Best Pontiac Powered Stockers

[oldskool]

A scan thru the '71 section of the book revealed the the mention of only 1 Pontiac. It is a '63 wagon, which ran R/S.

He quoted the driver, Bob Williams, as saying that at one of the tracks they ran on a regular basis, Quaker City, the track ran uphill. Since they didn't have a line-lock, they had to block a rear tire, after staging, to prevent the car from rolling backwards, out of the beams.

Said the car was RU @ Indy that year, in R/S.

But, the 455HO engine was available in '71 Birds & A-bodies. Nobody can make me believe that there were not quite a few 455HO cars bought, strictly for drag racing. Probably quite a few Pontiac dealerships, as well as individual racers campaigned a 455HO powered car.

I'll post examples I have. Again, I can't always say exactly what season these cars began racing. I've heard of several cars that were raced by a dealer maybe only one season, then by others, after that.

The '71 T-37 is the 1st model that comes to mind. But the 455HO was available in T-37, Lemans, & GTO models.

http://www.classracerinfo.com/Engine...px?ENGINE=2060

The most famous one that I can think of right now is Rock Running's "Super Sleeper". I've already mentioned this & maybe all these cars I'll post pics of on this post. The White Bros, Ken Shawver, & Jack McCormack all ran one. We all know how some race cars changed hands a lot. So, I don't know exactly who was the 1st to race any of these cars.

As mentioned, Mick Leiferman ran a '71 GTO, was RU @ Indy 3 years straight, & was a nat record holder for 5 years straight, beginning in '73. Don't know exactly what year the car first began racing. The pic I have shows it in H/SA.

Have a pic of the White Bros '71 Formy, running H/SA, & a Towne Pontiac '71 Formy running H/S. Also have pics of Gary Moore & Max Sterling in H/S '71 Birds.

[Kevin Love]

The Towne Pontiac ( John Dubois) Firebird was a 455/335 hp ram air car.

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by Kevin Love

The Towne Pontiac ( John Dubois) Firebird was a 455/335 hp ram air car.

When running in the H/S class ?

So, what class would a 400 engine have run ?

That would mean that those T-37's would have had to have been a lot lighter than the Formy. BUT, according to the Class Racer Info site, a '71 Formy, with a 455HO engine is actually a few lbs lighter than a T-37. My calculator just won't come up with numbers that will make a lighter car run a lower class, using the same engine.

http://www.classracerinfo.com/Engine...px?ENGINE=2060

So, does that mean that back in the early '70's that engine was rated with less hp than the same engine in an A-body ??? That's the only thing I can think of that would make the same weight cars run several classes apart, running the same engine.

I remember that back when we 1st started, the 330hp Bird engine, was basically the same as the 350hp GTO engine. Maybe it was the same for the Birds & A-bodies, in '71. Anybody know what the 455HO engine was rated, in a '71 Bird & a '71 A-body, back in 1971 ?

If anybody has some classification info from back then, that might clarify this, please post that info.

Also thought about this. There is not much difference in the hp rating of the '71 400 & the '71 D-port 455. So, I suppose both engines could have possibly run the same class ??? I remember that Gary Wood said they did just as good with a '72 D-port 455, as they had with the '72 455HO. But, we've discussed that the '71 #66 heads don't make as much power as the '72 & '73 D-port 455 heads.

By the way, I was just about to add a couple of pics to the '71 post. Lyndel Warren bought a Bird from Gary Moore. They built it as a '71 455HO Formula. He worked for Coke, so he named the car "Coke Machine". It ran E/SA, & was the quickest E/SA car at the Winter Nats. He said it had run 11.79, during that time period. This was sometime in the mid '70's I think. Maybe NHRA gave the engine a big hp increase, in a Bird, during the '70's ???

I don't have access to that info. I assume there may be a few long time racers here who do still have access to a lot of the NHRA info from back in the '70's.

[oldskool]

Today @ the Baby Gators, Adam Strang qualified #15 @ .892 under. Wayne Larsen was #56, @ .655 under, in a 94 car field.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...er=30#indextop

[oldskool]

Just watched Adam Strang win the Stick Combo class, with a 10.376 !

Don't know if that's the all time low ET for the car, or not.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...er=30#indextop

[oldskool]

OK, for you guys who were around back then, I need some help with this driver & 2 cars. In this article I linked, it mentions that after Chuck White passed away in '76, the White Bros quit racing. It mentions that Bill Kissinger raced their GTO clone, thru '79, then later raced a RAIV '70 T/A, into the mid-'80's. Not familiar with the driver or the Bird. Can anybody provide more info ?

http://www.tarheeltigers.org/1971-t-...class-car.html

[oldskool]

In searching for info on Bill Kissinger, I found this qualifying list, from 2004.

http://www.mustangsandmore.com/ubb/F...ML/008275.html

There are two '78 Birds listed. One driver is Dave Edwards. The other is Michael Moyer. Anybody know about these cars/drivers ?

Dave Edwards was listed as being from Washington Court House, OH, which I never heard of. He is listed as racing a '78 T/A, in I/SA.

http://sportsman.nhra.com/2004/sport...inesville.html

He was also #34 @ Indy that year. Dave Batta was #31, in a '78 Firebird.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2004#indextop

I've run across a lot of '77 Bird Stockers, but not near as many '78's. So, anybody know the history of any of these '78's ?

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by oldskool

In searching for info on Bill Kissinger, I found this qualifying list, from 2004.

http://www.mustangsandmore.com/ubb/F...ML/008275.html

There are two '78 Birds listed. One driver is Dave Edwards. The other is Michael Moyer. Anybody know about these cars/drivers ?

Dave Edwards was listed as being from Washington Court House, OH, which I never heard of. He is listed as racing a '78 T/A, in I/SA.

http://sportsman.nhra.com/2004/sport...inesville.html

He was also #34 @ Indy that year. Dave Batta was #31, in a '78 Firebird.

https://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCS...r2004#indextop

I've run across a lot of '77 Bird Stockers, but not near as many '78's. So, anybody know the history of any of these '78's ?

Bill Kissinger had an Olds Cutlass

Dave Edwards bought his from Bob Michael. Bob sold his second 78 to Don Holmes

Dave Batta had my old car..the Pontiac Magazine project car. I sold it to Dean Ribiero, who sold it to Dave. He might still have it.
I built a 78 car so I could use the 78-79 big cam motor with a stick, for J and K/Stock.

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

Bill Kissinger had an Olds Cutlass

Dave Edwards bought his from Bob Michael. Bob sold his second 78 to Don Holmes

Dave Batta had my old car..the Pontiac Magazine project car. I sold it to Dean Ribiero, who sold it to Dave. He might still have it.
I built a 78 car so I could use the 78-79 big cam motor with a stick, for J and K/Stock.

(1) Not familiar with the "Pontiac Magazine project car". Any online info about it, which somebody could link ?

(2) Anybody have info and/or pics about any races, class wins, or nat records any of these cars might have picked up ?

(3) The main Pontiac stick cars I know of, in modern times, are the Adam Strang cars.

Back in the '60's & '70's, there were lots of Pontiac stick cars. I've read that Truman Fields continued to a run a stick in his '68 Bird, on up into the modern era, then Todd Hoven ran it as a stick car, for a little while. So, what were some of the other Pontiac stick cars, on up into the '90's, maybe ?

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by oldskool

(1) Not familiar with the "Pontiac Magazine project car". Any online info about it, which somebody could link ?

(2) Anybody have info and/or pics about any races, class wins, or nat records any of these cars might have picked up ?

(

Well, I was quite sure you never bought a High Performance Pontiac Magazine (LOL) but I thought you might have read it down at the Krogers..

1994-1998... Four class wins, two r/u's, two National Records, one Divisional runner-up.
Won two BOP or Pontiac races.

I never looked on the 'net. I have the magazines.
Keep digging...

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