Best Pontiac Powered Stockers

[gsa612]

Here's some pics from the late 60's early 70's of local Canadian racer John Dubois.He held the H/S record with the '71 'bird.The car had a Milt Schornack engine and a Bieber Changer (shifter) on the muncie trans...gsa612

[oldskool]

There have been quite a few '69 Bird Stockers, thru the years. Many were bought because of the RAIV round port engine. I suppose that many Pontiac dealers fielded a '69 RAIV Bird. Have probably already posted some pics of some of those. One that has already been mentioned belonged to Phil Monteith. He began running Stock with it, then changed to SS. He has continued to keep the Hatari name on his cars.

Today, the only active '69 Bird that I know of belongs to John Schloe. It has been said that he switched from the RAIV to the D-port engine. Therefore, as of this moment, I know of no Pontiac Stocker still in competition, using the RAIV heads, since Scott Burton's car is now overseas. If anyone knows of one, please post that info.

One reason I can think of for using a '68 Bird, rather than a '69 is the shape of the top of the rear fender wells. It's the same deal with '69 Camaros. Has to make it a real problem getting some big 9" slicks tucked in there. But, I'm sure many of you guys know just how it's done.

Not sure of all the race results John has compiled, with his '69. But I'll do some research on it. If some of ya'll know of races he won or records set, please post that info, with pics or links, to verify.

OK, he won a big race in 2010. Qualified with a .705 under, 10.845

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2010#indextop

And, Leo was #1 qualifier at that race, with his '68 Bird.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2010#indextop

This season he qualified #3, with an .881 under, 10.519, at a div 7 race.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r=100#indextop

He was #5 on this list, with a .907 under, 10.493.

https://www.facebook.com/nhrad7/phot...type=3&theater

He was #8 on this Q-list. He was the top Pontiac qualifier at many of the races he entered. Must know something about Pontiacs.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2018#indextop

His son Ryan races a 2nd gen.

[gsa612]

Race on Sunday,Sunday,Sunday!.Sell on Monday...gsa612 ** That's Milt S.with John D's dad (owner of Towne Pontiac) in that image,but it will not enlarge**.

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by gsa612

Race on Sunday,Sunday,Sunday!.Sell on Monday...gsa612 ** That's Milt S.with John D's dad (owner of Towne Pontiac) in that image,but it will not enlarge**.

Yeah a LOT of Pontiac dealer support for drag racing, back in those days.

I suppose most '69's ran In either B or C class back in the old days, with round port heads, and D or E with D-port heads.

At some point the rules were changed to allow weight adjustments, so that most cars can run 3 different classes. What was the exact year the rules were changed to allow this ?

I remember seeing Towne Pontiac on a car. But, don't remember now what car it was on. Here's a slightly bigger version of the Towne C/S '68.

[oldskool]

OK, got some Nat record certificates to post. Let's see if it works.

Nope. They're in pdf form. But TJ is workin on 'em on her Mac desktop. So, when she gets 'em back to me in a form I can post, I'll post 'em.

By the way, all you guys who have set a record with a Pontiac powered car, please post your certificates, or send 'em to me so I can post 'em.

And it don't matter how slow the record was. It was quicker than any same class car had ever set that record, before that time.

Now, ya'll will have to help me here. I don't understand this nat record deal, where an existing record is "retired". I use to think all records stood, 'til somebody else beat those records. What is the thinking on retiring a record ?

OK, the Mulry/Aceves '74 Bird set the J/SA, K/SA, & L/SA records. The first 2 were set with the car as a Formula. But, to run L/SA, they had to add the hood, shaker, & all the T/A body pieces. So, in the pics below you can see it as a T/A, and, in the last pic, as a Formy, in an all Pontiac class final !

[oldskool]

Well, we're up to '70 model Birds. Scott Burton's '70 RAIV Formula Is the only '70 Stocker I can think of. It's been sold & shipped overseas now.

But, while Scott was racing it, it made some noise. It is known as the quickest Pontiac Stocker ever. It ran B/SA, and actually dipped into the 9's, in legal form, at a bracket race. Here's the round, posted on DRC.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2017#indextop

He dialed a 10-flat, & here's what he turned.

72 Scott Burton
0.028 9.989 129.77

I assume that everybody here knows about this car. But, for any who don't, here's a link to a fairly detailed magazine article about it.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/hppp...tiac-firebird/

As far as I know, it was the only RAIV Stocker engine still in competition.

It would take a long time to post all of Scott's Pontiac racing accomplishments. But, I'll do some searching & try to hit some of the highlights, of what he did with just this car.

OK, the 1st time the car pops up on my radar is as #8 qualifier, at the 2010 Mile-High Nats, @ .982 under.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2010#indextop

Also won the B/SA class.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2010#indextop

Just as a side note, Brad Burton qualified higher, also won his class, AND won the race. But we'll talk more about Brad later.



At Indy, Scott went .869 under, which was good enuff for #58, in the 128 car field. Brad was higher & got RU.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2010#indextop

At Vegas, Michael Brand drove it, & ran 1.047 under, for the #8 position.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2010#indextop

Scott drove it at Pomona & ran 1.014 under, for the #10 position. Ya'll take a look at this Q-list. There were 3 Pontiacs above Scott. That means that 4 of the top 10 were Pontiacs. How cool is that ? Also Pontiacs in #15 & #20 positions.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2010#indextop

Well, it looks like the RAIV Bird was off to a great start !

At Indy 2014, he ran a .977 under 10.273.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2014#indextop

[oldskool]

A few more B/SA pics.

[Mike Jones]

I think YoKen is going to start charging you rent!

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by mike jones

i think yoken is going to start charging you rent! :d

10-4 !

[Terry Witzel]

Originally Posted by oldskool

As mentioned, there were a lot of Pontiac dealers that fielded drag cars.

That Stephen Pontiac car reminded me of a couple of pics I have.

One is a chrome bumper '68 GTO Stocker. The other is what I think was a poor attempt at a Pro Stock car. Anybody know how quick it was & how much it lacked being competitive ?

When I 1st saw it, I thought the "Pro" was for the Pro bracket, at a local bracket race. But, I think I read that it was actually an attempt at the Pro Stock class. That was obviously in the very early days of Pro Stock. Never knew of a dealership sponsoring a bracket car.

"...Following a 1973 NHRA rule change to allow records to be set at any national meet, at the 1973 NHRA Winternationals, "Dyno Don" Nicholson set the first official Pro Stock e.t. record with a 9.33, while Bill Jenkins turned in a record 148.76 mph (239.41 km/h) speed; later at the same event, Nicholson made a 9.01 second/150.50 mph (242.21 km/h) pass, breaking both his and Jenkins' records..."

Anybody know how the Stephen Stockers did ?

According to this information, the Stephen Pontiac Pro Stockers best was a 10.35


STEPHEN PONTIAC CADILLAC INC, Bristol, CT (Pontiaction 68 GTO RA II/ 69 Firebird RA IV/ 70 Firebird RA V drag racers sponsor)
Stephen Pontiac Cadillac Inc. was located at 1097 Farmington Ave in Bristol, Connecticut during the 1960s and 1970s.
The dealership sponsored cars named Pontiaction. The service technician at Stephen Pontiac Bill Eckstrom had already been an avid drag racer prior to the dealership involvement in 1968. Bill became their driver and did very well campaigning the Stephen Pontiac cars. The 3 dealer sponsored cars were named Pontiaction I, II and III and competed in NHRA and even Indy.
The first Pontiaction racer was a 1968 Pontiac GTO RA II 4 with a speed steel bumper (Endura delete) that ran in D stock.
Pontiaction II was a yellow 1969 Firebird Ram Air IV 4 speed that ran in C stock at 11.93 E.T. at 118 MPH in the quarter mile.
Pontiaction III was a pro stock 1970-73 Firebird RA V that was rebodied according to the year it raced. This car was raced at Indy as well as posting 10.35 second E.T.s in the quarter mile.
The Pontiaction II Yellow 1969 Firebird was raced for the 1969 season as a Stephen Pontiac team car. Bill Eckstrom believed the car was converted for street-legal use and sold after that. In researching the car Jeff Palazzo found no evidence of the car ever being registered during that time period. It is suggested that Pontiaction II was raced in 1970 now named Yellow Bird by the new owner.
Jeff Palazzo of Simsbury bought Pontiaction II in 1989 showing only 15,000 miles on the odometer. Palazzo raced Pontiaction II for 12 years. He quit racing it because of it's rarity and difficulty finding parts.
Pontiaction III was retired after 1973. Pontiaction III lives on as the RA V engine from that car is being used in a 1969 Trans Am racer. Howard Block bought the body and is restoring the car.
Stephen Pontiac later became Stephen's World 'O' Wheels and then Stephens Automall and Stephens Toyota.