[Alan Nyhus]

Originally Posted by oldskool

Thought that name sounded familiar. I posted a congrats to Sam Reuland for winning a race with Pontiac power, because his car was listed as a '71 Pontiac, & the pic I had matched the perm # of the winning driver.

But somebody posted that he was NOT driving a Pontiac. I should have suspected that something was wrong, when I saw a '71 Bird listed in B/SA, since I've never seen a '71 in B/SA. But, I suppose, at the time, I just figured NHRA had added some hp & they could now make B. Didn't take time to reason it out. Hey, it showed that a '71 Pontiac had won the race, so that was good enuff for me.

Anyhow, I've got these pics with the names Axemaker & Reuland on 'em. There's a '71 Formy & a '72 Goat. Sam Reuland is the name on the windows.

Don't have a clue what either car did. Who knows more details ?

The number is from div 5. So, The Warlings or Scott Burton may know these guys & cars. Any of you guys friends with them, or know anyone who might have more info on the guys and/or the cars ?

I posted previously the info on the Axemaker Firebird. Here it is:

Here's the history on the white '71 Firebird:

Car was ordered through Schoon Motors in Luverne, Minnesota. Schoon Motors was owned by Arnie Toftland, a pretty successful Pontiac racer in his day. The car was ordered and purchased by Don Breen of Sioux Falls, S.D. specifically to race. It had very few options: 455 H.O. engine, heavy duty suspension and TH400 trans. It's also a radio delete car and came with a column shift, no console. The window sticker for the car still exists. Don and partners Daryl Vanderploeg and Greg White raced the car in SS/JA with engine work by Larry Nagel's Precision Engineering in Sioux Falls.

After racing it, the car was sold to Dennis Kohler from Sioux Falls and was driven on the street for several years before being parked. Don was looking to build another Firebird for Stock Eliminator and I told him that I knew where his original Firebird was sitting. Don bought it and did a beautiful job of turning it into a Stocker, running the low h.p. 455.

Don sold the car to John Spry, who was originally from Mitchell, S.D. John was living in Montana or Wyoming...not sure which. John repainted the car grey and raced it as a Stocker for several years. Harry Axemaker, also from Mitchell, S.D. and a friend of John's, brought the car back to Mitchell after it was purchased by Harry's brother Ken, who lives in Alaska. The car was repainted to it's original white by Dennis Axemaker, a brother of Harry and Ken. Harry raced the car for quite a while. When he was done racing it, the car was turned over to their good friend Dave Reuland from the Mitchell area. Dave also raced the GTO pictured with Axemaker and Reuland on the door. Dave and son Sam raced the Firebird for several years before deciding to do the silver Challenger.

Unfortunately, Harry passed away in late January of 2018. Ken Axemaker, the brother that owned the car, sold the car to Dan Johnson of Mitchell, who was a long time friend of Harry's. Dan and his grandson are now racing the car in F/SA with the low h.p. 455. Plans are to do a 455 H.O. engine in the future.

I may have missed a few details, but that's a pretty good over view.

Here's the car as it now looks: