Best Pontiac Powered Super Stockers

[oldskool]

"... The only Pontiac Ventura II in 1974 with the ram air 350 at 200 HP was the GTO, not any other variant...."

Wow ! That means that all the info on the Class Racer Info site, about the cars that engine can be used in is absolutely wrong. It shows that engine to be legal in all Ventura models, including 4-doors, & most Lemans models, including 4-door models.

http://www.classracerinfo.com/Engine...px?ENGINE=2088

The NHRA site seems to show the same info as the Class Racer Info site.

http://www.nhra.net/tech_specs/class...s/1974PONT.xls

Maybe it's sorta like it is with the SD455 engine. Some online sources say that engine was only released in Birds. But, some say they know of one or more that came in a GP. So, NHRA allows it in more than just Birds.

I think a member here runs that Class Racer Info site. Maybe I should give him this info & see what he can get from NHRA, on it ? He probably wants all the info on the site to be accurate.

The Wallace engine ID site does list a '74 4-barrel 350, that is not a GTO engine. The block code is WN. Looks like it was 170hp with 4C heads, & 200hp with 46 heads. So, MAYBE, a 200hp version was available in some models other than just the GTO. I DON"T KNOW !

1974 350 170/200 HP WN M 7.6 555 4C/46 1-4 7044269 Block Casting # 488986

http://www.wallaceracing.com/enginesearch4.htm

The 1st hint I had that a non-GTO Vent could run the same engine was from the pics from the '74 US Nats. Al Vanis won, in a flat hood Vent, in O/SA. Rock Running won the O/S class in his '74 GTO. To me, that means the 2 cars were running the same engine, one with auto, one with stick. Don't think a 2-barrel engine would run O, when the GTO also ran O.

http://www.classracerinfo.com/Engine...px?ENGINE=2083

The Class Racer Info site shows that the 170hp 4-barrel 350 can run the same cam as the 200hp engine.

http://www.classracerinfo.com/Engine...px?ENGINE=2083

Also shows the same min chamber volume & max CR, for both engines. I'm not saying they were the same from the factory. But, it looks as tho NHRA allows the same specs for both. The Wallace site shows that the non-CA GTO engines used the 066 Pontiac cam. I've read that although the GTO engine was said to have more CR, that they actually used exactly the same cc chambers as the non-GTO 350. Again, I DON'T KNOW !

http://www.classracerinfo.com/Engine...8&MAKE=Pontiac

One thing appears certain. What came from the factory, & what NHRA allows, are sometimes 2 completely different things !

[oldskool]

At the 2012 Winter Nats, there were 5 Pontiacs in SS.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2012#indextop

Here's the 1st round.

[oldskool]

There were 4 SS Pontiacs at the 2016 Sports Nats.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2016#indextop

Here's the 1st round of class elims.

[oldskool]

Just for entertainment purposes, here's a 9 sec test run of an SD455 powered GT Bird.

[oldskool]

How about Don K's East Coast swing video ?

[oldskool]

Here's a short clip from a longer video, This one deals with the late '60's. It shows how the SS & the FX cars really parted ways. The FX cars went completely wild, & evolved into Funny cars. The quickest SS cars evolved into Pro Stock. And, the SS class became completely separate from the Top Stock class. Thus, there would be Stock, SS, Pro Stock, & Funny car.

There was lots of fan excitement at local tracks all over the country, because of the wild match races. Pontiacs were hardly even mentioned during this period. Don Gay, Arnie Beswick, and a few others did a lot of match racing. The classes were dominated by 427 Ford & Chevy engines, and the 426 Mopar Hemi. After things calmed down a bit, by the mid '70's, Some Pontiacs would start to win again, in SS, Such as Jack Mullins' wagon, Sonny Ray's '72 GTO, and probably others I don't even know about. .

[oldskool]

Got some videos of 6 rounds of Don K's Vegas win.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2012#indextop

Here's round 1.

[oldskool]

Round 2.

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Round 3.

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Round 4.