Junior Stockers

[oldskool]

I suppose the oldest Pontiacs that did pretty good, back in the Jr. Stock days, were the '56 models. Have found records showing that they won class at some big races.

John Thropp was about the only guy I've run across that did good with a '57.

There were quite a few '58 models that did real good, including class & big race wins, as well as nat record holders.

Ramon Lowe was probably the biggest name connected to a '58 Pontiac.

IIRC, I think Jay Hamilton won 2 div championships, a nat event, some class wins, & maybe a nat record, too.

[DeuceCoupe]

The pic to the right of Mary Ann, the pair of 58s looks like 69 Winter, I/SA=11.50 class, 788 Lindholm vs 894 Brown, both with the 370/330hp-6v "over the counter", sort of SuperDuty before it was called that?

Bottom left I cant find any of Farris' wins (yet).

Bottom center looks like Hamilton, 4dr sedan Starchief, F/SA=11.90 class in 1966, again 370/330-6v.

[oldskool]

"... I cant find any of Farris' wins..."

I don't know if he ever won a race or not.

The reason I included that pic is because of the Nat record holder words on it.

Hey, I can't even confirm that the car did set a nat record.

All my info comes strictly off the the internet, plus the Jr. Stock book. I go by the pics & captions about the pics. And, as we all know, MANY times, the info, online, in books, & in picture captions, are totally wrong.

[oldskool]

Haven't found a lot of pics of '59 Pontiac Stockers.

But apparently, the '60 models were quite popular, with racers.

I suppose the 1st really popular '60 model was the one that Jim Wangers drove to the win a the 1960 Nats. He won the title "Mr. Stock Eliminator". The pic of him driving the "Hot Chief #1" against another '60 Pontiac @ the '60 Nats is probably one of the most famous Pontiac drag racing pics, ever.

Ronnie Broadhead did real good with a '60 model.

And, there were quite a few others that got class & event wins, & set records.

The over the counter 389SD & 421SD parts really pepped up the Pontiacs of the early '60's. NHRA eventually outlawed some of these parts, on certain models.

[oldskool]

Before leaving '60 models, I need to mention a couple of '60 wagons.

Joe Perzen ran a record holder.

Douglas & Forys also built a strong running '60 wagon.

There were also some '61 Pontiac Stocker wagons that did pretty good.

[oldskool]

Lots of '61 Pontiacs ran strong. But it seems that most of those I have pics of ran Top Stock, in classes like S/S, OS/S, & S/SA. But, I'll post 5 that ran lower classes.

I'll start with one of my favorite '61's. It ran F/S. Set the F/S record @ Pomona '69. Gary was div 4 Stock champ in '68.

Have already posted pics of some '62's. But, I'll add 4 more, here.

The caption I have for the #6 car says it got 63 class wins & 7 race wins '68-'71. Don't have any details about where those wins took place.

Don't know if the car in pic #9 ran Jr. Stock or Top Stock. I included it because of the candy stripes. Looks typical of a lot of the Jr. Stock paint jobs of that era.

[oldskool]

For '63 models, I couldn't find hardly any Jr. Stock Pontiacs.

I suppose the 421SD powered '63 models were not NHRA Stock legal. But, I do have a pic of a '63 model running E/SA.

Also have a pic of a '64 big Pontiac Stocker. Caption says it was 421 powered. Mark said it had 400 power.

For the rest of the '60's, there were very few big Pontiacs run as serious Stockers, from what I can find. Pic #6 shows a 421 powered 2 + 2. Don't know how many of those hit the strips, as serious Stockers.

Well, '64 was the 1st year of the GTO. So, I assume lots of guys took 'em to the strip, to see what they'd do. A few dealers sponsored serious effort '64's.

During the pre-Firebird years, I'm sure there were lots of Tri-Power stick Goats running Jr. Stock. Other than the Knafel Pontiac '66, don't know how successful they were, nationwide.