Pontiac Pavement Pounders Shootout - Lone Star Edition, Part III

"Naked Beer Chicks"

That's what participant Mark Caughey said when asked, "What would you recommend that HPP do to make this shootout better?" It's a great tongue-in-cheek-answer and a perfect way to start off the all-Firebird shootout--which is the third and final installment in our annual trilogy from the Texas Motorplex in Ennis.

As you can tell by the opening statement, Pontiac guys, their Pontiacs, and HPP's shootouts are a lot of things, but boring isn't one of them. Due to a few breakages, this final Lone Star installment contains four instead of the usual five contestants. Not to worry, though, we still have three of four generations of Firebirds represented, and they did their respective body styles proud.

First up is, you guessed it, Mark Caughey and his '99 Navy Blue Metallic Trans Am that traveled from Double Oak, Texas, to compete. If you read the first two installments, you met a LS1 with a stock long-block according to its owner, that ran high 10.20s; a bored and sleeved big-inch LS1 with modified heads and cam that ran 10.10; and now Mark's LS1 that has essentially a head and cam package and a stock short-block. All of these LS1s were modified differently yet they all have one thing in common--nitrous, lots of nitrous. Will Mark be able to run quicker than those who came before him? Read on.

Dewayne Ford arrived at the Motorplex from Crossett, Arkansas, with a '77 SE T/A that looked more at home on the show field than the race track with flawless black paint and gold graphics. But a peak under the hood revealed an Edelbrock-headed .030-over 455 and 950 Holley, which dispelled any thoughts of this machine being a 14-second show car. Running 11s was the goal, but traction would be a problem. See if the T/A got there.

Travis Lochhead rolled in from Moore, Oklahoma, to try his luck on the Motorplex 1320 with his silver '76 T/A packed with a .030 over 455 and was also in the hunt for mid-11-second e.t.'s. But the recently transplanted Canadian had a trick up his sleeve for quick power infusion. Did this Bird actually dip into the 10s?

Shawn Patterson made the trip from Richardson, Texas, to run his wife's '68 Firebird convertible. Owner of Patterson's Garage, Shawn knows how to make Pontiacs quick, and this street car is no exception. With a 428 poked and stroked to 462 cubes, can 12s be far away? Well, there is the 4,040-pound race weight.

Enough talk, let's get to it.

Owner: Mark Caughey

Owner Bio
Mark Caughey, an analyst by day, has been racing for just three years. He cites his reasons for building this particular '99 T/A as the body styling, the V-8 engine, and the rear-wheel drive. What does he like best about driving his T/A? Pulling the front wheels on launch. Can't argue with that. Currently, the car is being built with a 408 engine and more power.

Owner: Dewayne Ford

Owner Bio
Dewayne Ford's '77 Trans Am has been in the family for almost two decades and has shared many important life experiences with the 36-year-old Electrical Instrumentation technician and racer. It was a gift from his mother in 1985. "I always wanted a Trans Am since seeing Smokey and the Bandit when I was 10 years old," Dewayne says. "So it has a sentimental value to me because it was a gift my mother worked very hard to give me." Magic moments behind the wheel include, "Taking my future wife on our first date in the T/A and taking our twin girls home from the hospital just after they were born."

Owner: Travis Lochhead

Owner Bio
Travis Lochhead's mom purchased this T/A in 1977, and it's been in the family ever since. "Many lessons in hot rodding and in life have been learned in this T/A," says Travis, the 32-year-old oil field Service Supervisor. "It has been my favorite car and holds a special place in my collection." A cherished experience in the T/A was its first 11-second pass on motor. According to Lochhead, "On launch the passenger-side floor mat curled back and stood up for the duration of the run. I was dearly hopping to see an 11-anything on the timeslip, and sure enough it read 11.97." Travis would like to thank Pete McCarthy for help with head-porting and friends from Edmonton, Canada, Randy Rowlinson at Pro Stock Performance and Ian Thompson at Amazing Mechanical for their help with this T/A.

Owner: Shawn & Heather Patterson

Owner Bio
"I bought it for my wife," Shawn Patterson explained. "She said that she wanted a convertible someday so I found one as soon as I could--one week later. The Bird was completely disassembled and in boxes." Shawn, at 39, has been racing for 23 years, but his wife Heather was originally scheduled to drive the car at the HPP shootout. She was a bit too busy, however, having given birth to their daughter Maylee Anne at 6 lbs 1 oz on April 23, 2004--just about a month before the shootout.

At The Track

Morning rain and overcast skies couldn't keep us from our appointed duties at the Texas Motorplex. When the rain stopped, the track dried, and the Motorplex crew prepped the surface, we hit the tarmac. Here's the weather report once again in case you missed it in the last two issues: 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 early and dropped to 29.85 hg later, and humidity at 89 percent fell to 74 percent between 10:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. And don't forget the 13-mph wind from the south.

Though the Motorplex staff did maintain the track during the shootout, the conclusion from some of the racers was that in the afternoon, traction deteriorated.

Mark Caughey
Mark made his first two passes on motor, and his trans line broke on the first. He repaired it and returned to the line for the second pass, and he ran 11.89 at 115.28 with a 1.74 60-ft--marking his best motor pass of the day. He adjusted the shocks and fixed the trans line for the second time after an aborted third run and made a nitrous pass on the fourth run. This resulted in a 10.60 e.t. at 127.08, but it would be run five that posted his best time of the day at 10.08 at 136.73 on a 1.56 60-ft. And this was with the tires spinning. Ironically his best 60-ft of the day came on the sixth the pass with a 1.51, but e.t. fell off to 10.62 due to the "track temp increasing," says Mark. On the last pass, the bottle ran low, so despite a promising 1.52 short time, the e.t. was 10.20. at 133.57.

Mark said, "The track conditions were good in the morning and fair in the afternoon." He also shared that he enjoyed "the camaraderie among Pontiac owners, the chance to make lots of passes, the good food, and the separate lanes for slicks and radials."

Dewayne Ford
Dewayne's first pass of the day knocked down his highest mph of the outing at 115.08, but the e.t. was only 13.16 on a 2.47 short time--spinning badly in both First and Second gear on the Dunlop street tires with 32 lbs of air. The second and third passes were not much better, and he even tried to leave with the Tremec five-speed in Second gear on the third pass just to see what would happen. As expected, the engine bogged, but the 60-ft dropped to 2.19 and e.t. to 12.93 at 113.79. Ford then bolted on a set of 28x10.5x15 M/T ET Drags for the fourth pass, and on a clean 3,500-rpm launch, the 60-ft plummeted to 1.64 and e.t. dropped to 11.86 at 114.75. Other tuning was tried, but the fourth pass was the best of the day for 60-ft and e.t. Dewayne said, "The engine wouldn't pull above 5,000 rpm until Third gear, causing a loss of 2 mph in the 1/8-mile, particularly after switching to slicks when the 60-fts dropped below 1.72 (even with jet extensions). The fuel system is lacking volume or I got a bad load of gas. A 1/2-inch fuel line upgrade is next." The track conditions were "very good early on, but the track went away later in the day." The event as a whole was "very organized and very good overall," according to Ford.

Travis Lochhead
Like so many of our other participants in the last three installments, Travis posted his best e.t. and mph on motor on the first run. In this case, it was an 11.73 at 116.18 with "a little spin at the line," he says. The short time was 1.73. His second pass was slightly off the first with more spin, but run three netted a 10.93 at 124.61 with a short time of 1.64. This, however, was with a 90hp shot of nitrous and "spinning hard." Run four on motor was not as quick or fast as the first. But the 60-ft of 1.72 was the quickest on motor, and Travis noted that "it spun the least" on that run. "The car ran fairly well, but the Posi has been going away," he said. "This problem lent itself to the soft 60-ft times. But I'm totally thrilled to get my first 10-second timeslip. The people and the event were top notch, and I had a great time."

Shawn Patterson
Shawn's first pass resulted in a 13.06 at 104.73, and he commented that the engine was still cold. The second pass with the engine at 180 degrees improved to a 12.99 with the best mph of the day at 104.98, and, with tuning before the third run, an identical e.t. was produced. Even a few gallons of 110 octane didn't do much as the Bird dipped slightly into the 13s for the next three passes, despite the fact that the best short time of the day came in the fifth pass with a 1.87. Finally on the seventh and last run, the Bird posted its best e.t. of the day at 12.98 at 104.88. The 60-ft was 1.90. Patterson's performance differed than that of many others by not only being extremely consistent though out the day, but also by actually picking up at the end of the day where others slowed down. Shawn stated, "The car was very consistent when shifted at 5,400 rpm, running two 12.99s and a 12.98. With a better gear (3.31 or 3.55), mid 12s are possible. It was a bit muggy and warm, otherwise track conditions were good and I enjoyed the event very much."

Conclusion
Like the last two issues, the battle for traction was the challenge to meet on this day. Some racers were able make the adjustments needed to drop 60-fts and e.t.'s, and others struggled.

As was true with the other participants, these four also joined the HPP staff not only for a day of racing, but also for a great lunch. The list of thank yous to all who volunteered time and supplies to make this event happen follows: The Dallas Area Pontiac Association for the lunch and organization; David Dudley (his '67 Bird and '79 T/A are pictured on this page); and Riba Foods who provided a wide selection tasty products, including Arriba Salsa for our lunch; grill master George Reaves who cooked up a storm for us; Floyd Hand for rounding up fast Pontiacs; Randy Allen and Rob Bender for putting together the shootout and helping with photos; and Sewell Pontiac-GMC's Jason Feuerberg and Saadallah El Jundi who provided us with a Montana minivan, (see photo) to get us to and from the Southern Nats and the shootout.