '73, I pulled my car to the tracks with a '68 Caddy & a tow bar. When pulling more than about 10 miles, I'd use some old junk tires, then change 'em at the track. Began with a scissor jack I borrowed from my Dad. Sometimes the winner's pic would make the Monroe newspaper. For '74, we could run some M&H "cheater" tires. They were soft compound, but had a couple of small grooves. I've included a pic of the tread. How many ran & remember those ? As I remember, they were only used one year. At least, '74 was the only year we used 'em. In '75, we could run 9" slicks & headers.

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

OK, lets look at some '70 model GTO's. The 1st one that comes to mind belongs to Todd Kuhn. It has the 455HO with #64 D-port heads. The 455HO round port heads were not available 'til the '71 models. Todd has run his car for several years now. Right now, it's the only '70 GTO I know of that is still in Stock competition. If ya'll know of others, please post info, & pics if you have 'em.

I remember a '70 named Kathy's Clown. I have a pic of it running against Rock Running's Super Sleeper.

The '70 Judge that Knafel Pontiac campaigned, ran mostly in AHRA competition. I'm not familiar with their rules. Looks like maybe you could run a different 4-barrel carb, and maybe even a 2-barrel ??? Don't think these were considered Super Stock classes. Pic of the car seem to show small tires. Maybe some of ya'll who know can explain those old AHRA rules.

This article says the car won a couple of nat events, set multiple records, & won the championship in 1970.

https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0509-79...iac-gto-judge/

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

When we come to the 1971 models, I'll have to include the Lemans and/or T-37 cars. They're almost GTO's. And there have been quite a few 455HO T-37's in competition.

I think I've already mentioned some of 'em. Don Turk now has one, that has a long racing history.

I like the looks of a T-37, with Monk King sponsorship. It was bought stripped down, for racing, with the 455HO engine. I'm not sure if it ran Stock any. I assume it did. By 1974, I think it was running either all or mostly bracket racing. There is a newspaper article showing that it beat out a 32 car field, for the win. Don't say what class it was. I just assume it was bracket. But, I like the car, and it's exactly the kind of car others bought for Stock racing.

http://www.monkking64gto.com/Dragworld.html

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/hppp...1-pontiac-t37/

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

"I remember a '70 named Kathy's Clown. I have a pic of it running against Rock Running's Super Sleeper."

Ray Stover raced Kathy's Clown in Div 3 , Ray was an NHRA Tech Inspector after he stopped racing . Both Ray and Kathy worked for Div 3 , nice people !

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Yeah, I remember that name now. Haven't seen or heard it in years. I always remembered the car's name, because Kathy was the name of my high school girlfriend. And, because of the old pop song "Cathy's Clown".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3-E9JebDtU

As all the older guys will remember, there were LOTS of cars back in the old days that had some sort of name on the side. Yeah, many had a sponsor's name, or the name of the car owner, or the business the car owner had, or the driver's name, & sometimes the name of the driver & owner or driver & partner, or driver & wife.

But, there were also lots of catchy names. Seems that those were the names that were easy to remember. And we usually referred to a car by it's name, especially if it had a good one. For example: I would never have referred to that car as Ray Stover's car, since I didn't even know him. I'd have referred to it as Kathy's Clown, or the Kathy's Clown car.

Same with Rock Running's "Super Sleeper" cars. I know he's had quite a few with that same name. So, I might have said the Super Sleeper '74 GTO. or the Super Sleeper T-37, or whatever kind of car he had that name on.

So, when I built a car for my girlfriend(now wife TJ), we decided to come up with a good name for it. Again, you older guys will remember this. There was a song that was the country music song of the year, for 2 years in a row, back in the early '70's. It also went pretty high on the Billboard top 100. The song was "Easy Lovin", by Freddy Hart. It was played on radio stations, a LOT. Most everybody could sing along without missing a word.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzRhrBCHiBU

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Loving

Why am I spending so much time on this. It's because car names were a very important part of drag racing, back in the old days. Hey, if you wanted your car to LOOK like a drag car, all you had to do was put a good name on it, lots of racing decals, then a nice set of wheels & tires, just like the real drag cars had. I can still call a car's name, from some of the tracks we raced, over 40 years ago, and TJ will remember the car, & sometimes even the owners name. We can all remember certain cars by their name.

I've noticed that in recent years, lots of racers don't want a name on their car. They don't want ANY lettering of any kind, and no decals. I personally don't like that look, for a drag car. I want a drag car to look different from a street show car. Opinions differ.

We used the EZ name on 3 different '68 Firebirds. All our area tracks dropped class racing & went to all brackets, by '77. So, we switched too. TJ went right on winning at bracket racing, just like she had at Stock racing. The basics of driving are the same. Cut a good light & run your dial. She won the LA State Championship Race in Stock, then the Southwest Ark Championship Race, then the IHRA points race held at the Tyler TX track. Got her pic & a little ink in the IHRA drag review paper, for that win. Also got a pic of her car & a little ink in Hot Rod mag, in the Nov '77 issue. The pic was made at the Green Valley Race City track, where the div 4 bracket finals were held.

Well hey, ya'll will just have to excuse me. You just have to toot your own horn now & then. Very few members here have ever even heard of us, much less met us. Due to life's circumstances, I have not got to race near as much as I would have liked, & never had enuff money to do it right. But that don't make me like it any less. I still like to talk about it, & keep up with what others are doing. :)

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

By '72, GTO was just an option on a Lemans. You could get the same front on a reg Lemans, including a wagon.

The '72's had fender vents, just behind the front wheels.

Or, you could get a regular Lemans front, which looked real similar to a '71. No T-37 or GT-37, for '72.

Notice the fender vents on these first 2 cars, just behind the wheel.

The '72 Lemans appears to have a 4-piece grill, with 2 sections on each side. But I've never had one, so I don't know if the grills are actually 2 pieces on each side, or just 1 piece on each side. It's very trivial. But maybe somebody could clear that up for us.

Todd Hoven won the '09 Carolina Nats, at zMax, in his '72. Assuming it's the same car as the one shown above it. Todd probably picked up some other class or event wins, with the car. Maybe he'll see this & give us more details about the car.

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Does anybody know what happened to Ray and Kathys car ? (Kathys Clown)



Jerry
Retired 3490 3492 STK SS SST

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

I don't. The only '70 GTO I know of that is still racing is the white one that Todd Kuhn has. He lives in Marshall, IL.

Since we've found out that a lot of drag cars have changed hands several times, I suppose it is possible that Todd's car could be the same car.

Looks like he's a member here. So, he can probably give you his car's history.

http://classracer.com/classforum/member.php?u=27111

Don't know if this is the same Ray Stover or not. It's a long shot, but he has racers on his friends list.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php...805&sk=friends

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Well ya'll, 1973 was a very traumatic year for the Pontiac A-body.

The body style was COMPLETELY changed. I don't remember ever hearing anybody say they liked the new style. I didn't like it, at all. It completely finished the GTO, on the A-body platform.

But, since the 400 & 455 engines were still available, a few brave souls raced 'em. And, there's been a few more thru the years. For this thread, I'm gonna lump all '73-'77 Pontiac A-bodies together.

It seems that the '74 models have been the most popular, for racing. I suppose that's because the 4X head 400 engine can be competitive. I like the Grand Am Nose best. But the only rear I like is the '77 Can Am. If I had plenty of money & had to choose a '74-'77 A-body to race, it would be a '77 Can Am. Have never seen a Can Am Stocker. Have ya'll ?

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C...w=1920&bih=921

Ya'll gonna have to help me with names & pics here. But, I'll share the pics & info I have. I think we've already mentioned the '74 GA that Don Turk raced. He said he wanted to go a little quicker. Logan Galbraith has the car & won some races with it this season.

Tommy Brown has a '74 Lemans, out on the West coast. Don Elgin has a '75 GA, up in the great Northwest. Jack Larsen has a '77Lemans . Bob Michael also had a '77, which Dave Ribeiro has now. I have a pic of one that looks to have Danny Ashley on the side.

As far as I know, most or all these cars are competitive. Tommy Brown is consistently one of the top Pontiac qualifiers. At the Pomona Finals, in 2018, he is on the list just above Brad Burton. Randi Lyn Shipp had the only Pontiac higher than his.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2018#indextop

At the '15 US Nats, Bob Michael's Lemans & Don Turks GA both made the 128 car field, and qualified above Randi Lyn Shipp.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

This year, there was a driver named Wayne Larsen, listed as driving a '77 Pontiac, in div 4. I assume that since his last name is Larsen, he's driving the same car that has been listed in prior years as belonging to Jack Larsen. Assuming the 2 are kin, & it's the same car. Anybody know, for sure ? Wayne was #27 on this Q-list. And, since we're talkin about Pontiac Stockers, 2 spots down the list is another Pontiac. This one is a 2nd gen Bird, driven by Dwaine Davis. We'll take a look at his car later, when we look at competitive Birds.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...er=30#indextop

The bottom row of cars were driven by Jack Matyas, Mick Leiferman, & Kyle Riley.

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

I'd read this but didn't really remember it.

Besides the Tons-a-Fun wagons & the '72 GTO, Gary Wood also raced '65 & '67 Goats, several '68 Birds, AND a '71 455HO Bird. He apparently did pretty good with the '71, winning a div race and the Summer Nats, in '75. I can't verify this info. But here's a quote from the "Wagon Masters" article. It also includes a pic of the 2nd gen Bird. But, I can't download it, so far.

"...Next was a long line of 1968 400 Firebirds that he ran in E/Stock and quickly sold. “I actually ran about a dozen different ’68 400 Firebirds in E/Stock,” Gary recalled. “I would build one and then someone would come and buy it out from me. I had a lot of fun building them.”

Wood moved on to a 1968 Firebird, which was updated with a Ram Air IV engine. He then raced a 1971 Firebird Formula with a 455 HO engine, later updating it to SD-455 specs. Running in D/SA, he won the Division 1 points race at Maple Grove in ’75 and also the NHRA Summernationals at Englishtown with the Bird. Gary would sometimes run two cars at national events and as many as six cars at local events. The driving duties were divided between him, his then-wife Charlene and employees of his service station in Gansevoort, New York near Albany..."

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/0212...tiac-history/#

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Just got these pics, & there is no more room for pics on the '69 GTO page. So, I'll put 'em here.

The Jerry Stealy Judge set an E/SA nat record, before it was destroyed in a hwy accident.

"...Equipped with a Ram Air IV, the original Nemesis, a 1969 GTO Judge, carried Jerry Stealy to an E/SA national record..."

PS: Merry Christmas ya'll ! :)

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Hi, I believed the Pontiac that was named "Kathys Clown" where owned by a close friend here in Sweden (scandinavia) and raced at the dragstrips in Scandinavia!

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Wow ! If that's so, that was quite a trip for a car that only made short trips, of a quarter mile at a time.

But, I know that the quickest Pontiac Stocker ever built was sold & shipped overseas.

I assume that everybody reading this already knows this. But, Scott Burton's Ram Air IV 1970 Formula Firbird was the quickest Pontiac Stocker ever. Or at least it's the quickest one I ever heard of. It ran really low 10's, and is said to have dipped below 10.00, a time of 2.

Not sure what was the next quickest Pontiac Stocker ever ? I assume it might be a '69 RAIV BIrd, maybe John Schloe ?

My next guess might be a Ram Air II '68 Bird. I think maybe Leo Glasbrenner has one.

Then there are Randi Lyn Shipp's '67 Bird & Chris Stepenson's '68. They've both ran below 10.50.

LOTS of Pontiac Stockers now run high 10's. There's an assortment of '68 Birds, from Adam Strang & Todd Hoven on the East coast, to Bob Aceves on the West coast. Tim Gillespie also has one. And I could name a few more.

Then there are lots of 10 sec 455HO powered cars. Brad Burton & Scott Underhill have the first 2 that come to mind.

I would be VERY interested in the quickest pass ever made, by each of the 10 sec Pontiac Stockers now active. There may be several of 'em that can run quicker than 10.50, but just don't, in competition, so they won't get hp added to their combo, by NHRA. So, I'll never know.

It's interesting to me to compare the times the Stockers are turning today, compared to back in the '70's. Many of 'em are over 2 sec quicker. Today's Stockers are quicker the the Super Stock version the the cars were, back then. I suppose the cam & valve spring rule had a lot to do with that.

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Well, we've mentioned all the GTO's, in order, except the last one. For '74, the GTO was an X-body, and had a 350 engine.

But, as drag racers are known to do, some guys decided to see what they could get out of the '74 GTO. So, there have been a few '74's that did very well, including some record holders.

I think I've mentioned this, but the first to run a '74, that I'm aware of, was Rock Running. Think I posted a pic of his Super Sleeper '74 GTO.

Al Vanis won Indy with a Ventura II. It wasn't a real GTO. But, NHRA allows the same engine in a plain '74 Vent. So, for this discussion, there is really no difference. You can even run this engine in a 4-door Vent, or most any 2 or 4-door Lemans.

http://www.classracerinfo.com/Engine...px?ENGINE=2088

Bill Rink's '74 GTO is listed as the J/SA class winner at the 2005 US Nats.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2005#indextop

He qualified #21, with a 1.141 under, 11.609.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2005#indextop

The quickest '74 GTO Stocker, that I know of, belongs to Brad Koivisto. I'll look it up, but I think he ran some low 11's this year.

So, Rock Running's Super sleeper won class at the US Nats. Al Vanis won Stock at the US Nats, in a '74 Vent, the Duttweiler Automotive '74 GTO was class record holder for 5 years straight, from 1991 thru '95, & Bill Rink won class & was #21 qualifier, at Indy, in '05. That ain't a bad showing for the little 350 powered X-bodies.

Brad Koivisto ran a .939 under 11.211 at this July race, to qualify #6. So, I'd say the '74 Pontiac GTO was competitive in the the mid '70's, the first half of the '90's, the early 2000's, & still is, today.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r=100#indextop

Will be lookin for more info & pics of '74 350 powered Pontiac X-body Stockers. So, anybody with info and/or pics please post that info.

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Danny Ashley had a fast '74 GTO in the early 90's which went to Sweden.Mike Macdonald (Q-jet perf.) also had one which was sold to Richard Desmond from Minn.I'm not sure if Brad K's black car was owned at one time by the Nelson's also from Minn.There was also a guy from Montana Chuck Salerno (sp).The car was blue and called "Git-Go" and was a top q'fier back then...gsa612

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Hey, that's good info ! Any pics ? Know where I might get some pics ? Any idea how to contact any of these guys.

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Danny is a member here and was a friend of Mike M's.You can try PM'ing him, he may have some old pics.Not sure but Chuck's car may have gone to CA.Also you can try to PM Bill Rink(if he doesn't see this first) he's run his for years in STK and now SS.He may have more info on these cars.And you have pics of Brad's car as he currently runs it...gsa612

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

I'm gonna save this spot for more 1974 X-body info & pics. So, ya'll help me find some.

I LOVE it when you can come back and edit a post.

The biggest Pontiac site I'm on will only allow an edit for 1 hour. There have been many times when I've gone back over my posts & saw some type of error, which I'd like to correct. For times when the error was bad enuff, I had to make another post, to correct it. This way is much better. I can not only make corrections, if needed, but can also add more info and/or pics, when I get 'em.

So, for now, this is just a parking space for more '74 X-body stuff.

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Brad Koivisto's '74 is the car that Dick Desmond bought from Mike McDonald. Mike and Danny Ashley were partners with Q-jet performance.

Re: Best Pontiac Powered Stockers
 

Now that we've looked at all the GTO years, I'd like to talk about the Firebirds. I usually just call 'em Goats & Birds.

So, as most know, the 1st Bird was a '67 model, same as Camaro. I know of 2 '67 Stockers. But I'll need help with others. I'm sure there were probably quite a few '67's run, thru the years. But, right now, the only two I know about are those driven by Randi Lyn Shipp & Bryan Phillips.

Most Pontiacs that are running today, have been raced by others. Some have changed hands several times. I think somebody here has already mentioned who had Randi Lyn's car, before she got it. I always like to know the racing history of a Pontiac. It's interesting to me to see if an owner has more success than the previous owner, or less.

So, for you guys who know the previous history of any of the cars mentioned in this thread, please share that info.

I assume Randi Lyn's car & Bryan's car have to run the exact same engine specs. That's a 400 engine, with a 750 Q-jet carb. Probably has #670 heads. Some later Birds, had more than one 400 engine option. But, I think the '67's only had one. The basic specs are no secret. Anybody can look 'em up.

http://www.classracerinfo.com/Engine...4&MAKE=Pontiac

I know Randi Lyn has run some 10.40's, in D/SA, & 10.30's in C/SA. Don't know her best ET, in competition. Anybody know ? I do know that she has pulled some huge wheelstands. Appears to me that she needs some wheelie bars, like many other Stockers have.

And, she has won lots of races, including several nat events. She seems to be very popular with racers & fans.

She was the D/SA class winner at Indy, in 2013, with a 10.645.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2013#indextop

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/enth...cid=spartandhp