John Samide Los Banos, CA
I was a principle the Boring & Samide Drag team that began racing in 1959 with a '58 Pontiac Chieftain Tri-Power back in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. We ran at Erie, Salem, Thompson, New Castle, York, Mason Dixon, and Capital back then (I have been living in California for the last 28 years).
We were quite successful with the '58, winning 95 percent of our races in five years, along with a lot of little stock eliminators running F/SA. The car was undefeated in 1962 and was Mid Eastern Drag News Top Dog in 1963, defending best out of five challenges two times. Our best e.t. was 14.79.
Pappy Boring, my father-in-law and owner of the Pontiac, had an accident with it on a time run with Vernon Rolley at Mason Dixon. We took the engine out of the '58, pumped it up, and put it in a '55 Pontiac Warrior. It ran C/Gas with fair success in 1964; I made a lot of changes over that winter to make it more competitive. But I never got a chance to find out how competitive because Pappy sold the car and showed up with a brand new '65 GTO! I was upset at first but soon fell in love when it turned 14.2 right off the showroom floor. After all, I was only the car builder, tuner, and driver; it wasn't my money.
Bob Thomas, who was our automotive machinist and a large factor in the success of our cars, and I went to work on it right away. We were running low 13s the next time out. Pappy lived in McKeesport, Bob Thomas lived in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and I lived in Martinsburg, West Virginia. But somehow we got the job done. The GTO ran at Reading, Pittsburgh, 75 & 80, York, Mason, Dixon, Capital and Delmar. We raced B/Stock in 1965 with only three losses but no losses in 1966. I won a best out of five match race near the end of the season. I had the e.t. down to 12.47-110 mph.
Over that winter, we decided to go pro by running Ultra Stock (now Pro Stock). When the new rule book came out in February, I saw a new class called Super Stock came up-too late. I already had pumped up a 421 engine, installed a fiberglass frontend, a big Pontiac rear and was ready to go, otherwise we would have run Super Stock (damn). I ran 11.4s and would lift the front tires about 1 foot with 10-inch slicks, only a few cars could do this back then. But the Hemis would get me on the top end.
Bob and I made a lot of changes the following winter to make the Warrior more competitive. Again, Pappy sold the GTO before I could try it out. He then bought Bill Flyn's '67 Hemi Coronet SS/D. That marked the end of the Warrior and led to the end of the Boring & Samide Drag team.
Still a die-hard Pontiac man and loving Gassers (I had two but that's another story), I traded my '64 GTO in on a '71 Vega panel (what an idiot). But after I made the deal I went home stayed up all night, switched the cam, swapped the Tri-Power for a four-barrel, and the four-speed to a three-speed. I was going to put one of my Pontiac engines into the Vega and run B Modified Production. On Jan. 1, 1973 the Vega blew a head gasket. Here comes the Poncho Vega! I started installing a 376hp 421 with a Turbo 400 that day. At this time I was living in Shepardstown, West Virginia. Winters were cold, and with limited heat in my garage, working time was short but I had it on road in May-and they said I couldn't do it. (Ha!)
I drove it daily to my job at Mack Truck in Hagerstown, Maryland-50 miles round trip. I put a fresh '66 GTO engine in and drove it to San Jose, California, in September 1974 and drove it daily until 1983. I always had trouble getting it smogged. It was non-operational until the law changed in '97 (about time); I took the engine out and put it in a '65 Tempest and made a GTO clone. At least I had another GTO!
The Vega got a pumped up '68 400 ci with '69 large valve heads and my famous 6x2 intake manifold-sets of '66 Tri-Power carbs. I called it "my twelve pack to go." It worked great and I was getting ready to go racing again but then I had a stroke in April 2000 so racing was put on hold.
I now live in Los Banos, California, and my shop is in Chowchilla. I am ready to run brackets or Super Street at Sacramento and Bakersfield in 2003. Each strip is 150 miles away-one north and the other south on highway 99. Wish me luck! Love those Pontiacs.
P.S. After 29 years I'm back.