Pontiac Heaven Drags & More VII became the backdrop for HPP's first-ever Pontiac Pavement Pounders Shootout in Arizona. Speedworld Motorplex was the host track, and an experienced group of racers from the Southwest tried their luck on the strip, all during Steve Barcak's annual shindig.
Javier Montano rolled in from Reedley, California, with his '67 GTO street car. Pushing 3,850 pounds with driver, this full-weight Goat features a 455 engine with little 1.96 intake valves, a Turbo 400, and a set of 3.55s out back. Can it run low 12s? Read on.
Ken Ondrejko calls Mesa, Arizona, home, and his ride of choice is somewhat larger than the typical GTO. More specifically, it's a batwing '61 Catalina stuffed with a deep-breathing 12:1 compression, 467-cubed, stroked 400 engine. With Ken rowing the Jerico four-speed, the Cat has been known to run low 11s with 4.56s in the rear, but with temps approaching the 90s, will it be possible at our shootout?
Jim Thompson is a regular bracket racer, and his '64 GTO clone is stripped down to a svelte 2,970 pounds at the curb thanks to judicious use of fiberglass body parts and Lexan windows. His 467-cubed, Turbo 400, 4.89-geared combo usually puts him into the low 10s. Will today be any different?
Paul Miller's '66 LeMans is another street car turned weekend racer. Adding to his stress, Paul's passes had to be made between stints working the show as part of the Pontiac Heaven staff. Packing a vintage '66 0.030-over 421 bottom end, a Turbo 400, and 3.55 gears in his LeMans, the Glendale, Arizona, resident was hoping for low 13s. Did he get there?
The answers to these questions and more, such as, "What does it take to snap a driveshaft, crack a trans case, and destroy a torque converter in the burnout box?" and, "How much damage can a severed crank pulley do?" are contained in the following pages. So if you'd like your early A-body to run low 13s, low 12s, or low 10s, these participants will show you how. And if you're nostalgic about period-appearing early '60s Catalina race cars, this shootout will have you covered as well.
AT THE TRACK
The excitement generated by the Pontiac Heaven event combined with that of the HPP Shootout had all participants raring to go. Temperatures rose from 85 degrees mid-morning to 87 degrees by lunchtime. And in the afternoon, it got up to 92 degrees. Barometer readings dropped through the day from 28.37 hg in the morning to 28.24 hg in the afternoon. Relative altitude was 3,640 feet early on and rose to 4,120 feet by late afternoon. Due to the high relative elevation, we will use correction factors of 0.9497 for e.t. and 1.0535 (4,100 feet) for the trap speed to provide theoretical sea-level numbers to complement the actual posted e.t and mph figures.
Though the weather didn't provide optimal race conditions, our participants still performed quite well. Some even tied or set new personal bests.
Javier Montano
Regarding the track conditions, Javier said, "They were good, but the left lane seemed to be a bit quicker." His tuning was limited to dialing in launch rpm and shift points for his '67 GTO, but his diligence was rewarded. Javier said the Goat, "did very well. It equaled my best time ever until I snapped the driveshaft." That's correct--on what was to be the last pass, during a hellacious burnout, he broke the driveshaft (see photo). But when he got home there were more surprises. Javier's GTO also suffered a cracked trans housing, a ruined torque converter, and a broken front yoke. It ended his day expensively, but this bank manager will figure a way to pay for the fixes. Broken parts notwithstanding, the '67 still posted a 12.20 at 108.53 mph with those little intake valves and ran its best 60-foot ever with full exhaust.
Ken Ondrejko
Ken described the starting line conditions as "Good--my '61 Catalina ran straight and true." As it turned out, Ken's best pass of the day would be his first, posting a 11.13 at 122.27 mph. He would be dealing with a slight bog on launch on the remaining four passes. Ken adjusted tire pressure but kept all else the same throughout the day.
Jim Thompson
According to Jim, "The starting line was inconsistent and my '64 GTO 'skated' most of the way down the track on two of the five passes." This is possibly because Jim has the quickest Pontiac in the shootout, with his best pass checking in at 10.28 at 128.44 with a fresh set of slicks. His best mph of the day, a 128.57, came on the first pass. Like Ken, Jim's quickest runs came early in the day when the weather and track conditions were better. Despite the traction problem, he did tie his best e.t., a 10.28, even if it was 2 mph slower than his best-ever trap speed. His day ended with some broken parts, however, when the crank pulley sheared off and took a blade off the electric fan. The good news was, Jim found a replacement pulley in the swap meet area of Pontiac Heaven and was on the track racing the next day.
Paul Miller
"The track was prepped very well," Paul Miller stated. "My '66 LeMans hooked well and had some top-end fueling issues, but nothing major." Paul's experience was somewhat different from the others who ran quicker in the morning. After working out tire pressure and remembering to flip the switch on his electric fuel pump, his LeMans' performance improved in the afternoon. In fact, Paul's best pass of the day was his last, posting a 13.48 at 101.21 (his best mph was on his fourth pass running 102.01). Using the electric fuel pump and removing the air cleaner helped performance considerably, as mph improved by 3 and e.t.'s dropped 3 tenths despite slightly poorer 60-foot times.
CONCLUSION
Since a scale was not available on race day at Speedworld Motorplex, the weights listed in this shootout were provided by the participants who have previously had their Pontiacs weighed on a certified scale at another facility.
Despite some vehicular carnage, our first-ever Arizona shootout went off without a hitch. We'd like to thank the management and staff of Speedworld Motorplex for their courteous treatment, and Steve Barcak for allowing us to run a shootout in the middle of his event and for helping round up participants. Finally, we would like to thank the participants for their efforts.