[oldskool]

OK guys, for you guys who were @ Indy in '72, AND were familiar with Stock & SS cars at that time, I need some help here. Just ran across a post on a Pontiac forum which was talkin about the '72 Lemans/GTO that Truman Fields ran in '72. All the pics I have of the car show it to be running SS. But, this post seems to have said that for Indy '72, the car was switched over to the G/S class. Said it won the class @ Indy & set the G/S nat record. I found pics of it supposedly taken @ Indy '72. It was clearly running SS. Would appreciate any help in getting to the truth about these 2 Pontiacs that Truman Fields had, in '72.

In order to present the questions I have, here's a copy of what I posted on the forum thread.

" "...The car set SS/K records right off the trailer back in '72. Pontiac sent a role of 455 HO GTO stickers in the glove box. They would often take the Goat stickers off and run it as a Lemans as it had a 200 lb. weight brake in SS/I. Pontiac built the car very light and in SS/K they would have to add the 200 lbs. to make weight. There is a fair amount of hidden trickery from Pontiac to do so when the car was shipped. It had been successful enough that Mother Mopar set the Ramchargers, Sox and Martin...after them. They never got there and beat the HO..."

OK, I'd still like to get to the bottom of this. So far, I haven't found any online evidence to prove that The '72 Lemans/GTO was ever run in any class besides Super Stock.

BUT, IF I'm understanding what I've quoted below, it appears that the author said that the same '72 Lemans/GTO that ran SS @ Indy '72, was converted to & ran G/S @ Indy '72. Says it got the '72 Indy G/S class win & set the G/S national record. I don't think it's possible to run both Stock AND SS, in the same car, at the same national event. If it was allowed, the car would have to pass tech for the Stock class it was running. If it was legal for Stock, then it would have been slow for SS, @ Indy. So, who would do that, even if they could ?

"...Ford was a pain in Pontiac's side at the time with the 428 CJ stick cars still being a dominate force in stock. With this in mind they switched to G/S for INDY in '72. The car promptly went out and set the G/S record and won class. The nearest 428 CJ car was running over 0.4 behind. They sold the Goat immediately after INDY. The car went on to reset the G/S records in '74 and twice in '75. It made runner up at INDY but never won INDY again. Truman got transferred by IBM and he also let the 455 HO E/SA Formula go at that time that Pontiac had provided..."

That post also says that the '72 Lemans/GTO was sold in '72, but "...went on to reset the G/S records in '74 and twice in '75..."

Well, that brings up more questions. For me, the questions this post brings up are:

(1) Did that '72 Lemans/GTO actually run BOTH Stock AND Super Stock ?

(2) Were there TWO of these '72 Lemans/GTO cars, one in Stock & 1 in SS ? (I've never seen another mentioned)

(3) Was the G/S class winner/record holder car mentioned actually the Firebird that was mentioned, of which I have never seen any pics or performance/race results ?

(4) Who owned/ran the car that set records in '74 & '75, AFTER it had been sold ?

(5) What exactly is the truth about this '72 Lemans/GTO & the '72 Firebird, both which Truman Fields supposedly ran in '72 ?

Main question: What car actually ran G/S, won the G/S class @ Indy '72, then reset the G/S nat record in '74 & '75 ?

Can anybody PLEASE shed some light on this ?

I HATE to say a member is posting false info. But I haven't been able to find a single shred of evidence that the '72 Lemans/GTO that Truman Fields had, ever ran in any Stock class.

Somebody please help me get to the truth here !!! It may not be important to anyone else. But, if a Pontiac did indeed win class @ Indy & set the nat record in 3 different years, I think that is important enuff to report on. "

Note: In doing some more research on these cars I ran across this fact, which I'm sure I've read, but had forgotten. Besides winning Stock @ Indy '73, in his '68 Bird Stocker, setting nat records, winning class @ Indy, he was also IHRA Stock champ 2 years. "...Truman was also the IHRA World Champion in 1982 and 1983 and a Car Craft All-Star in 1984..."