Part II: A 13-Second Catalina and an 11-Second GTO Demonstrate the Effects of Weight and Power at Summit Motorsports Park
Last month, HPP brought you Part I of our Pavement Pounders Shootout, held at the Summit Motorsports Park quarter-mile track in Norwalk, Ohio, as part of the annual Ames Performance Pontiac Tri-Power Nationals. The event allowed hand-picked participants from across the United States to be HPP's guests for a private day of exciting drag racing.
This month, we start our Shootout with two racers whose Pontiacs embrace the power and style of '60s-era muscle. The first isn't even out of college, but he has got a full-size coupe that dates back to the beginning of the musclecar era. The second is a newcomer to the world of racing, but his late-'60s A-body is already earning him respect at the track. Now, let's meet the racers.
Jim Semon of Sandusky, Ohio, enjoys the vintage valor of his '64 Catalina sport coupe. It's equipped with a 389, factory heads, a Turbo 350, and 3.90 gears.
Matthew Crise of Scottdale, Pennsylvania, prefers the decade-changing boldness of his '69 GTO. It features a 428 engine bored and stroked to 467 cubes, Edelbrock heads, a Turbo 400 trans, and 4.10 gears.
Weather Report
The temperature at Summit Motorsports Park during the HPP Shootout ranged from 73.9 to 78.1 degrees. Barometric pressure was measured at 30.06 hg and the dew point was 53.1 degrees. The track is 853 feet above sea level and density altitude ranged from 2,022 to 2,296 feet, so we use a factor of 0.9731 for e.t. and 1.0283 for mph for 2,300 feet to chart the theoretical best performance at sea level. This will be done on the best pass only based on e.t.