Best Pontiac Powered Stockers

[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.

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by oldskool

Found some pics which appear to be from an ad for the car, in '75 or later.

Painted on the rear was "72-74-75 N.H.R.A. Nat'l. Record Holder".

I assume that in '72, Truman was running it, in SS.

In '74 & '75, I have no idea who raced it or what class the recs were set in.

Any pertinent info will be appreciated.

Well, I think I found the answer. The pic below is from the H-O Racing Specialties newsletter. Shows that John Corcoran raced the former Truman Fields GTO, in G/S.

[oldskool]

Just got this 1st pic. Says that Red Nevins was div 4 Champ in 1965.

His car was a '59, named "Honest Injun".

[oldskool]

I know I've posted pics of this car here before.

But, I just organized 10 pics, to post on some FB pages & another forum. So, I decided to post 9 of 'em here.

The car is the "Tons-a-Fun" '72 Pontiac Lemans wagon, built by Gary Wood & driven mostly by Charlene Wood.

May have actually been 2 wagons, since some pics show a stock Lemans cap & some show a T-41 cap. Don't know about that.

Some pics show it running I/SA & some H/SA. Gary said they ran both a 455HO & a D-port 455, & ran good with both.

Charlene set records, got class & div wins & won the Grandnationals race in Canada, once. She won the div Stock title at least once & has been inducted into the div 1 hall of fame.

This car & Charlene are a couple of my Pontiac heroes.

[oldskool]

Today I asked Charlene some questions about the "Tons-a-Fun", to which she responded with some interesting info.

"...There were 2 wagons and 2 front ends interchangeable for different class combos. I remember Gary adding a third seat to change glass too. They ran in H I J and K/SA but mostly I/SA.
I think Gary played more with the second wagon for different combos.
The first wagon was sold in 1978 and the second was sold 1980 or 81. Sadly neither one exists today

we didn’t have 2 wagons at the same time. Sold the first one and Gary quickly built a second one. The first wagon is the one with the endura front end. My first NHRA number was 1235 and then 11 both on the first wagon. After that we changed my number to 1078. Gary’s number was 1076. Did that because once in a while we would switch cars. Only had to change one number.
I did come up against Gary at a couple races but he was driving the brown firebird
I think the first wagon was a 455HO and to me it had an edge over the second wagon "

That answered some questions I've had about "Ton-a-Fun". Now we all know some of the facts.

Here's a pic of the 1st wagon with #1235 on it, then one with #11 on it, both showing it with the T-41 cap.

In the next 2 pics, the wagon has her last number, 1078, on it, and has a reg Lemans cap on it.

Pic #5 shows their '72 GTO, which Charlene also drove. It also has her #1078 on it.

Pic #6 is Gary's Bird that Charlene mentioned.

[oldskool]

I have another question for you older racers.

(1) In NHRA, what was the 1st year in which Stockers were allowed to swap out the factory equipped rear end, in favor of a stronger rear end from the same division ?

By division, I mean like GM, Ford, or Mopar, NOT like Chev, Olds, Buick, Pontiac, etc. .

(2) To make the question more Pontiac specific: What was the 1st year a Pontiac Stocker could legally use a 12-bolt Chevy rear end, in a Pontiac which came from the factory only with a 10-bolt rear end ?

(3) To be even more specific: What would have been the 1st year in which a 12-bolt Chevy rear end would have been legal in a 1969 Pontiac GTO or Firebird, which came only with an 8.2" 10-bolt rear end ?

(4) When the year is established, would somebody look the new rule up in that year's NHRA rule book & post the exact wording of the rule ?

Thanks for help with this !

[TGould]

I dug out the box of 1972 National Dragsters. The Summer nationals issue says "Fields was disqualified for piston modifications while runner-up Mayo's downfall was in the intake system"

[Stan Weiss]

Originally Posted by TGould

I dug out the box of 1972 National Dragsters. The Summer nationals issue says "Fields was disqualified for piston modifications while runner-up Mayo's downfall was in the intake system"

Thanks. Can you post up a picture of the National Records shown in that issue?


Stan

[TGould]

Originally Posted by Stan Weiss

Thanks. Can you post up a picture of the National Records shown in that issue?


Stan

only 3 Stock ET records listed: All other classes at the class minimum

C/SA 13.36 Dave Benisek 72 Buick
J/SA 15.89 Les Young 66 Chevy

M/S 16.45 Tom Gould 66 Corvair

Tom

[oldskool]

"...only 3 Stock ET records listed: All other classes at the class minimum..."

'72 was the year NHRA completely changed the Stock rules & weight breaks. No headers or soft tires. All class records were set at a minimum, & remained that way 'til somebody set 'em. The weight breaks were changed again in '73. So, I assume they set all the class records to minimums, again.

I think there was a 10 year old model limit. So the older cars, like the tri-5 Chevy models, which had dominated Jr. Stock, were no longer allowed to run in Stock. Some which continued to race switched to SS.

These new NHRA Stock rules did not go over real big with lots of guys. Thankfully, by '75, the rules were more reasonable. Headers & 9" slicks were legal.