Best Pontiac Powered Stockers

[oldskool]

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.

[oldskool]

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/#

[oldskool]

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 !

[Stock4106]

Originally Posted by oldskool

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.ID=349415&Filter=30#indextop[/url]

I'll help shine some light on this car. If I remember the story correctly, Kyle Riley bought a running '77 Lemans and had a towing accident which damaged the car. He found a clean body and used parts from the damaged car to build this car. He did well with the car for a few years, including a RU at the Allstar race in '03 or '04.

At some point Kyle passed it to Marion Stephenson and it was one of many cars that Marion raced. Jack Larsen got it from Marion and has raced it in rotation with other cars he has. Wayne, Jack's brother, recently put is C/SA Mustang on the bench and races this car.

[oldskool]

OK, so we're talkin about one car that has been passed around.

Thanks for the info !

I've noticed more & more that many, if not most, of these old Pontiacs have been raced by many different owners. I'd like to see 'em all keep racing as long as possible.

[Adam Strang]

Can't believe nobody has mentioned Harry Axemaker. Didn't he win a couple of National events in the '80s? Believe he had a '72 Firebird.

[Lyn Smith]

My vote goes to Todd Hoven's G/SA 72 GTOs performance at the 2008 US Nationals. Todd qualified in the top 10,but there was 4 other G/SA Barracudas right there with him. He took them out one by one,and put away Chuck Beach in the final. As the story goes he had one of those special metric transmissions shipped into Indy from California to help him. Quite a sight seeing his big old boat run down the Mopars that day.

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by Lyn Smith

My vote goes to Todd Hoven's G/SA 72 GTOs performance at the 2008 US Nationals. Todd qualified in the top 10,but there was 4 other G/SA Barracudas right there with him. He took them out one by one,and put away Chuck Beach in the final. As the story goes he had one of those special metric transmissions shipped into Indy from California to help him. Quite a sight seeing his big old boat run down the Mopars that day.

OK, I count 15 cars in G/SA. Here's the class elims, round by round.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2008#indextop

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2008#indextop

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2008#indextop

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2008#indextop

Thanks for mentioning that. It was very interesting. The highest qualifier took himself out with a red light. The next highest qualifier took himself out with a slow light. And, thankfully, Todd's GTO had his final round opponent covered by a hair, @ 1.278 under. Very exciting stuff ! Great job Todd ! I know that is an experience of a lifetime, you'll never forget !

[oldskool]

OK, continuing with '68 Bird Stockers. Right now, I suppose Chris Stephenson has the hottest '68 Stocker. It's quick & he has won several big races. Usually qualifies strong.

There's a lot I don't understand about qualifying. It seems that some love to qualify near the top. But some really sandbag during qualifying, at certain races. I suppose some don't wanna call any attention to their car's performance, for fear of a hit. I don't fully understand the whole system, other than the 1.2 under deal.

Anyhow, I'll just point out a few of this car's achievements. The first time I noticed his name on a qualifying sheet, he was #18, at the '17 Southern Nats. Had never heard the name & didn't know the car. So, does anybody know the history of this car, before Chris got it ?

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

I suppose it was at Norwalk, in 2017 that I 1st saw Chris as the highest qualified Pontiac Stocker.

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

The 1st big win I have recorded for him was at a div 3 race in Aug, '17.

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

He made the Indy field @ #85 with a .997 under 10.553.

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

He won the NMCA Stock/SS combo class at this race.

https://www.nmcadigital.com/2017/09/...-lsx-shootout/

And here's a little treat. It's a video of the final.

https://www.facebook.com/Gary.West.7...4863431408187/

At the last Pomona race of '17, he qualified #8 @ .969 under.

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

And, he made it to the final, but had to settle for RU. But hey, he had a great year, I'd say.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2017#indextop

At the '18 Virginia Nats, he qualified #3 @ .981 under.

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

At Norwalk, he was #3 @ 1.027 under.

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

He was .937 under @ the '18 US Nats.

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

He won the big fall race at Vegas !

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

Hey, if you can run a sec under & win a Nat event, I suppose you can say you had a pretty good year.

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by Adam Strang

Can't believe nobody has mentioned Harry Axemaker. Didn't he win a couple of National events in the '80s? Believe he had a '72 Firebird.

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.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2019#indextop

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 ?

Here's bit more info.

https://classracer.com/classforum/sh...3&postcount=12

How 'bout this ya'll. Harry Axemaker got his 1st Nat event win at the '87 Winter Nats, in the '71 Bird !

"...The Stock final matched Norm Rollings (of Pomona, in a Corvette (his first national event) lost to Harry Axemaker, in a G/SA 1971 Firebird; it would be his first class win in eighteen years of trying..."

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/1987_NHRA_Winternationals

Discovered that they entered the Brainerd nat event, with the Bird, most of the years from 2008 thru 2016. David Reuland was listed as the driver in the earlier years. Sam was the driver the last couple of years. The times varied mostly from a half sec under to about 1/4 sec under. Not quick. But quick enuff to win. Haven't checked to see what was the most round wins they got at those races.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2012#indextop

Found this that shows Dennis Axemaker in a '72 Lemans, & David Reuland in a '72 Pontiac. Don't know what year.

https://us.motorsport.com/nhra/news/...stock/1727331/