Pontiacs

[oldskool]

For the most part, the quickest Pontiacs from around 1959, thru '66, have had more than one carb. The 421SD engines had 2 AFB's. Quite a few cars came with three 2-barrels, which Pontiac called Tri-power. I think Tri-power came in 370, 389, & 421 versions. Not sure about any others. I'm not a Tri-power expert, by any means. I'm a Q-jet guy.

In '66, the GTO could come with a 389 Tri-power. I suppose the most famous was the Knafel Pontiac car, I call the "Trophy Car". Knafel actually had at least 2 of these cars. Below are pics of their 2-car rig, with both cars aboard.

Royal Pontiac also raced this model. And I'm sure there were probably quite a few other Pontiac dealers that sponsored 1. No telling how many '64-'66 Tri-Power GTO's were raced, all over the country. From what I can find, it looks like most of 'em ran either B/S or C/S.

Currently, I only know of 2 Stockers that still run Tri-power. Bob Michael has a '62 389 GP. And Norman Warling has a '62 Catalina, with that same engine. Norman actually tried a 421SD in his car for a race or 2. This past weekend, with the Tri-power 389 engine, he was #1 qualifier at the 1st race & #2 qualifier at the 2nd race of the div 6 doubleheader.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2021#indextop

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2021#indextop

[oldskool]

When lookin back at the race results from the '60's, it's obvious that one of the most competitive Stock Pontiacs was the '58 model.

These cars ran a 370 cube engine. Tri-Power was an option. F.I. was also available on some models, in '57 & '58. I assume that most of the higher classed '58's ran the Tri-Power, & lower classed cars ran a single carb. Not sure of that. Don't know if there were any who had good success with the F.I. system, for racing, or not. Some probably did.

The biggest name in '58 Pontiac racing was Ramon Lowe. He was involved with several cars, which won races, set records, & got class wins.

Another '58 racer was Gene Brown. Noticed "Lowe & Brown" on a '58 that Ramon drove. So, I assume that maybe those 2 guys shared info to help make both of their '58's quicker. But, I wasn't aware of either racer back in the day.

Another famous '58 was named "Tokyo Rose".

Another was driven by Lindy Lindholm. In recent times Lindy raced a '77 GP, then a pretty strong '74 Formula. A few years back, the '74 was stolen. So, Lindy moved to another brand.

The '58 that Mary Ann Foss drove was a class winner & record holder.

The last 2 pics are also of strong '58's. I think Jay Hamilton won the div 7 Stock points more than once.

[oldskool]

Haven't found many pics of '57 & '59 Pontiac drag cars. So, I decided to put 'em all on this post.

The '57 engine was a 347. I think Tri-Power was available. F.I. was available in a Bonny ragtop only, if my info is correct.

But, some guys ran it in HT models. It was eventually banned in all models that couldn't be factory equipped with it.

The biggest name I've found, who raced a '57 was John Thropp.

'59 was the first year of the 389 engine. I only have pics of 3 '59's in my files.

[Stan Weiss]

Ramon Lowe 58 Pontiac


http://www.classracer.com/classforum...ad.php?t=44070


Stan

[oldskool]

Looking back at old nat records & class wins, it appears that the 1960 Pontiacs were very competitive.

The 1st one that comes to mind is the Royal Pontiac "Hot Chief #1", which Jim Wangers drove to victory at the '60 Nats.

One of my favorites was the black "Big Iron" car. It was a nat record holder, driven by Rod Kister.

Ronnie Broadhead was a class winner & div champ.

The Lowe & Beardsley car was a record holder, as was the Samuels car. I have pics of several other '60 Pontiacs. So, I'm guessing that there were LOTS of 'em, at tracks all over the country, back in the '60's.

[oldskool]

There were LOTS of '61, '62, & '63 Big Pontiacs, running on tracks all over the country.

The 389SD & 421SD engines were VERY competitive. So, these cars got lots of class wins & set lots of nat records.

Then, after '63, there was very little factory help. So, MOST of the heavy hitters switched brands. Mopar went "whole hog" into drag racing, giving LOTS of factory support to lots of racers. That, along with the 426 Hemi engines, gave the factory Mopar cars a big advantage. A quick check of race results beginning in the mid '60's will show how dominant Mopar was.

Same thing happened in NASCAR. The dominant 389SD & 421SD Pontiacs gave way to the Hemi Mopars & 427 Fords.

But, in the early '60's, Pontiacs did a lot of winning, on drag & circle tracks. And I love to read about what many call Pontiac's "Glory Days".

There were some crazy classes in '61-'63. NHRA made classes for cars running some factory over-the-counter HP parts, & for very limited production models.

There were classes like S/S, S/SA, OS/S, SS/S, A/FX, B/FX, etc. For a time, those classes, plus A/S were called Top Stock, and classes below that were called Junior Stock.

One of my favorite '61 Pontiacs was raced by div 4 racers, the Moore family, with Gary Moore driving. He set a national record, won class at a nat event, & was div 4 champ, with a '61 Pontiac.

There were lots of dealer sponsored '61's. Another of my favorite '61's was driven by Carol Cox. She won the S/SA class at Pomona & Indy with it. The hottest '61's ran one of the SD engines.

[oldskool]

There was no shortage of '62's. They ran lots of different classes.

One of my favorites is the A/S 421SD car that Don Gay drove.

But there were lots of '62 record holders & class winners.

You'll notice that some of these pics are of Grand Prix models. The '62 GP nose/grill gives it a different look than the other '62 Big Pontiacs.

[oldskool]

Also plenty of '63's on the track, back in the '60's. Most ran one of the S/S or FX classes. But I did find a pic of an E/SA car. I assume it was 389 powered. But I think a non-SD 421 was also available.

I even found a couple of pics of '64 models. A 421 was still available. It just wasn't a 421SD.

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by oldskool

There was no shortage of '62's. They ran lots of different classes.

One of my favorites is the A/S 421SD car that Don Gay drove.

But there were lots of '62 record holders & class winners.

You'll notice that some of these pics are of Grand Prix models. The '62 GP nose/grill gives it a different look than the other '62 Big Pontiacs.

The 62's ,with all that good Pontiac torque, were players when new..Not so today. The heads won't flow enough air ,by today's standards...Not a player anymore, even after defactoring.