[oldskool]

"...And those newer Firebirds are nice, mid, to late 70’s models..."

Yeah, & there have been some very competitive '74 & '77/'78 model Birds, thru the years, & even into this century.

The first '74 that comes to my mind was driven by Bob Mulry. IIRC, Pontiac racer Bob Aceves had a hand in it. I've mentioned here that the car set the nat record, in 3 different classes. They had to change it into a T/A, for the heaviest class. It was also #1 qualifier at LOTS of races, out West, running more than a sec & a half under, at some races. Obviously, this kind of performance got some hp added. Same for the '77/'78 Birds.

The '74's could run a 400 4-barrel, 455 D-port, & the SD455. Those SD455 heads are now so valuable that VERY few guys will race 'em.

Right now, Ryan Warter, up in Wash state, runs the only competitive '75 Bird that I'm aware of. I know he's won at least one nat event, for sure.

Only '76 I'm aware of belongs to Kevin Love, in Canada. It was a class winner at Indy, back when Mike Morgan had it.

'77 seems to be the most popular year for 2nd gen Bird Stockers. I can think of lots of 'em. They were very competitive for quite a while. Most choose to run the Formula hood, so they won't have to deal with the T/A shaker scoop & the wheel flairs.

NHRA has kept bumping the hp up to the point where, the same '77 400 engine is more competitive in any '77 body, OTHER THAN a Bird. For example: Bob Michael has built & raced a '77 Lemans & currently has a '77 Catalina. That Cat is the only '77 Cat Stocker I've ever heard of.

There are still some guys running the 400 powered '77 Bird. But, IIRC, when asked, former record holder Dave Ribeiro, said that, with the current hp factors, the '77 Bird might be more competitive with a 350 Pontiac engine.

There are too many '77/'78 Bird Stockers to mention here, But a few I'll mention were raced by: Mark Yacavone, Bill Edgeworth, Dave Ribeiro, Rob Holmes, & the Biondo family. Others have also raced these cars.