Best Pontiac Powered Stockers

[oldskool]

2015

At the Carquest Nats, Brad was #1 @ - 1.012. Leo was #6. Scott was #11.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

At this div 7 race, 4 of the top 11 are Pontiac.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

At the 4-wide Nats, Randi Lyn was #5 with a - 1.041, 10.359.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

At the Spring Vegas nat race, Pontiacs were in numbers 8, 11, & 14 positions.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

Brad got RU.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

Leo was #7 & Scott was #8 at this Vegas div 7 race.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

Leo won 5 rounds.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

Randi Lyn was #4 at the Southern Nats.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

She & Michael got their class wins.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

At the div 3 season opener, Tommy Pettigrew was #11.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

At the sec div 3 race, Tommy was also the highest Pontiac qualifier @ #18.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

At the Idaho div 6 race, Brad & Scott were #6 & #9.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

And they were winner/RU ! Now that's fun !!!

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

Leo was #6 at the Pacific Sports Nats, & got RU.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

That gets us thru May.

[oldskool]

2015 After May.

At Bristol there was a unique situation. Michael Brand won his G/SA class, then made it to the final, which got rained out. Randi Lyn made it to the semi.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

At the Woodburn div 6 race, Leo was #5 & Lindy was #7.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

Brad won the race !

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

At the Mile High Nats, Scott was #9 & got RU.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

At this div 3 race, Tommy Pettigrew was #9, and won the race !

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

At the Northwest Nats, Bill Edgeworth was #5.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

At Brainerd, Randi Lyn was #13, won her C/SA class, & won her 3rd nat event Wally !

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

At this Beach Bend div 3 race, Tommy Pettigrew was #5 @ - 1.027. Quite a few Pontiacs in this one.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

Adam Davis won the race, in his '73 455 powered Formy.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

At the 5th div 7 race, Brad was #5, and won the race !

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

At the Fall Vegas race, Lindy was #15, but Scott won his 3rd nat event Wally. !

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

At the Pomona Finals, Lindy was #9 @ - 1.014.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

Leo won his 5th nat event Wally !

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2015#indextop

Pontiac Stockers did quite well, during the last half of the 2015 season !

[oldskool]

Before lookin at the 2016 season, I wanna go back & look at some of the oldies. There has already been mention of, & pics of Pontiacs from the '50's. So, I wanna look 1st at 1960 models.

Jim Wangers is a famous name in Pontiac performance history, as is Royal Pontiac. Well, for 1960, Jim had Royal prepare a couple of 389SD Pontiacs for strip duty. There was a red 4-speed car, which Jim drove, plus an auto car, which somebody else drove, if I understand it correctly.

Most of ya'll know that the US Nats were held at several different tracks, before landing at Indy. And, they were just called the Nationals. In 1960, the Nats were in Detroit. Jim, driving the red car, won his his class & the eliminator title. The white car made the final, but was beat by a Mopar.

https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/car-of...catalina-racer

The Super Stock class, as we know it, was not yet established. Some of these Pontiacs were equipped with factory over the counter parts, that were not available as original equipment. They were simple bolt on parts, as I understand it. So, I don't know if they were considered "Stockers", in 1960, or not. Don't know if they ran a separate class, or as a class within the Stock Elim. But, they were certainly not the roller cam, aftermarket intake, aftermarket block, aftermarket head SS engines of today.

And Jim was awarded the title of "Mr. Stock Eliminator", at the '60 Nats.

https://www.sema.org/sema-news/2010/...liminator-1960

The pic I'm posting is quite famous in Pontiac circles. It pops up quickly on a Google search.

[oldskool]

The deal with the factory parts upgrade is explained in more detail in this part of an Arnie Beswick bio article.

"... the 1960 Ventura was his first "specialty built"
Pontiac. It was factory rated at 348 HP, however optionally included in the package was
a set of heads and camshaft that raised the horsepower to 363. These parts were covertly
shipped in the trunk of the car. It also came with what is believed to be the first factory
installed 4 speed transmission in a Pontiac. Arnie, shortly after getting the car, drove to
Daytona Beach, Florida for the NHRA/NASCAR Winternationals. The best in the land
were here, so competition would be fierce. The window sticker was purposely left on the
car to prove that it was not modified. The car was still protested, even by other prominent
Pontiac racers. Additional build sheet confirmation had to be sent from Pontiac before he
could receive the overall S/S award for the weeklong competition.

By 1961, he was racing a new Pontiac that was absolutely unbeatable. He started out the
year by traveling to Daytona Beach for the weeklong competition for the second time.
He again won his class as well as going on to win the overall S/S eliminator title. In what
was later another high point of the year, he successfully raced one of the most highly
publicized Pontiac teams in the country. This was the Royal Pontiac crew from the
famous factory supported dealer in Royal Oak, Michigan. It was a best of five match race.
In spite of being an independent with no sponsorship, Arnie defeated the highly favored
Royal team three straight times. He ended up the season going to Indianapolis for the
NHRA nationals. He won in the S/S class, beating out everyone including Mickey
Thompson, who was driving his personal SD421 Catalina. He complied too quickly to the
automatic teardown of all class winners, and was disqualified for being a mere thousandth
overbore on one cylinder as the engine hadn't cooled sufficiently yet..."

[oldskool]

I suppose one of the winningest Pontiac Stockers of this time period may have been the Don Gay A/S 421 car. I've already posted about it. But, there were LOTS of early '60's Pontiac Stockers.

Don't have a clue as to how long some of these cars may have continued to compete.

The only '60's big Pontiacs I remember competing in the '70's were wagons.

I suppose the A & F-bodies took over all the classes the big cars could run, so the big cars just couldn't compete.

[gsa612]

Off topic this 68 GTO (lot # 1440) is up for sale next week at BJ.Should go for a good buck!...gsa612

[oldskool]

Here's a couple of early '60's Stocker wagons. One of 'em is a record holder. Looks like they ran it in both H/SA & I/SA.

The other one appears to have either O/SA or Q/SA on it.

Ya'll know of any other full size Pontiac wagons from the '60's that ran Stock ?