Brian Cook
"My '62 almost always runs 1.38-1.41 60-ft times," Brian pointed out. At this event, however, the best was a 1.49 on the first pass and the worst was a pair of 1.58s. Not surprisingly, Brian described the starting line as very slick. His best pass was actually his first, running a 10.54 at 126.63. This could be because it was earlier in the day, before it got incredibly hot. According to Brian, what he liked most about the shootout was "the overall format of being able to tune the car and try and make it run better." At the POCI race on the same track the next day, the '62 posted a 1.39 60-ft and ran 10.36 at 129 mph.
Tim Simpson
Tim enjoyed shifting gears on his four-speed GTO despite the fact that traction was limited for him. "The hotter the track got, the slower I went," he said, and his strip-tuning log and run notes bear this out. The best pass was his third, posting a 13.41 at 102.62 on a 2.05 60-ft. By late in the day, the short times got longer, and the GTO was into the 14s. Tim made the best of the situation, changing timing, jets, and tire pressure through the event, but that third pass remained his best. Though he would have preferred to race in the cooler morning hours, Tim liked the fact that the shootout was "all Pontiac, with no Chebbies or Fords!"
Bryant Denning
"While changing slicks I noticed that my brand-new limited-slip differential was slipping bad," said Bryant. "No wonder I had poor 60-ft times." Nevertheless, the best pass of the day, 11.55 at 115.20 came with a 1.60 60-ft late that afternoon. Despite the traction problems of others, Bryant said, "The track worked fine for me. I wish we could run cars first and then take pictures, so it would have been a bit cooler."
At the time of the shootout, Bryant was still recovering from preparations for a move from California to Georgia and having to build an engine two weeks before after the one in the Firebird broke. "I took my old engine with its cast rods and heavy pistons and put on the good heads from the newer engine that broke and a new cam (same specs as other combo) and came here," he said. "Only the rods and pistons were different from the previous (better) combo. Nevertheless, the car went from low 11s to mid 11s, but I won the POCI race the next day. I was able to compete in the shootout and the POCI event, so things worked out very well overall."
Bill Franklin
"I got to make a lot of runs and had time to test and tune," Bill Franklin said, noting what he enjoyed about the event. However, "traction was not good," he added, "and my '67 didn't hook well." Bill did do plenty of tuning with airbag pressure and tire pressure and even a tire swap. Despite the traction problems, he did get dialed in enough to make his best pass his last, posting a 10.46 e.t. at 127.84 even though the 60-ft at 1.55 was off his first-run best of 1.49.
Conclusion
As always, traction is king, and when you don't have it, you end up chasing it all day long. Such was the case with many participants in this shootout. The weather was the culprit here, hot (uppers 90s), hazy, and humid (86 percent or more) all day.
In a perfect world, we'd start racing at 6 a.m. when the air is much better and stop when it deteriorates in the afternoon, as it usually does in the summertime. The HPP staff would love it too, but have you ever tried to get a racetrack to open at 4 a.m., and 20 racers to show up and be ready to race by 6 a.m? Night racing would be the other option, but few tracks will oblige, and the photography is even more difficult.
In order to run the shootout in the magazine, we must have photos. To that end, we have to get engine and owner photos before the event begins. We also have to have a driver's meeting before the event starts to familiarize everyone with the facility, its rules, and what has to get done for the shootout. If any of the Pontiacs that compete in any shootout run 3/10 quicker because of an early morning start, but it never gets in the magazine because the necessary photos couldn't be shot, it won't matter how fast it was if you can't read about it.
No one would rather have a best-case scenario for weather at every shootout more than your editor. Mineshaft altitude conditions, temps in the 60s, a fat 30-plus hg barometer, and a starting line that sucks your sneakers off when you walk across it would be great. But we have to operate in the real world with schedules and budgets.
The reality is, the shootouts are in the summertime because most of them coincide with Pontiac events. This reduces the cost and time for participants and magazine alike. Most of the passes are made in the late morning through late afternoon for the reasons already mentioned.
So how do you learn the full potential of each of our shootout cars despite poor weather or starting line conditions? There are two ways. First, in the Strip Specs there is a listing for "Best 1/4-mile ET, MPH prior to event." This is a yardstick for comparing the shootout numbers to the participant's best racing performance up to that point. The other way is the corrected figures. We provide factors to correct the e.t.'s and mph to a theoretical sea level best. Whether you think they are valid or not is your choice, but the information is there. Suppose the corrected e.t. and mph is better than the participant's best 1/4-mile ET, MPH prior to the event. Well, it may mean that the car has never been raced at a sea level track before under excellent conditions.
When all is said and done, there is enough information given for you to make your own decisions regarding the combos provided. And the participants in every shootout deserve a lot of credit since it's put up or shut up time for each one of them. Even though the magazine tries to keep the tone of the event low-key, the drivers put a lot of pressure on themselves to perform well as friends and family will read about it either way. They should be commended for their courage.
That wraps up our YearOne Atlanta Dragway shootout series, and we're going out on high note with a '62 Cat that runs numbers belying its size, a '66 GTO stick car that provides endless street/strip entertainment, a back-to-basics '69 Firebird with the fortitude to win Pontiac races, and a '67 Tempest that offers family fun in 10-second increments.
Special thanks to YearOne, DAPA, Randy Allen, George Reeves, Martin Templet, POCI, and Atlanta Dragway for their efforts in ensuring the success of this shootout series.