Quote:
Originally Posted by Rat Patrol
DC - Couple of possibke amendments for your 69 list.
1 - ‘Ben’ Wolfe’ - B/SA SpringNats - Try this guy
https://www.motortrend.com/features/...69-pontiac-gto
2 - Re Tom Schumacher, B/Stock Indy - Just a factoid.....The car he beat was his old Fairlane Hardtop W Code. The driver, was not only the guy he sold it to, but Tom had borrowed this guys steel hood off his street car at the. springNats when tech disallowed his glass hood! Small world!
I have asked Ronnie Crawford to try and find out his name - Ronnie crewed for Tom.
3 - I cannot find A NY reference to a P Scalla on the net...most frustrating! |
Good find!
It doesnt SEEM like a fit, since the RA4 was factored at 380hp, so
3500/380=9.21 which would run in D/SA=9.00 class.
But as I look, the ONLY wins I have for the RA4 are in 1970, not 1969.
Maybe the RA4 was factored to say 425hp in 1969, and then since wins were rare & it was factored SO high, it was the 1st of several engines to get factored back DOWN.
This makes some sense, because the RA4 Gonkulates at 424hp, and I've tried everything I can to get it lower - that doggone RA4 just wants to make power.
Well I will put that in as a strawman then, it's sure hard to argue with given the name Ben Wolf is right there on the sheet. 69 could easily be misread as 61 so that makes some sense too.
Awesome, another RA4 win, and 2 classes up from where it ran in 1970.
On Scalla, try Scalia maybe? Like the Supreme Court judge?
EDIT 27 Sept:
Well now I'm not so sure of the whole RA4 factored to 425hp then downfactored to 380hp thing:
1. The Motor Trend article guys are Wilson "Sonny" Wolfe Jr and Wilson Wolfe III - I'm not seeing a Ben Wolfe.
2. Per below, the Ben Wolf that won SPring 69 B/SA=8.00 class is likely Ben Wolf of Wolf & McClelland, I think oldskool nailed that one.
3. Most disturbing, I just realized that Indy 69 D/SA=9.00 class was won by a 69 Pontiac. We dont know for SURE that the Bunker Pontiac is a GTO RA4, but a RA3 at 3500/366=9.56 would run in E/SA=9.50 class.
And a RA4 at the good old 380 hp Factor fits D/SA=9.00
3500/380=9.21
Then again, if Bunker was a 69 Firebird RA3, then
3318/366=9.07 is a great fit.
Seems the only "Big" Pontiac in D/SA=9.00 would be the good old 62 Cat Superduty, but that's a 62 not a 69.
SO: As of Sep 1969 it LOOKS like the RA4 was factored at 380hp, just like in 1970. Unless it got de-factored between June and September 1969 (possible I guess but not likely) then the Indy 69 B/SA=8.00 car CANNOT be a RA4 GTO. Unless Bunker's D/SA=9.00 "Pontiac" was a Firebird RA3, then that re-opens the possibility that the RA4 was factored at 425hp for all of 1969.
But, Ben Wolf seems unrelated to Wilson "Sonny" Wolfe and his 69 RA4 GTO, so there's no evidence other than a way-over-factored fit that Ben Wolf's B/SA=8.00 winner was a 69 RA4 GTO. But if not, then what was it?
A Firebird RA4 factored to 400hp? (Then down to 380hp for 1970?)
Could be. Or not.
Back to Square 1?