Best Pontiac Powered Stockers

[oldskool]

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.

[oldskool]

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/

[oldskool]

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.

[oldskool]

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.

[oldskool]

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.

[oldskool]

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/

[Rich Biebel]

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...

[Kenney Kelley]

Old Skool you have a PM

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by Kenney Kelley

Old Skool you have a PM

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

[lareagle]

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