Best Pontiac Powered Stockers

[gsa612]

Mary Ann Foss (Jackson) is Nitro Joe Jackson's (Nitro Joe's Stats) Mother.He can give you all the info on the 58' Pontiac...gsa612

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by gsa612

Mary Ann Foss (Jackson) is Nitro Joe Jackson's (Nitro Joe's Stats) Mother.He can give you all the info on the 58' Pontiac...gsa612

Yeah, that would be cool, to know all the races she won with the Pontiac. As well as all records & class wins she had with it.

According to the book, after that Pontiac, she switched over to Mopar. Obviously, for this thread, I'm not interested in the Mopar stats.

[oldskool]

For '66, the 1st Pontiac mentioned is Bob Chiesa's E/SA '58 Pontiac. He won class @ the Winter Nats, with a 13.84. Lost the Stock final, with a 13.83. So, I suppose that means he was RU that year.

Jay Hamilton was again the div 7 champ. He also won the World Finals that year, with a 13.66, in his E/SA '58 Pontiac.

Arlen Vanke won the Spring Nats, in his Knafel Pontiac C/S '66 GTO, with a 12.90. He also won the C/S class @ the Spring Nats, with a 12.77. That was the car that won so many trophies, and has a pic with lots of 'em sitting around on it. I've posted that pic several times. But it needs to go on this post also. There were actually 2 of those cars, with slightly different paint jobs.

Also at the Spring Nats, Harold Ramsey won M/S, with a 16.85.

[oldskool]

In '67, Graham Douglas won the Winter Nats, in a '60 Pontiac wagon. He'd won the G/SA class, then set a new nat record in the event final.

Jay Hamilton won another nat event. This time it was the Spring Nats.

Another Pontiac that was mentioned was the C/SA '60 Pontiac of Ed Beyer. It said that he raced several Pontiacs. Also said he was one of the original Hurst Shifty Doctors.

The book also mentions that Gary Ledbetter won the I/SA class @ Indy, in a '56 Pontiac.

[oldskool]

The book mentions several Pontiacs, in the '68 section. The 1st one was the Ron Sanders '61 Bonny wagon, which I've mentioned. Said the car set 5 nat records. One was a 13.39 in H/SA, in '68. Was RU in class @ Indy.

At the Winter Nats, Graham Douglas won the L/SA class, with a 14.35, in a Pontiac wagon.

Next one mentioned is the Ramon Lowe '58. He won the div 7 points, in '68.

Next is the Ray McLelland C/SA '62 Cat. In '68 it set the mph record @ 112.78, & won class @ the Spring Nats. He switched to D/SA for '69, & won class @ the Spring Nats again, with a 12.56. Also won class @ Indy.

The next name I don't remember ever seeing. The book spends 2 pages talkin about the Joe Perzan '60 "Big Bruiser" wagon. According to the book, Ray had set the E/SA record, in '67, @ 13.62. Says that he switched to an I/SA combo, in '68. On the nat record day, the 1st 2 time trials were both 13.49. The current record was 13.77. He didn't want to to set the new record that low, so he de-tuned the car a bit, & set the new record @ 13.67. One guy says he thinks this car was a former Bob Maxey "Clinton Shaker" wagon.

Not real sure why he included the next Pontiac, since he didn't list any times or races won. Maybe because it was so rare. He says it was one of 12 '68 1/2 Ram Air II convertibles. Says that Pete Whitehead was a body man, & rebuilt this car from a burned out hulk. Thru the years, those engines have won quite a few races, in Stock. Probably due to the round port heads & bigger legal cam. The 1st winner I remember was Truman Fields, @ the '73 US Nats. As mentioned, he was my 1st Pontiac hero.

Another Pontiac mentioned was Greg Murnane's "Limelighter" D/S '67 GTO. Says the car finished 2nd in points, in div 5, & in July, held the class record @ 12.31. Says it was one of the quickest Goats in the nation.

Another odd Pontiac mention was the yellow N/SA '59 Pontiac named "Cheet'n Cheef". Said it got the job done in South Florida, whatever that means.

[oldskool]

According to the 1968 division points winners list, Rod Kister not only won the div 6 points, but was also national points champ. Don't ya'll think that would have been worthy of at least a mention, in the 1968 season text of the book ? I could have missed it. But looking back thru it, I didn't see a pic or even a mention of the name or car.

Rod Kister ran some Pontiacs named Big Iron, which I've mentioned. I have a pic of a big Pontiac & a '69 Judge, with that name on 'em. The '69 obviously couldn't have been run during the early '68 season. So, I'm not sure exactly what car, or cars, Rod was driving, in order to win the division & the overall NHRA Stock Points championship. But, I think it deserves mention !

If anybody here has more info and/or pics of the car or cars that Rod was driving during the '68 season, please post the info/pics on this thread. Thanks !

This article should clear up some of it. Says that Ron was still driving the big "Big Iron", for the '68 season. Then in '69 & '70, he ran new Judges, & set records with both.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/hppp...ontiac-safari/

[oldskool]

1/2 of the 1st page of the '69 section is devoted to the pic & caption, of the Roland Moore & Sons, "Acre Maker" '61 Pontiac, driven by Gary Moore. Gary won the div 4 points in '68. Then, a few months later, he won F/S @ the '69 Winter Nats, with a record 12.69 @ 110.50.

There were a few other Pontiacs that were mentioned. And I'll get to those. But what to me is a glaring omission is that, as far as I can see, by skimming thru the section, not one single mention is made of a '69 Judge. Only a very non-Pontiac guy would do such a thing. Love 'em or hate 'em, the Judge was a major part of Pontiac Musclecar history. And I've already mentioned some Judge record holders. Lots of Pontiac dealerships sponsored Judge Stockers. Did one ever win a nat event ? Not that I know of. But, I'm sure there were a lot of Judge winners at local tracks, all over the country. When I think of 1969, the Judge is just one of the things that comes to my mind 1st. But, I'm quite sure that Chevy, Ford, & Mopar guys don't think that way.

There were a few other big Pontiacs mentioned in the '69 section. One was a '57 model 347 F.I. powered car driven by John Thropp. The one pictured in the book is red with a white accent along the sides. Has no lettering on it, at all. The pics I have show the John Thropp driven '57 to be white with red accents. The book says the powertrain was swapped over into a more competitive body.

Over in the '70 section of the book, the author mentions the "Tiger-rific" '67 GTO. Says it ran 12.70's all during the '69 season.

[Rich Biebel]

I have a picture hanging on my wall here of my partner in our '57 Chevy sedan delivery racing Joe Perzan's Big Bruiser Pontiac wagon.

It was from 1967 at Capitol Raceway.....

There were quite a few Pontiacs racing there that day as I recall....

We raced Perzan and had to rerun him for some reason and won.....

A Bucks up Jr.Stock event from over 50 years ago !!!

Ed Beyer's '60 Pontiac was nice and he had a '56 before the '60......Saw his '56 race a number of times including at Vargo in eastern Pa. around 1966 or 1967

[oldskool]

Due to the omission of Judge Stockers, in the Junior Stock book, I'll dedicate this post to the '69 Judge Stockers. Most won races and/or were nat record holders.

One is "Rocky's Goat". The 1st pic of it is from a '69 newspaper article, showing that it beat John Thropp, in an all Pontiac final. I love those.

Then there is the '69 "Big Iron" I mentioned.

Then the "Nemisis" '69 that was totaled in a towing accident.

Then there is the Nunzi sponsored '69 Judge. I don't know exactly what years all these cars were raced. But, most of the Pontiac dealer sponsored cars were raced during the same model year they were new.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/articl...ram-air-iv-x2/

This video is just for kicks.

[oldskool]

For 1970, there were some rule changes, which did away with many of the bogus combos some '55-'57 Chevy models were running. This also affected some older Pontiac models. The '61 & earlier Pontiacs could no longer run the over-the-counter parts, that didn't come in factory built cars.

The book mentions a '70 400 Powered Firebird Formula, named "Viking". Said it had a Chevy 12-bolt rear, with a Pontiac part number. I can vouch for this. I used the 12-bolt out of one of these '70 Formula 400's, in the '71 Bird bracket car we raced for several years. I think this was a 1-year only rear end, in the Birds. They switched over to the GM 8.5" rear, in the '71 Birds.

That Viking name tripped something in my memory. So I looked back thru some of my pics, & found one of a '70 Judge, named Viking. Appears to be built by the same guy. It was sponsored by the Schoon Pontiac dealership, in MN.

The book also shows a pic of a '66 GTO, which it says was making another 12-sec pass. The author said that GTO's drag strip popularity did not equal their street popularity. IMO, that could probably be said of all the popular mass produced Musclecars. The % of those used on the street, probably far outnumbered the % of 'em that were made into competitive Stock or SS cars.

There have obviously been lots of '70 model Pontiacs raced, thru the years. Don't know how many were raced during the 1970 season. Lower budget, independent racers, sometimes had to wait 'til they could find a good price on a used Goat or Bird. Didn't take long, back then. A 100,000 mile GTO was just a worn out used car, that had probably been abused, that hardly anybody wanted.

Obviously, there are a few rare models that were made with drag racing in mind. The Ford Thunderbolts come to mind. And I'm sure you guys can think of a few others. Mopar really built some bad cars, beginning with the 413 & 426 Wedge cars, then the 426 Hemi cars, & 440 6-pack cars. Then there were the high power solid lifter BBC models.

But, there were LOTS of GTO's being raced, all over the country, especially at the local tracks. Guessing there were lots of '66 Tri-Power GTO's that did very good at local tracks. Then, beginning in '67, with the 400 engine, the TH400 trans, & the Q-jet carb, the Goats & Birds became competitive, in some of the auto-trans classes.

Then, came the round port RAII engines for '68. Then RAIII & RAIV in '69 & '70. There was also a high CR 455 GTO engine in '70. Then in '71, came the 455HO engines. Those 455HO engines have won LOTS of races thru the years, & are still winning.

But, I suppose for many non-Pontiac guys, it's real easy to just dismiss Pontiacs, from class racing, especially since no Pontiac V8 has been built since '81, and the Pontiac brand disappeared after 2009.

But hey, there are still competitive Pontiacs out there. Hope they all do good, this year.