Battle Of The H.O.S: 350 Vs. 455
With installment number six, we have reached the final Pure Stock Shootout of our series. But it certainly is not going out with a whimper, as we have a battle between the largest and almost smallest (don't forget the 326 H.O.) pure Pontiac V-8 engines ever to wear the H.O. moniker. Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton is the stage, and a '69 350 H.O. Firebird and a '71 455 H.O.-equipped GTO are the players. Strangely enough, neither of our drivers actually own their respective rides-we'll explain that later.
To refresh your memory, these Pure Stock Pontiacs have to remain very close to factory stock. Though allowances are made for NHRA-legal-for-stock-class engine specs, aftermarket clutches, more modern exhaust systems with H- or X-type crossovers (no headers), and mild suspension tweaking, the stock wheels and tires are required. Let's meet our participants.
Tom Miller of Three Rivers, Michigan, turned his '69 Firebird 350 H.O. over to Rich Rinke of Oxford, Michigan, for the event because he was unable to attend. The 350 H.O. is backed by a Turbo-400 and a 4.11:1 Safe-T-Track rear. It likes to beat up on big-cube cars in the Pure Stock wars, but how would it fair against the competition today with a new driver?
Charles Lombardi Sr. arrived from North Providence, Rhode Island, with a '71 GTO that he actually found for his cousin and good friend Peter Germani. Originally a 400-powered Goat, it was upgraded to a 455 H.O. to compete in Pure Stock races. It runs a Turbo 400 with a 3.55 Safe-T-Track rear.
The GTO has round-port heads and about 105 ci more displacement than the Bird, but it's also saddled with over 300 pounds more race weight. Though both run Turbo 400s, the Firebird has a lot more rear gear. It will be interesting to see how these two Pontiacs compare at the traps.
Weather Report
At the track, the temperature range was 55-71 degrees. Barometric pressure read 30.01 hg, and humidity was 41 to 100 percent. Thanks to a 1,599-foot-density altitude figure, a factor of 0.9822 for e.t. and 1.0185 for mph will be employed to chart the theoretical best performance at sea level (done on the best pass only, based on e.t.). Now, let's go racing.