At The Track
Marc King
Marc's first pass in his '69 Firebird on all motor was a 9.47 at 139.26 mph, and that let everybody know he was there to do serious business. His second pass was his best of the day--an impressive 9.44 at 139.27 mph. Throughout the event, he stayed consistent, varying his time by only 0.055 second. Of the track and his Pontiac's performance, Marc says, "It was a good starting line, and the conditions were good. My Pontiac hooked well and reacted to the track very well. It had nice 60-foot times." Of the event, Marc says, "It was great, and I loved it."
Brian Hedrick
With the intimidating sound of the ProCharger F-2 supercharger, nobody at the Shootout other than Brian knew what his '69 Firebird was capable of. After seeing Marc's pass, it was Brian's turn, and he ran an incredible 8.79 at 157.32 mph. But keeping the power under control proved tougher for Brian throughout the event. On his second pass, he blew his tires off and had to limp through the quarter-mile. Coming back later in the day, he pulled a 9.51 at 152.71 mph, followed by a 9.21 at 153.65, but he couldn't get near the results of his first pass. "The track was great," Brian says, "but once the sun came out, the surface temperature went too high and it got greasy." Brian felt this hurt his Pontiac's performance. "On the first pass the car hooked and went, but on the next three runs, it spun." Of the event, Brian says, "It was a great time to test different launches and meet nice people."
Conclusion
Though the bodies are the same, as you've read, the combos are vastly different. Marc King runs a naturally aspirated 462 with a factory block in a lightened 2,875-pound chassis with ladder-bar rear suspension. Brain Hedrick runs a 477 IA-II block and makes up for the relatively heavy 3,260-pound curb weight with cubes and lots of boost from the ProCharger. His Bird's rear suspension is mildly upgraded while retaining its stock layout.
Marc consistently propelled his Firebird to 9-second timeslips on motor. "I have over 200 passes on this engine," he says. "It's reliable and great for bracket racing." As an aside, his combo has run 9.08 at 148 mph on juice at another venue.
Brian showed us that a stock-bodied Firebird with a pure-Poncho engine is a perfect candidate for supercharging, but with great power comes the need to get it to the ground effectively. Brian says he has the fastest steel-bodied blowthrough supercharged Firebird in the country, and since the event, he has upgraded his tires to wider M/T 325/50-15 rubber to get his vehicle to be more predictable, regardless of track conditions. As a result, he ran an 8.601 at 159.83 mph later in the year.
Both of the cars are payout winners at Pontiac competitions throughout the season. If you're planning a traditional Pontiac build up for your race car, you can find plenty of ideas for your project in the two Firebirds featured here.
HPP would like to thank Chief Pontiac Productions along with the management and crew of Virginia Motorsports Park for their assistance in making this Shootout possible.