Pontiac Pavement Pounders Shootout: Lone Star Pt.II

The summer sun was ablaze and so was the 1320 at the Texas Motorplex. If you didn't catch the first Lone Star shootout last month, don't fret as back issues are available and this issue, we have 5 more pumped up Pontiacs to satisfy your cravings for quarter-mile conquest.

This month's LS1-equipped participant is Irving, Texas-native, Cory Morgan, who along with some help from Modern Musclecar Technologies in Royse City, has prepared his '02 Sunset Orange Metallic missile to inflict optimum damage on the innocent asphalt. Jim Matisi of Richardson, Texas, made up the other half of the EFI contingent for this event. His Y2K GTP protected him during the weekend, when torrential Texas rain forced his car off the road and into a guardrail. Regardless of the scratches and dents, the Pontiac endured and performed well by running a slew of low-13-second passes while all the time posing as a sedate 2-door sedan. James Ash is not one to mess with and neither is his Pontiac. Hailing from Austin, Texas, James is a former power lifter and has been a firefighter for 27 years. He piloted his '67 GTO in the high-11-second range with bracket-like consistency. Down and dirty was the '68 Firebird of Shawn Patterson. Also from Richardson, Shawn didn't have time to talk about what color to paint his primered Bird, as he was busy posting mid-10-second elapsed times. By far the most street-friendly of the vintage Pontiacs, Lloyd Coulson's '72 Formula 455 ran quicker than its subtle looks implied. The Bellaire, Texas, resident had just gotten the Poncho up and running mere days before our shootout and broke it in properly, right on the drag strip.

Pleasantries aside, hot Pontiacs were the main focus of the day so let's get to the action.

Owner: Cory Morgan
"The car did well considering all the obstacles we had to overcome and considering how poorly the driveline was matched to the car." Cory had borrowed the transmission and converter for the event, but the combination was designed for a lighter car with more nitrous. "My original goal was a mid-10 second fully optioned, full weight, street legal warrior. After Monday's event, my goal is now to just brush the 9's. The guys of MMT have really gone the extra mile to bring this heavy beast to a level of performance to be proud of," said Cory.

OWNER: JAMES ASH
Years ago, James owned another '67 Pontiac, but his family budget and the fuel crisis prevented him from making it into the pavement pounder he now owns. His current ride was purchased just blocks from his home, and sported a big-block Chevy and Saginaw 4-speed. "I went to the Muscle Car Nationals in Bowling Green in '87 and got hooked on drag racing," said Ash. Pure Pontiac power and a Turbo-400 installation followed.

Owner: Jim Matisi
"I replaced my wife's totaled '89 Grand Prix with a '99 SE model, and I really liked the W-body car," Jim Matisi explained. "I went looking for a newer loaded model for myself and found this '00 GTP Daytona edition." Once aboard the Pontiac, Jim Matisi found Club GP, and started modifying the car. On the way to the track, Jim hit some heavy rain that forced the coupe off of the road and into a guardrail. However, neither dents nor dings would keep Matisi from blistering the Motorplex quarter-mile.

Owner: Lloyd Coulson
A GTO or a Firebird has always occupied the driveway of Lloyd Coulson. Currently, he just finished putting together this '72 Formula, and proceeded to set a personal best at our event. "I had a lot of fun and met some nice people. Of course running better than expected was an added bonus."

Owner: Shawn And Heather Patterson
A self-professed Chevy guy, Shawn bought in to the Pontiac family after marrying his wife, Heather. The Bird pictured here actually started out with a 14-second worthy 400ci engine for Heather, but she opted not to race it, which gave Shawn the green light for a "wild 455" build up. From a mild 14-second ride, the "Dirty Bird" is now a 10-second terror.

At The Track
For June in Texas, the mid-80-degree temperatures we experienced weren't half bad. The barometer held steady at 29.8, the wind was 10 mph or less and humidity hovered between 50-60 percent. But obviously track performances would be somewhat limited and so would the grip of the Motorplex. Still we saw some great times especially from some of the relatively mild appearing powerplants, and 10 and 11-second elapsed times for the quicker Pontiacs are cool no matter what the temperature.

Cory Morgan:
"The car did well considering all the obstacles we had to overcome and considering how poorly the driveline was matched to the car." Cory had borrowed the transmission and converter for the event, but the combination was designed for a lighter car with more nitrous. "My original goal was a mid-10 second fully optioned, full weight, street legal warrior. After Monday's event, my goal is now to just brush the 9's. The guys of MMT have really gone the extra mile to bring this heavy beast to a level of performance to be proud of," said Cory.

James Ash:
James has been racing his GTO in its current configuration for 9 years, and it ran as expected at the track. He noted that there was a pretty good headwind, which isn't exactly a good thing for his aerodynamically challenged Goat, but it still ran high 11s all day long. We're not sure if he bracket races, but with elapsed times of 11.93, 11.91, 11.98 and 11.90, he has a pretty consistent package.

Jim Matisi:
Without a boost gauge, Jim wasn't quite sure what kind of boost the car was making. Full Bore Exhaust in Arkansas is responsible for the muffler itself, and Chris Casperson with Performance Years supplied the prototype headpipes and X-pipe part of the system. This was rather important in estimating the Pontiac's performance because the mph dropped off by about 5, which would seem to be more than just the hot weather. "I found that the CV joint was slinging grease all over the supercharger belt, so that may have been the problem." Jim had just installed a new transmission with different gearing and was hoping for more, but was pleased with the 13.1 that he was able to attain this day. Concerning Jim's tuning log, Matisi added several degrees of timing on top of the base timing. Every additional 500 rpm after that, 1 degree was pulled out.

Lloyd Coulson:
"This exhaust system is one of the biggest reasons that my car runs as well as it does. Full Bore Exhaust in Arkansas is responsible for the muffler itself, and Chris Casperson with Performance Years supplied the prototype headpipes and X-pipe part of the system. Tom Hand had the initial idea for the system. He was also instrumental as an engineering consultant, and dealt with fit and finish details," Lloyd told us. The custom exhaust, along with a torque-happy 467 ci of displacement propelled the heavy Bird to a best ever run of 12.96, at the hottest point of the day. Persistence in tuning the Quadrajet via various metering rod and rod hanger changes helped, too.

Shawn Patterson:
When asked what his favorite moment in this car was, Shawn's answer was, "Every time the third amber light comes on." With this mentality, it's no wonder that Shawn kept making runs even though the car was not performing properly. The Firebird had plenty of power on hand, the problem was getting it to the ground. "I can't get any more tire under the car and it just kept spinning," noted Shawn. The factory Trans Am shifter was causing him to miss some shifts also, and he has told us that a new Hurst Quarter stick is on the way. Regardless, the Poncho ran several mid-10-second passes, with a 10.78 run while missing the 2-3 shift.

Conclusion
As you already know if you read Part I, HPP ran 4 shootouts at the Motorplex on the same day so this crew enjoyed a lunch of grilled burgers and a host of side dishes from our cooks Kadin Betts and Thom Reaves just like the contestants in Part I. And thanks to David Dudley, we also received aid from Riba Foods, who tossed in some green for our luncheon, and provided their line of Arriba Fire-Roasted Mexican Salsas for us to sample. The Dallas Area Pontiac Association as usual provided the participants for our Lone Star Pavement Pounders shootout and Randy Allen and others organized the event with surgical precision. Sewell Pontiac of Dallas hooked us up with a proper ride for the weekend, namely a new '04 Grand Prix GTP. We got lots of action-packed photos, 4 intense contests of speed and had a great time in the Lone Star state. Stay tuned, Part III is only a month away.