Best Pontiac Powered Stockers

[Tom Olson]

Originally Posted by oldskool

Anybody have any info on this car ? Appears to be E/SA #3425, with OLSON on the door.

Wow, what a blast from the past!
The car is a 1972 455HO that I built and raced until the cost of a competitive stocker became too much for my budget. I used to race with Truman D. Fields when he was located in Reading, Ohio and helped him turn the firebird that was traded to him by Roy and Mike McKinney into the stocker that went faster than the one he sold them. When Truman moved, I started building the 72 Bird for E/SA with a lot of help from Tom Ellison / Ellison Engine Service. The car is long gone now, as it was sold to a Pontiac guy here in town. I still race today, but that is with a 1986 Firebird built for super gas and as you can guess it's power is a big 455 Pontiac with HO heads. It was nice to see the old car and I will have to see if i can find any of my old racing pictures that I can post.

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by Tom Olson

Wow, what a blast from the past!
The car is a 1972 455HO that I built and raced until the cost of a competitive stocker became too much for my budget. I used to race with Truman D. Fields when he was located in Reading, Ohio and helped him turn the firebird that was traded to him by Roy and Mike McKinney into the stocker that went faster than the one he sold them. When Truman moved, I started building the 72 Bird for E/SA with a lot of help from Tom Ellison / Ellison Engine Service. The car is long gone now, as it was sold to a Pontiac guy here in town. I still race today, but that is with a 1986 Firebird built for super gas and as you can guess it's power is a big 455 Pontiac with HO heads. It was nice to see the old car and I will have to see if i can find any of my old racing pictures that I can post.

WOW ! What a great Pontiac story !!!

THANKS for sharing that !

And please do share all the old Pontiac racing pics you have. Truman was my 1st Pontiac hero, after he won the US Nats, back in '73.

[oldskool]

Here's the Q-list from DRC, for the AZ race. Ryan Schloe finished #19. C.W., John, & Rick were #39, #40, & #41.

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

Just watched the last round of Stock qualifying, at the div 4 race, on Drag Racer TV. Only Pontiac I saw was driven by Wayne Larsen. I think it's a '77 Lemans. I have it listed under Jack Larsen. I assume the 2 are kin. Jack is also entered in this race, driving another brand car.

I labeled the pic Wayne Larsen, for this post. But it still had Jack's div 3 number on it. But, Wayne was definitely driving this same car today. Pretty easy to tell by the checkered flag paint job on the sides. IIRC, he was running N/SA, & ran a 12.24 on a 13.00 index. So, he was .760 under.

[oldskool]

Well, at the div 4 race, another Pontiac sneaked in on me. Logan Galbraith came down, from Indy, with his '74 Grand Am. It is the former Don Turk car. Logan won some races with it, last year.

He qualified #23 Fri, @ .980 under. Wayne was #36, @ .873 under.

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

Logan won the N/SA class, with an 11.943, on the 13.00 index. Wayne was RU in the class.

After Sat qualifying, Logan is #13 @ 1.042 under, & Wayne is #44 @ .873 under.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r=100#indextop

Both cars lost in E-1. Wayne cut a great light, then screwed up the finish. Logan cut a slow light, then never had a chance.

[oldskool]

At the div 7 race in Tucson, Brad Burton Joined the party, with his '72 Bird. There are now 5 Pontiac powered Stockers entered. Ryan Schloe is #2 @ .993 under, & C.W. Hoefer is #3 @ .991 under.

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

[oldskool]

Finally got time to start lookin for Pontiac info the the Junior Stock book I was given. Some of the cars & info, I was already aware of. But, there is some info that is new to me.

So, I'll go thru the book slowly & point out some of the Pontiac info in it. Those here, who have a copy, can check & see if what I'm posting is correct.

The 1st Pontiac I'll mention is the win that Jim Wangers got, at the '60 Nats. It's on P-13. For that win, he was declared "Mr. Stock Eliminator".

[oldskool]

On P-14, the 7-11 Packer Pontiac is mentioned. The caption for the pic of that car explains how some of the big Pontiacs were shipped with a 348hp engine under the hood, but had lots of upgrade parts in the trunk, with which a guy could build his motor to run at 368hp.

They say that car was totaled in a towing accident, in '62, but not before scoring a class RU, at the '62 Nats, running 12.90's.

Apparently Packer sponsored several big Pontiacs back in the early '60's. Here's one with 7-16 on it. The 2nd pic is of a recreation of that car that was totaled.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2007/1...gstrips-again/



The 3rd pic looks to be a recreation or rstoration of a later year model, with 7-11 on it. The 4th pic is of a silver '63 Cat. Don't know how accurate these cars are to a car that was actually raced. Also don't know if some are actually a restoration of the original race car.

This article says the silver "Swiss Cheese" car set a C/S nat record in '63, @ 12.27.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/drive...ction/9658243/

[oldskool]

That same page of the book also mentions some other Pontiac class winners from that year. It says that Hayden Proffitt got an OS/S class win at the Nats, running a 12.55, in a Mickey Thompson Pontiac. Not real sure which car that was. But I'll see if I can find out.

Also mentions that Lloyd Cox won the S/SA class. Pretty sure I mentioned this one. I think he also won the class @ the Winter Nats that year. The next year, his wife Carol won the auto class at both races. Haven't seen her named mentioned, in the book, yet.

Although there are no names on the car, in the 1st 2 pics, I think this is Hayden Proffitt & the M/T car he drove at the '61 Indy race. If I'm wrong, somebody can correct it, & post the correct info.

Just thought I'd better mention this again, for those who may not have seen it earlier, or may not know. In the early '60's, these cars were not considered "Super Stock" cars, as we know 'em. A/SA & above, including FX, ran in what was called "Top Stock". Lower classed cars later became known as the "Junior Stock " class. That's why I'm listing these cars in the Stockers thread.

[oldskool]

Well, after reading the book's coverage of the 1962 season, I'm real disappointed. Hey, it was a big year for Pontiac. The M/T A/FX Tempest won the class, at the Winter Nats & @ Indy. No mention of that. Carol Cox also won the S/SA class at both races. Since she is said to be the 1st female to win class at a nat event, looks like it would have deserved a mention.

The book mentions her name, by saying that a Chevy beat her, & that she was driving a similar car. Not even close.

"...Don Nicholson. His Chevy defeated the similarly equipped Carol Cox car..."

https://www.nhra.com/news/2018/carol...t-class-winner

But hey, I understand how a non-Pontiac guy could find it real easy to overlook or leave out Pontiac accomplishments. I understand that this is a Junior Stock book. But, for '61 & '62, the book mentions several classes that ran Top Stock. So, why leave out the A/FX car that won at both big races ?

Hey, still a good book, with lots of info. But, as I go thru it, I'm gonna add all the Pontiac info I know, about the year in question.

The book does mention that Arlen Vanke took 3 "Tin Indian" Pontiacs to the Indy race. Says he won at least one SS class, & turned the quickest SS time, of 12.65, & the fastest, @ 113.20. Well, this leaves out a lot of details. I'll do some research & see if I can fill in some of the details. Will edit & post what I find, here.

I think it's fairly safe to say that this '62 GP was one of the cars Arlen took to Indy, in '62. It has "Tin Indian" on it. I assume that means it was the 1st Anderson Pontiac Tin Indian. The car in the 3rd pic is a '63, which has "Tin Indian III" on it. So, I don't think he could have raced it at Indy in '62. Don't think they came out that early. But, I assume Pontiac may have released a few to big name Pontiac racers, in time for Indy. Anybody know ?

So far, I can't find a "Tin Indian II" car. But, I assume there was one. So, I'll keep looking.

But, maybe all 3 cars he took were NOT Tin Indian Cars. Here's a '62 ragtop called "Black Whirlwind".

Anderson also had a couple of '63 Tempests. Looks like they ran SS @ some tracks & A/FX @ some. Also assume they wouldn't have been ready for Indy '62.

[DeuceCoupe]

Originally Posted by oldskool

On P-14, the 7-11 Packer Pontiac is mentioned. The caption for the pic of that car explains how some of the big Pontiacs were shipped with a 348hp engine under the hood, but had lots of upgrade parts in the trunk, with which a guy could build his motor to run at 368hp.

They say that car was totaled in a towing accident, in '62, but not before scoring a class RU, at the '62 Nats, running 12.90's.

Apparently Packer sponsored several big Pontiacs back in the early '60's. Here's one with 7-16 on it. The 2nd pic is of a recreation of that car that was totaled.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2007/1...gstrips-again/



The 3rd pic looks to be a recreation or rstoration of a later year model, with 7-11 on it. The 4th pic is of a silver '63 Cat. Don't know how accurate these cars are to a car that was actually raced. Also don't know if some are actually a restoration of the original race car.

This article says the silver "Swiss Cheese" car set a C/S nat record in '63, @ 12.27.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/drive...ction/9658243/

This is a great thread, not just for Pontiac but for all the NHRA results & entry sheets.

I remember reading the Swiss Cheese C/S story before.
Always wondered:
* How could a Swiss Cheese car (a couple dozen made?) run in NHRA Stock ANYTHING?

* How could it run in C/S=10.60 W/P back in 1963-65?
The car would have to be ballasted from its 3300 lb Swiss Cheese weight up to 4300+ lb to fit the C/S class. You could drop an entire extra 421 engine & trans in the trunk & the car would still be too light for C/S class.

The C/S=10.60 record as Sep 1963 was 13.25 at 107.65 by Broadhead's 60 Catalina 389 Super Duty.

As of April 1965, the C/S=10.60 record was reset, again by Broadhead's 60 Pontiac, at 12.94 at 110.29.

These are both slower than the Swiss Cheese 12.27 ET, in whatever class it was run. I thought about C/FX instead of C/S but the car is way too light for C/FX.

It would really help history if we knew the real story on the Swiss Cheese cars running in NHRA (maybe in B/FX?), how they ran, what class this car ran its 12.27 in, etc.