Best Pontiac Powered Stockers

[oldskool]

Don't know why I haven't thought of this before.

Below are pics of Truman's '68 "Hard Times" Bird, @ the 1972 Summer Nats. There is no class trophy or Wally that I see, in the 1st pic. So, was that pic for the class win, or did he win Stock Eliminator, or ?

He obviously couldn't have driven that car AND the '72 Bird he supposedly had.

So, that brings up some possibilities/questions.

(1) Why was Truman NOT driving the '72 Bird Stocker ?

(2) Was it not in racing condition for that particular race ?

(3) Was it entered in that race, with someone else driving it ?

(4) Had Truman already raced it some & it did not run quick enuff to be competitive ?

(5) I've read that all nat records were set at minimums at the beginning of the '72 season. So, did the '72 Bird set it's class record that year ?

(6) Did another car in the same class bomb the record, therefore making Truman's '72 Bird non-competitive ?

(7) Why does there seem to be no pics or records of this car's performance, but only mentions of it's existence ?

(8) Does anybody have any real solid evidence that Truman ever actually drove this car in competition ?

(9) Does anybody know the car's history, after Truman had it ?

I know there are guys on this site who were around back in '72. Gotta be somebody here with more info about this car AND Stock racing in general, for that particular year, 1972. I've read that lot's of Stock racers switched to SS. But some still ran Stock. Have read that the Stage 1 455 powered Buicks did good that year. Same car won 1st & last nat event. Don't know how the Pontiacs did. Anybody have any info about Pontiac NHRA Stockers, for the year 1972 ?

[oldskool]

Since I made that last post, I've read that Truman did win @ the Summer Nats, and @ Indy, in his '68 Bird.

BUT, what I read said that he was DQ'd @ both races for tire rule infractions.

Can anybody here verify this ?

If this is true, I'm wondering exactly what the infraction was. Have read that the tires had to be street legal, not softened any, and not shaved down below a certain groove depth.

So, if he was indeed DQ'd for a tire rule infraction, there was obviously something about the tires he ran that didn't pass tech.

Would appreciate any info about this reported DQ.

[oldskool]

I've read that sometime during the last half of the '73 season, a soft compound M&H wrinkle wall DOT tire was allowed by NHRA. Could be any size that would fit in the stock wheel well.

They had 2 very small grooves in 'em. I didn't find out about these tires til after the '73 season was over. I bought a pair over the winter & ran 'em during the '74 season. They instantly dropped my ET aprox 1/2 sec. I've already posted pics on this thread.

Truman Fields won Stock @ Indy '73. I assume he was running those soft tires. I found 9 pics of Truman's Bird, supposedly taken in '73, on the Petersen site. You can see in some of those pics that the rear tires were wider than the 9" slicks that were made legal for '75.

[Frank Castros]

Motor Wheels look fantastic.

[oldskool]

Also found 4 other Pontiac Stockers on that Petersen '73 Indy section.

#1 & #2 are of what appears to be a '63 Catalina wagon, which was running T/S. Has "NHRA National Class Champ" on the side. Don't remember ever seeing this wagon before.

#3 IIRC, this is a '73 Model. It's obviously a 4-door & was named "Tijuana Taxi". Not long after this, V8 engines were not allowed in that class.

#4 This is obviously a '68 GTO which was running C/S. I assume that would make it RA2 powered. Looks to have "Win Gurney Pontiac" on the side. If I've ever seen a pic of it before, I don't remember it.

#5 This is Dave Pruden's E/S '69 Goat.

#6 I've posted this pic of Dave, as an Indy class winner. Don't know if it was in '73 or not. Didn't get it from Petersen.

[oldskool]

While lookin thru the Petersen archives for the '72 Indy race, I kept noticing pics of this early '70's T/A.

But, the pics weren't made at the Indy track.

And, although the section was for something that happened in around the 1st of Sept, 1972, the shaker scoop has SD-455 decals on it. But, the 1st year of SD-455 cars were '73 models. Don't think any SD-455 powered Birds would have been sold by Indy race time.

So, I concluded that the Bird in the pics must have been a test car of some type. So, I posted the pics on the PY Pontiac forum, asking for info.

Sure enuff, some of the members were familiar with the car. It was indeed one of the "mule" cars which was used for testing SD-455 engines, and other parts.

The pics show that it had a trunk mounted fuel tank, with the filler neck coming right up thru the trunk lid. Also had lots of small vent holes in the tail panel.

These pics are obviously in b&w. The car was actually gold colored.

Any of ya'll familiar with this car ?

[oldskool]

Here's a colored pic of the SD-455 T/A test mule.

It is said that this Bird was later destroyed, rather than being sold. Can't verify.

More info & pics:

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showpost...3&postcount=15

[oldskool]

2 Pontiac Stocker combos will get a 5hp reduction for next season. These are hp factor reductions NHRA granted, which were requested.

Pont 455 335 330 325 1971 T-37

Pont 455 360 335 330 1970 GTO

(1) Don Turk has the only 455HO powered '71 T-37 Stocker I I know of. It was made famous as the "Super Sleeper", raced by Rock Running, back in the '70's. Then Ken Shawver ran it some. IIRC, I read that Danny Ashley made some upgrades to it. But Don Turk has it now.

(2) Todd Kuhn has the only 455 powered '70 GTO Stocker I know of.

Don't know how much 5hp will help these guys. But, they can at least run the same class, at a slightly lower weight.

Somebody requested a reduction for the '69 GTO 366hp RA3 engine. But that request was denied. Don't know of anybody running this combo, in recent years. Assume the hp factor has never changed from the factory 366hp rating. IMO, it's way too high. The VERY similar 350hp engine has an hp factor of 325hp. That's probably competitive. 366hp is not. I assume somebody wants to race a '69 Judge tribute car, without having to run the rare & expensive RA4 heads.