writer: Thomas A. DeMauro
photographer: Thomas A. DeMauro, Don Keefe, Charles A. Keefe
Late-models versus early-models! We've waited long enough! As part of our shootout series from Norwalk, we present these four diverse racers for your reading pleasure.
The part of late-model V-8 power will be played by an '04 GTO street car packing lots of cubes and nitrous. The First-Gen Firebird community is aptly represented by a road-going '69 model with Pure Pontiac power and the countenance of a Trans Am. FWD afficianados may at first be puzzled by the fact that a GTP wasn't given the task of waving that banner proudly as is usually the case when stout FWD performance is required. Instead, we have an '01 Grand Am GT daily driver with a surprise under its hood that enables it to live up to the performance promise of its SC/T bodywork. If that's not enough, the A-body fans have a '68 LeMans street car decked out in GTO garb that yanks its front wheels off the tarmac on each launch thanks to 469 cubes and a dialed-in suspension system. There are the broad strokes, now let's get to the details and meet our participants.
Brett Rockey made the trek all the way from Seffner, Florida, to compete with his '04 GTO. Since breaking into 10s, the Goat has been a challenge when it came to parts consumption. Will this 408ci nitrous-fed Aussi asphalt assassin last the day and put down some low 10-second passes on drag radials without scattering any parts?
Brian Marion's Ontario, New York-based '69 Firebird rolled in with a 0.040-over 455, a Turbo 350, 3.55 gears, and mid-11-second aspirations, this despite its show-car detailing and stock-appearing steel Rally IIs. Would the weather and starting line oblige?
Pat Lavanty wowed the crowd with an interesting '01 Grand Am GT. This front driver cruised in from Canfield, Ohio, packing a supercharger under its scooped hood. Its forced-induction 3400 V-6 engine and built transaxle with a 3.29 final drive will be put to the test on this day, and 13-second timeslips are in the offing. Could it happen?
Edward Sobczyk of Madison Heights, Michigan, competed with his '68 LeMans sporting a 0.065 over 455, a Turbo 350, and a 12-bolt with 3.73s. With a couple hundred pounds less heft than typical A-bodies of the era and some judicious tuning, this LeMans is entrenched in the low 11s. Just how low? Read on.
Thanks to a 92-degree temperature reading and relative humidity hovering at 47 percent, we certainly didn't have mineshaft conditions at Norwalk. In fact, effective elevation was 3,900 feet! To get an idea of how these pugnacious Pontiacs could potentially run at sea level under perfect conditions, a correction factor of 0.9523 for e.t.'s and 1.0507 for trap speed is used on the best pass only (based on e.t.'s) in the Strip Tuning Log. Multiply the e.t. or mph by its factor to convert the other runs.
On with the racing!