At The Track
Though there was much concern on the day of our shootout because the clouds were dark and there was some drizzle, the weather did clear up by late morning. As stated in the last issue, the temperature at Ennis, Texas, was 78 degrees at 10:30 a.m. and rose to 88 degrees by 5:00 p.m. The barometer was at 29.92 hg dropping to 29.85 hg, and humidity at 89 percent fell to 74 percent between 10:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. There was also a 13-mph wind from the south. The "slicks" lane was deemed better for traction than the "street tire" lane as you will read below. Regardless, the staff at the Motorplex did prep the track and tried to provide a sticky surface for our competitors.
Lydia Watson
According to Lydia, the track conditions were "awesome considering the weather at the end of the day. My '02 T/A ran its best 60-ft ever at the Texas Motorplex." RPM and Watson were pushing her '02 T/A pretty hard at the shootout. After posting a 10.10 e.t. at 127.55 mph with a 150 shot of nitrous on the fifth run with a best ever 1.38 60-ft, they turned up the wick by installing 200hp jets. The net result was that too much fuel was added on the next pass, and then the tires slipped on the last run of the day with the 200 shot. So the 10.10 would stand as the best e.t. of the day for Lydia's Bird with a 150 shot and leaving on the transbrake. Actually, run four provided the highest mph at 130.24. Watson said, "It was a really great experience, and the car worked really well." You'll probably agree too after you see the wheel-lifting launches that she performed.
Wayne Barnes
Wayne was having a tough time with the limited-slip unit in his '67 GTO during the shootout. Sometimes the driver-side tire would not spin for the burnout. On the second run he raised the launch rpm and spun the tires off the line, yet lost less than .02 second--posting a 12.75 at 105.52 with the trap speed identical to the first run. Barnes was unhappy with the third run, saying he had a "really poor launch," and the 60-ft reflected it with a 1.93. By run four, with a revised burnout technique, the Goat was hooking again, resulting in a 1.81 short time and a 12.70 e.t. at 105.34. That pass and run six provided the best e.t.'s of the day, and the latter the best 60-ft at 1.79. In between, run five netted a tie for best 60-foot with run six, but the e.t. dropped off a half-tenth to 12.75. Wayne said of run five that he was "not convinced that he got the most out of the car." Regarding run six, however, he was "pretty satisfied with that pass in the heat of the day." Barnes stated that he "enjoyed the event" but would have liked to have seen it start earlier. He felt that track conditions were good but said his car "isn't as sensitive to the track" as others may be.
Larry Navarro
Larry Navarro's first run of the day posted his best mph at 118.95, and his second best e.t. at 11.98 and 60-ft at 1.91. He accomplished this "speed shifting at 6,000 rpm, running the BFG drag radials and with fair traction and the new WFO shaker system," he told HPP. Larry varied tire pressure and launch rpm on some of the following passes in an effort to gain the best traction, but the second run he described as, "poor traction, and he broke tires loose on launch and when shifting into Second gear." On the third pass he netted his best 60-ft at 1.86 and e.t. at 11.94 with mph off his best at 117.75. On the fourth pass, the Fourth gear shift was missed, and on the fifth, traction was poor. The six and final pass brought more traction problems and a Second-gear shift wheel hop. Navarro said, "The tires were more a hindrance than the track was. The drag radials are tricky to master, and I hadn't had enough practice on them. I know the car should be capable of about 11.30s with slicks, but it's mainly street driven and I didn't want to destroy original driveline. Overall the day was excellent, the event was well coordinated, and even the weather cooperated. A "thumbs-up" to HPP and DAPA for another fun-filled event!"
Lee Atkinson
Lee's first run saw the fuel pump wire come loose, so he coasted through the lights in his '67 Bird. With the wire reattached, the second pass produced an 11.90 at 113.12 mph. The 60-ft was 1.68, just a hundreth off the best short time, which came with the sixth pass. A hose kinked and blocked the airflow through the ram air system that Lee was testing, so the e.t. and mph dropped off in that sixth run to 12.00 at 112.09 mph. Atkinson tuned with timing and carb shooters beginning with the third pass, but the second pass was still his best. He noted that he "didn't touch the tires the whole day" and described the track conditions as "good but could have used some more VHT about halfway through." He was also testing his new torque converter that day but kept his launches to 1,300 rpm. (Lee realized that 1,600 worked better when he raced at Houston after this shootout. The result was a 1.62 60-ft and 11.78 at 113.98 mph still shifting at 5,400 rpm). Atkinson said that he met some very nice people at the shootout and enjoyed himself.
Mark Metdker
Mark had the least mods of anyone in the shootout with just a larger turbo and some exhaust and computer upgrades, but he had the advantage of being able to manually adjust the boost on his turbo to the tune of 21-26 psi. The first run was good for 12.32 at 102.61 and a best-of-day 60-ft of 1.65. Mark commented that at 26 psi, it was too much boost and the engine knocked so he had to get out of it. That's why the mph is low. At 20 psi on the second run, there was no knock, and a 12.30 was the result. So Metdker felt he was close but needed more boost. Run three brought 23 psi and a 12.23 e.t.--the best of the day despite the fact the 1.81 60-ft was slower than the first two passes. According to Mark, "fuel pressure was too high at 50 lbs so it was soft at the low end but still leaned out at the top end. There was some knock." At 25 psi on the fourth pass, the car spun while launching. So back at the line for the fifth pass setup to run 24 psi and 46 lbs of fuel pressure, Metdker felt he had the right combination. The result was a 1.84 60-ft and a 12.26 e.t. at 110.10. Mark says, "The car needs bigger fuel injectors and more timing to be faster; now its leaning out on the top end. It was built to be a quick street car not a race car, so I would say mission accomplished. It still gets over 20 mpg, and I drove Turbo T/A to the event 165 miles each way." Regarding the event he said, "Though track prep could have been better for the 'street tire' lane, I still had a blast."
Conclusion
As always, traction is king. If you have it, you get low e.t.'s; if you don't, you don't. Regardless, there is still tons of information stuffed into this shootout that will be of use to anyone currently running or considering a combination similar to one of these Pontiacs. So after a day of racing and a lunch "that just couldn't be beat," we have a bunch of people to thank for their efforts in bringing this shootout to you. They include: the Dallas Area Pontiac Association for planning the event and preparing lunch; David Dudley (see the photo of his '67 Bird and '79 T/A) and the company for which he works, Riba Foods, who supplied many of its great products including Arriba Salsa for our lunch; George Reaves who grilled up tons of burgers and more to feed us all; Floyd Hand who beat the bushes to find us many of these great Pontiacs; Randy Allen and Rob Bender for organizing the event and Randy for helping to photograph it; and Sewell Pontiac-GMC and two of its representatives, Jason Feuerberg and Saadallah El Jundi, who provided the HPP staff with a Montana minivan (see photo) while we were in Texas. Look for Part III of the Lone Star Edition of High Performance Pontiac's Pavement Pounders Shootout next month.