1964 Pontiac Catalina, 1969 Pontiac GTO - Shootout - HPP Pavement Pounders

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.

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.

Run Notes: 1) Cleared carbon out of the motor; 3) Felt better but fell off a little bit; 4) Getting better, still falling a little bit; 5) Falling off at top end more; 6) Still falling off.

Owner Bio: Jim Semon
Jim, a 20-year-old Univerisity of Ohio college student, has been racing for four years. He says he bought his '64 Catalina in 2004 because he likes "Nostalgia Super Stock cars and this was an affordable one." It's special to him because it's his "first Pontiac and it always draws a crowd," and his favorite moment in it was his first race at Norwalk in 2006 with his new motor and transmission, where he took runner-up.

Run Notes: 1) 160-deg engine temperature, good solid run, street trim; 2) Good solid run, felt strong on top end; 3) Good solid run; 4) Trans slipped on 2-3 shift; 5) Best pass all day.

Owner Bio: Matthew Crise
Matthew Crise, a 36-year-old operating engineer (shown here with his son, Clayton), has been racing for one year. He bought his '69 GTO in 1990 because it's his "favorite year." It's special to him because he's had it since he was 16 years old. His favorite moments with it have been "restoring it" and racing it. Besides his GTO, Matt also owns a '65 LeMans.

Jim's tuning consisted of starting at 35-degrees timing and removing 1 degree of timing on each pass to 32 degrees, with his final run at 33 degrees. Of the event, Jim said: "I love getting time to test-and-tune and improve my e.t.'s. I had a great time and loved every second of it." Of his Catalina's reaction to the Summit track, Jim recalled: "It hooked up great and stayed straight the whole time."

Matthew Crise
Matt's GTO is setup for street/strip car duties with a moderately built 428. Its combo allows him to use the GTO as a weekend cruiser and still pull mid-11s at the track. His first pass was an impressive 11.53 at 113.60 mph on a 1.555 60-foot. Could he do better? By lowering the timing from 40 to 38 degrees and lowering his tire pressure, he was able to shave 0.05 second off his second pass, earning him an 11.48 at 113.64 mph.

With different jets for his third pass, the e.t.'s dropped even more, a 11.47 at 114.05 mph. While changing out the spark plugs for Pass 4 appeared to have a negative effect (an 11.57 at 113.07), removing the exhaust dropped the e.t. to 11.43 at 114.48, his best e.t. and mph of the day. One thing to note about Matt's performance at the track is that his 60-foots never varied more than 0.024 the entire day, ranging from 1.543 to 1.567. For a racer with only one year of experience, that's a proud accomplishment. Of the event, Matt said he liked the "good people, good time, and good hospitality." He felt the track was "good and sticky" and that his GTO "hooked well, with no issues at all."

Although we paired these two Pontiacs for Part II of the Shootout, it was to demonstrate the effects of weight and power, not to put these two classic Pontiacs against each other in a heads-up competition.

What did both racers show us?

Jim demonstrated that Pontiac racing is always for the young-at-heart. It's great to see young-in-age racers with a passion for classic full-size Pontiacs and an appreciation for the racers who made Catalinas famous at tracks across America back in the day. He also showed us that classics are not all trailer queens. Jim drives his Catalina regularly, is well as to and from the track.

Matt showed us that talent can make up for experience, as he demonstrated in his GTO. He drove his Goat like a seasoned racer, yet he's only been in the drag racing hobby a short time. His track stats and willingness to experiment with tuning adjustments to lower his e.t.'s means that he's already mastered the fundamentals of racing.

The two drivers and Pontiacs featured in this Shootout showed us that racing '60s-era Pontiacs is more than a trip to the past, but rather a time-valued tradition that has been passed on since these Ponchos were new. Whether you plan on building an early-'60s full-size Pontiac with enough muscle to make your a winner or you're in love with one of the classic models of the late '60s, the cars and engine builds detailed in this Shootout will give you plenty of ideas for your project.

HPP would like to thank the management and crew at Summit Motorsports Park for making this Shootout possible and Duke Jefferson, John Labuda, and Arnie Brewer who helped make Norwalk so much easier for us with their assistance.