Best Pontiac Powered Stockers

[oldskool]

Now back to the GTO.

I don't ever remember seeing a single '67 GTO Stocker, back in the old days.

Not real sure why. Maybe it was because they were so different from the '66. It was the first year of the 400 engine.

The Tri-Power was gone. It was the fist year of the Q-jet, on a Pontiac V8. May not have been lots of guys who knew how to do the Q-jet for racing.

Was also the first year of the TH400 in a GTO.

So, I suspect most of the guys who had been racing a '66 Tri-Power just kept running it. Maybe, a little "fear of the unknown". OR, maybe the guys who wanted to run a 400, went with the smaller, lighter new '67 Firebird. Those are still competitive today.

Anyhow, I've only found 3 pics if '67 GTO Stockers. Don't know how quick they were. One may have just run local tracks.

[oldskool]

When the '68 GTO came along, I think quite a few put those on the track. There have been several in recent years.

If I understand this article correctly, Adam Strang's '68 GTO was the 1st Stock class GTO to set a nat record in the 10's. If not, I stand corrected.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/articl...8-pontiac-gto/

[Rich Biebel]

By the later 1960's there were very few competitive Pontiac Stockers that I can recall. The 1950's cars were mostly gone and the '64-'67 GTO's were never really competitive. Nobody raced them other than locals.

The HP ratings were probably a little to high and made them less than ideal cars to race.

Some later cars with RA engines were around but again not many and not usually very fast....

I had a '67 GTO and sure wish I had it today.....400 with a Turbo 400 and loaded with options including front disc brakes and had a Hurst Dual Gate Shifter...

[Kenney Kelley]

Old Skool you have a PM

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by Kenney Kelley

Old Skool you have a PM

Couldn't post or reply to anything. Had to log out, then log back in. Will try to reply now.

[lareagle]

P.J.Heck in Southern Ohio IN 1960s was the best with 389 & 421.
Anyone old enough to remember him.
Larry Eagle

[oldskool]

"...'64-'67 GTO's were never really competitive..."

I beg to differ. There was a time when the '66 Tri-Power 4-speed GTO seemed to be very competitive. And I've already posted the pic of a '65 that was a nat record holder, & a guy won a nat title with it. Sounds pretty competitive to me.

BUT, I was not keeping up with Stock class racing, in the '60's. So, all my info is coming online. So, all the claims of nat records & pics of cars with lots of trophies may be bogus. I have no way to prove it, one way or the other. I'll just pass on what I find. And if someone here knows that any fact presented is false, they can post that info here.

Not trying to say that the old Pontiacs were better than everything on the track. But, the Olds thread gave me the idea to start a Pontiac thread & post what I could find, and hope that Pontiac racers will chime in with what they know, and pics they have. Strictly for entertainment purposes. Not meant to infer that Pontiacs are better than any other brand.

"...Apparently the guys in the Knafel shop were good. The cars that they raced were repeated winners, garnering national and world championships, and setting more new records than any other team during that era...a photograph of a 1966 GTO hardtop: hood, roof, and trunk lid laden with trophies, winner of 27 races in one year, possibly the most successful drag racer, and surely the most successful Pontiac drag racer of its time, having included among its accolades both a NASCAR and an NHRA stock eliminator title..."

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by lareagle

P.J.Heck in Southern Ohio IN 1960s was the best with 389 & 421.
Anyone old enough to remember him.
Larry Eagle

Looks like Google has lots of stuff about him. I'll do some research & see what I can learn about his racing.

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C...eDrBzQQ4dUDCAs

Hope others here who know about his Pontiac racing will chime in.

"Owner Bio: P.J. HeckSomeone could make a lot of money writing 63-year-old P.J. Heck's life story. Heck, who haunts Gallipolis, Ohio, spent 35 years as an industrial construction worker, during which he collected some pretty impressive Tin Indians. He once owned Mickey Thompson's and Royal's 1963 Swiss Cheese Pontiacs at the same time, and a '61 Catalina wagon, a '63 Ventura coupe, and this '62 Super Duty Catalina kept him from being 'another one of those Chevy-Ford-Mopar sheep, copy catting some trend setter.' One of his favorite moments in this Cat happened in the 1970s at the track. The flagman backed him up and P.J. forgot to put it back into a forward gear. When the flag went up, he jerked backwards, probably cursed, threw it into First, floored the gas, and flew by the 409 Chevy that he was racing."

He was a one time owner of this former A/S terror, driven by Jess Tyree. So far, I don't know how much time he spent behind the wheel of a race car.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/1962...e-big-stinker/

[Rich Biebel]

BY THE LATER 1960's...………. there were very few competitive Pontiac Stockers that I can recall


I highlighted the important part of what I said for you....

I was racing starting in 1966 and was at many local events as well as larger events including Indy.

The higher classes such as A and B stock were dominated by Chevy's and Fords...…

The Automatic classes too as well and Mopars…

GTO's were not in that mix...….

[oldskool]

We now pick up the GTO story, with '69 models, my favorite. I assume that more '69 GTO's have been raced, than any other year. Can't prove it. But, there are definitely more online pics of '69 Stockers, than any other year.

Back in the old days, many drag cars had names on their doors. But, some had the name of their sponsor, especially if the owner was a Pontiac dealer.

Some '69's were Judge models, & some were not. The Ram Air 3 & 4 engines were available in both the Judge & regular GTO models.

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

How 'bout a Nunzi prepared Judge.

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthread.php?t=155904