Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Nyhus
The Axemaker & Reuland car is a local car (an hour West of me). It has a ton of history and has been around forever.
In your post #521, one of the cars pictured has some serious history, beginning with it's factory incarnation.
Brad Koivisto's killer fast '74 is currently being run as a Ventura, not a GTO.
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Well, that's a very interesting post, which brings up more questions.
(1) So, what happened to the 2nd '72 Lemans or GTO, that is NOT the one you're talkin about. TWO cars & TWO drivers were mentioned on the same Q-list. Any info on the other car ? Did it also belong to either the Axemakers or the Reulands ? In fact, on that same Q-list, there was another '72 Lemans, driven by Jon Wacholtz. Anybody know anything about it ?
https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCStory.asp?ID=55825
(2) I assume the car you're talkin about, in post 521, is the T-37. I've read that it was the car that Rock Running raced, named "Super Sleeper". Then Ken Shawver raced it for a while. Danny Ashley had it & made a few improvements. Don Turk sold the Grand Am he'd raced for years, & now has the T-37. At least that's the story I've read. Somebody even posted a radio interview on which Rock told the whole story of how he got the car. I'll post a link to that interview. It should be very interesting to most Pontiac guys, up to the part where Rock went with Olds, somewhere around '82.
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/c...13_28_01-08_00
(3) All the pics I have of Brad's '74 show it to be a GTO, complete with the shaker hood & grill lights. I don't see an advantage of running a regular Ventura, unless you just don't wanna run the shaker scoop ? But, I remember that Al Vanis won Indy, in '74, with a regular Vent. Jack Matyas also began with a reg Vent, then changed over to the GTO. So, why did Brad change from a GTO ? Anybody have pics of it in the new form ?
In looking thru the older race Q-lists, I've seen lots of '74 GTO's. But, after Bill Rink, as he has posted, caused such a big hp hit, the number of '74 GTO entrants has dropped, drastically. On my list of recently active '74 GTO Stockers, I only have 2 cars. Besides the Koivisto car, I have a pic of a red one, driven by Greg Krause. I've probably already posted it here. But this thread is now so long, I'm not gonna look it up. I'll just post another pic here. Some will remember it as the one with John Force riding shotgun. At the time, it didn't appear to be a serious competitive car, barely running under it's index. Bill Rink was running quicker, more than 20 years ago. At the current NHRA hp factor, a '74 GTO/Ventura is definitely NOT the most competitive Pontiac V8 powered Stocker combo. But, thru the years, until the big hits, there were quite a few '74 Pontiac X-body Stockers which did very well & held lots of class records. I suppose there are certan combos of most brands which have been factored completely out of competition.
https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCStory.asp?ID=328825
https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r1998#indextop
Other than these 2, does anybody else know of another recently active '74 GTO or Ventura Stocker ?
http://www.classracerinfo.com/Engine...8&MAKE=Pontiac
https://autoimagery.photoshelter.com..._ACT=usrSearch
Edit: I now have a pic of Brad Koivisto's X-body, with a plain Ventura hood on it. Problem is, it still has the GTO grill lights & a GTO decal. I suppose that just points out how much less strict today's NHRA tech is. Wesley would not have let this go, back in the '70's.