Best Pontiac Powered Stockers

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by TGould

PM sent

Thanks !

[oldskool]

Need for someone to look up some info for me.

This is a pic of a newspaper clipping from 1997.

The pic caption appears to indicate that Mike McKinney won Stock Elim @ the '77 Gator Nats.

Nat event results I have don't show a Gators win for Mike, in '77 or the next few years after that.

http://www.nhra.net/50th/results.asp?mYear=1977

I'm thinkin maybe he was E/S class champ @ the Gators, in that Bird, in some year ?

OR, maybe the article was referring to Mike's '77 US Nats win, but showed a pic of the car at the Gators, running a different class.


Can anybody help me with the correct info here ?

[oldskool]

Once again, if I've already brought this up, ya'll will just have to forgive me.

I was just lookin thru the nat event winners lists. In 1988, the US Nats Stock winner is listed as Ken Shawver.

http://www.nhra.net/50th/results.asp?mYear=1988

I assume he was driving the former Rock Running "Super Sleeper" '71 T-37.

So, does anybody know if this is correct ?

If so, is this the last time a Pontiac powered car won Stock @ the US Nats ?

[oldskool]

Here's another thing I may have mentioned. Don't remember.

A Pontiac won Stock, @ the 2000 Pontiac Excitement Nats. At that race, the top 3 qualifiers were all Pontiac powered.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2000#indextop

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2000#indextop

[oldskool]

Just got some info on the former Truman Fields '72 SS GTO.

It came from a March '76 H-O Racing Specialties newsletter.

John Corcoran was the owner/driver.

So, it ran 12.20's in 1975. Wonder what the G/S index was ?

Also wonder exactly what the nat records were that it set ?

If anyone can answer either of the above questions, please do so.

I assume the '72 rec was in SS, when Truman was running it. But, I think '72 was the only year he ran it. Don't know if anybody else ran it in SS, or not. :confused

So, the major performance stats for 1975 were:

(1) Two nat records

(2) G/S class win @ the SPORTSnationals

(3) G/S class RU @ the US Nats

The points earned are mostly due to driver skill. But, I'd say it was a pretty good season for car & driver

Here's the '75 Stock records thru June. So, if John held the G/S record, it must have been either before or after June, or both.

http://classracer.com/classforum/sho...42&postcount=1

But I did notice that Mick Leiferman held the G/SA rec & Charlene Wood held the I/SA record. Looks like Mick was a record holder for 5 years straight.

[Stan Weiss]

Originally Posted by oldskool

Just got some info on the former Truman Fields '72 SS GTO.

It came from a March '76 H-O Racing Specialties newsletter.

John Corcoran was the owner/driver.

So, it ran 12.20's in 1975. Wonder what the G/S index was ?

Also wonder exactly what the nat records were that it set ?

If anyone can answer either of the above questions, please do so.

I assume the '72 rec was in SS, when Truman was running it. But, I think '72 was the only year he ran it. Don't know if anybody else ran it in SS, or not. :confused

So, the major performance stats for 1975 were:

(1) Two nat records

(2) G/S class win @ the SPORTSnationals

(3) G/S class RU @ the US Nats

The points earned are mostly due to driver skill. But, I'd say it was a pretty good season for car & driver !

I must have missed it in the article. Where did it say this was the former Truman Fields car?


Stan

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by Stan Weiss

I must have missed it in the article. Where did it say this was the former Truman Fields car?


Stan

Didn't mention it in the article. Here are 6 pics that prove it to me, coupled with what John said about the nat records.

I questioned this earlier, when I read that the '72 record was in SS & the '74 & '75 recs were in Stock. This answers it for me. The only year Truman drove it was in '72. Pic #6 shows that he set an mph record with it, which had to be in '72.

Here's a quote from the Drag Race Central article.

"...Pontiac Motor Division...asked him to be a part of their 1972 factory drag team. Pontiac provided Truman with a new 1972 Firebird and a new 1972 GTO to race in Stock and Super Stock Eliminator, respectively...Although Truman liked racing the newer Pontiacs, he really loved his ‘68 Firebird. 1973 found him back racing his old reliable..."

We know he raced the GTO, in '72. Have never seen any pics of evidence that he ever raced the '72 Bird. May have been because of the strange new '72 Stock rules. Don't know.

I thought it was kind of odd that somebody would paint a car up to get it ready to sell, but leave a huge Motor Wheel decal on it. You'll notice that the decal is on the car in the same place in every pic of the car. Too many things match for it to be a coincidence, IMO.

[Stan Weiss]

Thanks.


Stan

[Rat Patrol]

Originally Posted by oldskool

At the '60 Nats in Detroit, Jim Wangers won his class & Frank Barnett won A/SA. I think Jim won overall "Mr. Stock Elimunator".

NHRA Junior Stock

At the '61 Winter Nats, Allen Hart won D/S, & Bob Battelle won C/SA.

NHRA Junior Stock

Ney Oldskool - would you have a pic of Hart’s or Battelle’s cars?

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by Rat Patrol

Ney Oldskool - would you have a pic of Hart’s or Battelle’s cars?

No. Not familiar with those names.

But, they were CA cars. So, if I was gonna make a serious effort to dig up more info on 'em, I'd contact someone with ties to Pontiac racing in that area & time period.

With that in mind, I'd try to contact Tommy Brown. I think I read that he is kin to Gene Brown. As you may know, Gene ran a '58 Pontiac & was also associated with Ramon Lowe, who ran several Pontiacs.

I don't have contact info for Tommy. He may have seen some of those old guys run. Don't know his age. He runs a '74 Lemans Stocker.

For contact info about current, and maybe some older Pontiac racers in CA, I'd contact Leo Glasbrenner @ Remac Transmissions. When I called, he was there & gave me all the info I asked for.

John Schloe is an older, long time Pontiac racer, who may have seen those guys race. May have even raced with 'em. He & his son Ryan still race Pontiac Stockers.

Then there is the Aceves Family. Bob Aceves ran a real strong '68 Bird Stocker, up until a very few years ago. I talked to his brother, or one of the Aceves guys to see if that car was for sale. They are older guys, therefore may know some of the older Pontiac racers.

Art Peterson is an older guy who has been racing the same '69 GTO in SS, for a long time. He probably knows lots of the older CA racers.

Another older long time Pontiac racer is Lindy Lindholm. Have a pic of his '58, way back in the old days.

Larry Maxwell is another long time Pontiac guy, who is still racing.

And, there's John Angeles. He's had drag Pontiacs for years, & co-wrote a couple of Pontiac books. Don't have his contact info. But his daughter Keri has been driving the '69 SS Bird for many years. Here's a link to her FB page. She may have contact info for a LOT of CA Pontiac racers. Probably knew 'em all for the last 30 years or more.

https://www.facebook.com/keri.pari

That should get you some leads. Among all these people there is probably someone who saw those guys race, or knows someone who did. May be able to track down some relatives who may still have pics of the cars.

I ASSUME the NHRA division 7 office MIGHT give you contact info for current div seven permanent number holders, if you tell 'em why you need the info. Not sure tho.

In case you need 'em, here are the last perm numbers I have for some of the CA Pontiac drivers.

Keri Angeles Pari - #788

Art Peterson - #7318

Lindy Lindholm #754

John Schloe - #7003

Tommy Brown - #7265

Bob Aceves - #746

Larry Maxwell - #770