Looking for 1970's statistics

[oldskool]

'61 would be a good year for Pontiac drag racing. I think Lloyd Cox won the S/SA class @ Indy. According to a '61 Winters list I just saw, Pontiacs won D/S & C/SA, I believe it was. Not familiar with either drivers' name. I'll try to go back & find that article & post a link.

In that article I saw something for the 1st time, that I should have known. I knew that Mickey Thompson had lots of Pontiac powered drag cars. But, this article shows him actually driving his X/D Pontiac 4-cyl powered front engine dragster. And, he actually won his class AND "Middle Eliminator". Says he had 3 of these 4-cyl dragsters entered in that race.

For any who don't know, that Pontiac 4-cyl was known as "Half a 389". It indeed did have one bank & head of a 389. I had one of these in my shop for a few years, storing it for a friend. It came out of a dragster that ran at our local track. But I don't remember ever seeing it run. Anyhow, IIRC, it had aftermarket forged rods, hi-comp dome pistons, either a RAIV head or an SD455 head, & a healthy lookin solid roller cam.

This was also the 1st year of the 421SD engine. Hayden Profitt drove a M/T SD421 powered '61 Pontiac to the OS/S class win @ Indy that year. I've read that the OS/S class became the FX class in '62.

https://www.nhra.com/news/2021/421-n...n_proffitt_jpg

Maybe some of you guys can help with a couple of the Pontiac Stockers on the list. D/S winner is Allen Hart. No year or model listed. C/SA is Bob Battelle (sp?) 4th letter don't look like a t or an l. Just assuming it's supposed to be a t, or maybe an i ? Anyhow, would like to ID what Pontiacs they drove. Notice all the Stock class winners that were DQ'd.

[oldskool]

'62 was another great year for Pontiac.

NHRA let females drive in the nat events. So, Carol Cox won S/SA at the Winters & @ Indy, In a '61 Pontiac.

Mickey Thompson's 421SD powered A/FX '62 Tempest won the class @ the Winters & @ Indy. Hayden Profitt drove @ the Winters. Lloyd Cox drove @ Indy.

Lloyd Cox also won SS/SA at the Winters.

And, of course, the M/T Pontiac powered dragster beat Don Garlits for the dragster crown @ Indy.

The 421SD was legal for Stockers in '62. So, there were several that did real good.

Right now I can't remember all the classes won by a Pontiac @ the '62 nat events. Maybe some of these stats guys can chime in with that info.

Note: Pic #7 reminded me of something. Since I've been lookin up these old pics, I've been seein the D-A on the tower @ Indy. Have wondered what those D-A letters stood for. Well, while lookin up some of these old pics, I accidentally ran across a pic of an ad for D-A Speed Sport motor oil. Seems I remember hearing that name, but don't ever remember seeing it for sale anywhere. I used Vavoline racing oil when I started.

Here's a D-A can for about $90, on Ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/264487575362

[oldskool]

'63 was the year of the "Swiss Cheese" 421SD Pontiacs. Weren't enuff made to be legal in the lower Stock classes. But, they could run in the upper FX classes. I think the B/FX final @ Indy was between 2 '63 421SD Pontiacs. Jim Wangers drove the winner.

Arlen Vanke drove one in A/FX.

There were several 421SD '63 Tempests built. IIRC, Pontiac built & shipped 8 of 'em, 2 of which were wagons. The quickest were those which had the stock Tempest type rear driveline replaced with with a Pontiac chunk type rear end like those that came in the big Pontiacs. They were much stronger & more reliable.

The M/T 421SD '63 Tempest that won A/FX @ the Winters was driven by Bill Shrewsberry.

Jess Tyree eventually had one of these Tempests.

Arnie Beswick eventually had a '63 Tempest, Tempest wagon, & a big Cat, all with 421SD power. Ran several different classes with 'em.

Don Gay eventually ran one of the wagons, for a while, along with his '62 421SD A/S Cat.

Right now, I can't remember if I've seen a class winners list for the '63 nat events, or not. So, the above mentioned wins are all I can list, for now. If I come up with more, I'll edit & add it.

Here's the video of part of the '63 Indy nats. Between the 2:00 & 3:30 points of the video, are the A/S & A/SA class finals.



The 1st part of this video also shows glimpses of some Pontiacs @ Indy '63.

[oldskool]

Of course, '64 was the year of the GTO. Don't know how many were raced across the country, that year. But, "3 deuces & a 4-speed & a 389", in a mid-size A-body, had to be very inviting to a lot of young guys.

I was too young to buy one. But I sure liked 'em. Plastered GTO ads & pics all over the walls in my room. Kept adding pics of the new models up thru at least '67. It was '69 before I could buy my own GTO. I was going to college & workin all the hours I could at the Pizza Inn, for $1.50 per hour. Total price was a bit over $3400. My monthly note, including ins, was only around $125.

Once the GTO came out, I can't find evidence that there were very many '64 & later big Pontiacs raced, after that. But, there were a few.

May add more later.

[oldskool]

For '65, there were probably lots of new Goats on tracks across the country. Don't know who had the quickest ones. I figure some the dealers, such as Knafel & Packer, had the quickest.

There were also some 421 powered big Pontiacs out there. Most were probably 2+2 models. They came with either an AFB 4-barrel or Tri-Power. Guessing that most big cars & Goats that spent lots of time on the track were Tri-Power equipped. Most of the Goats probably had a 4-speed, since the only auto trans was the 2-speed. But the big car auto trans was a TH400.

[oldskool]

'66 was the last year of Pontiac Tri-Power. And the '66 Tri-Power is said to flow a bit more than in the previous years.

Lots of '66 Goats were raced. I assume the winningest was raced by Knafel Pontiac. I know it won at least 1 nat event, with Arlen Vanke driving. I call it the "Trophy Car", because of the famous pic of it, with trophies sittin all over it. They actually had 2 '66 Goats. I assume they ran the same set-up.

Royal Pontiac also ran a '66, as well as other Pontiac dealers. Right now, I can't think of a single '66 Big Pontiac drag car.

[oldskool]

Big changes for Pontiac '67 models.

(1) The new Firebird

(2) New 400 cube engine

(3) New Q-jet carb. Actually it wasn't the 1st year a Pontiac engine used a Q-jet. Some OHC Six engines had a Q-jet. Also, not every '67 Pontiac V8 used a Q-jet, if 4-barrel equipped. The 326HO had an AFB.

(4) TH400 trans in Birds & Goats. The '64-'66 Goats were limited to the 2-speed auto trans, called a Super Turbine 300, by some. But for '67, a TH400 came behind the auto equipped 400 engines. It resulted in quite a few auto trans Pontiac drag cars.

(5) New 428 engine. A 428 Pontiac engine would not be a big player in drag racing, 'til the GT classes came along & the Edelbrock heads were made legal.

For sure, the Limelighter GTO(pic #1) & the Stan Long Bird(pic #6) were nat record holders.

I suppose the biggest '67 Pontiac winner of all time is the '67 Bird that Randi Lyn Shipp has been driving for a few years. Think she has at least 7 nat event wins in it. Bryan Phillips has also been running a 10 sec '67 Bird Stocker, for quite a while. These are the 2 quickest '67 Bird Stockers I can think of. Joel Larkin runs the only '67 SS Bird I've been aware of, in recent years.

Of the pics below, I suppose the SS GTO is the most recently active. I found it on a Winter Nats Q-list early in this century.