Pontiac Pavement Pounders Shootout - Norwalk Raceway Park Part 1

As most of you already know, we've run a few HPP Pavement Pounder Shootouts at Norwalk Raceway Park (NRP) in years past. The combination of location, quality of the facility, and the expert track prep make it a great choice for the variety of Pontiacs we cover. If anyone is going to hook up and run their best 60-foots, it's likely to happen at Norwalk.

NRP is also home to the Ames Performance Pontiac Nationals, the largest Pontiac event in the nation. As such, it attracts a huge number of Pontiac racecars, making it easy for us to coordinate racers to feature.

Over the past few years, HPP's editor and Pete Woodruff of Super Duty Promotions casually discussed the possibility of a shootout to coincide with the Ames Performance Pontiac Nats at the famed facility. Then Bill Bader Jr. called to say the track was interested in having HPP host a shootout, and Bill and Pete even had the date in mind: the Thursday before the Ames Performance Pontiac Nats. How could we refuse a chance to do another shootout on a well-prepped track at the invite of the track owner?

With the help of Bill and the staff at Norwalk Raceway Park and Super Duty Promotion's Pete and Andrea Woodruff, the event came off without a hitch. Everyone had plenty of time to make as many passes as they wanted, even with the threat of rain coming in the late afternoon. We had a total of 16 cars participate, though this time, there were several others who couldn't make it to the starting line for one reason or another. Not to worry, we always try to reschedule.

Speaking of the weather, it was much like one expects in northern Ohio in early August: hot and hazy with a high temperature of 92 and a relative humidity of 47 percent. It was cooler in the morning, but by the afternoon, when most of the runs were made, the effective elevation reached 3,900 feet, which receives a correction factor of 0.9523 for e.t. and 1.0507 for trap speed. The Strip Tuning Log includes the correction for the best pass only (based on e.t.). To convert the other runs, multiply the e.t. or mph by its factor to arrive at the corrected figures.

For our first installation of the Norwalk shootout, we present four traditional Pontiac racecars, all quite different in approach but all sporting 455 power in some form. The combinations are mild to wild and include Portland, Michigan's Dan Jensen and his Pure Stock Drags-prepped '71 T-37; Topeka, Kansas, natives Kevin and Deloris Constant with their tube-frame and street-legal '85 Grand Am; Lorin and Greg Budzinski's street/strip '81 Grand Prix; and Larry Snyder's race-only '77 Firebird Formula.

Owner Bio: Dan Jensen
Anyone who's been in the Pontiac hobby sometime during the last 20 years has most likely heard of Portland, Michigan's Dan Jensen. Dan and Bob Boden have been running the Pure Stock Musclecar Drags. Held annually at Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, Michigan, the "Pure Stocks," as they are known, have become a great place for musclecar fans of all marques to come together and race. Visit www.purestockdrags.com for info on this year's event.

Dan, 49, has been racing for the last 30 years, and after 22 years as an accountant for TRW, he now builds and restores engines for musclecars. His T-37 is a clone, built so he could retire his original 455 H.O.-powered '71 T-37 post coupe from active racing. "I had my eye open for another post coupe so I could clone it as a 455 H.O. car, and in the fall of 2004, I bought this 350 two-barrel automatic coupe," he says. "I consider these '71 455 H.O. T-37s to be Pontiac's late-model lightweights."

In addition to the two T-37s and his first car, a '71 GTO, he also has Jim Mattison's '95 Firebird Formula show car, a prototype of the '95/'96 Comp T/As and WS-6 Firebirds. Additionally, he owns an '05 GTO and is cloning a '69 350 H.O. Tempest coupe. Past Pontiacs include a '70 R/A-IV Judge; a '71 455 H.O. LeMans (1 of 3); a '74 SD-455 T/A; a '74 SD-455 Formula; a '70 four-speed 455 Grand Prix; and a '72 "GTO'd" 455 H.O. station wagon.

Owner Bio: Deloris and Kevin Constant
A great example of a late-model Pontiac body style that really stands out in the crowd as a racecar is Deloris and Kevin Constant's (shown with daughter, Mary) '85 Grand Am. Looking to all the world like a retired Pro-Stocker from the '80s, the Grand Am was actually built because the Topeka, Kansas-based racers wanted a smaller racecar for Deloris to drive. The combination of lightweight tube-frame chassis and torquey 455 have made for a quick, reliable racecar that is still street-driven, even featuring a working horn, wiper, lights, and so on. When not on the track, the Grand Am is driven to Cruise Nights in the Topeka area.

Deloris relates her favorite moment in this car: "Winning my first quick 16, which happened to be on Father's Day, so it was the best gift I could have given to my husband." She's been racing for 12 years, learning the ropes on a '68 GTO. The Constants also wish to thank Todd Whorton, Fidler Machine, Motorparts Mike, and Kauffman Racing Equipment for their help getting the Grand Am to where it is now. In addition to it and the GTO, the couple also owns a '70 GTO; a '69 Grand Prix; a '68 LeMans; an '88 Grand Am; and a '99 Bonneville.

Owner Bio: Lorin and Greg Budzinski
Many fathers dream about building a racecar with their son as a means to further bond their relationship and experience the thrill of racing together. Lorin Budzinski, 57, a retired crime-lab scientist for the Detroit Police Department, and his 34-year-old son, Greg, have joined forces to build a 455-powered '81 Grand Prix that hooks up, runs hard, and is easy to maintain. It was chosen as an inexpensive alternative to the GTOs and Firebirds more commonly seen at the strip.

Building on the torque characteristics of our favorite undersquare V-8, the pair have hit on a simple, low-rpm engine that uses as many off-the-shelf parts as possible. It was originally built as a street engine for Lorin's '64 2+2, but it seemed like such a natural for this project that it was used for the Grand Prix.

"This car is special to me because it represents a true team effort on the part of my son and myself," said Lorin, who has Greg do the driving. "It's the most fun we've had together since he was in Little League." He continued, "When people see the car run, they're surprised that there isn't a nitrous bottle in addition to the Pontiac engine."

In addition to the Grand Prix and the 2+2, the Budzinskis have a '63 Catalina two-door post sedan. Lorin also drove a '68 GTO in the early '70s with a 421 Super Duty that ran 12.20s at 112 mph. He drove it to work for a couple of years but decided the race car could cause a conflict with his police job, so it was retired from street use.

Owner Bio: Larry Snyder
For many Pontiac fans, the decision to convert a hot street car to a dedicated racer is a tough one, and many opt to walk the fine line between street and strip. Lincolnton, North Carolina's Larry Snyder is not one of those people. After two years of street use, he took the racecar plunge with his '77 Firebird Formula and never looked back. The 38-year-old owner of Precision Automotive Specialists has been racing since he was 16. He purchased the Bird in 1990 from a co-worker and soon got to work. It was a solid but neglected example, and as such, was the perfect base to build a strong-running racecar.

Going fast is all about power-to-weight, so in addition to a very potent 455 under the scooped hood, Larry put the Formula on a diet to drop the pounds. After all, a race-only machine can dispense with the creature comforts and take advantage of lightweight replacement body panels. Larry has done both and dropped close to 800 pounds out of his Firebird. It is now a svelte 3,225 pounds with him in it. Larry's friend Hank Skocz, shown with Larry, did the paint job.

Snyder says his favorite times in the Formula are "every spring when I get behind the wheel and drop the hammer for the first time. Wheelstanders rule!" In addition to the racecar, Larry's current project is his Pro Street '68 Firebird.

At The Track
As mentioned before, Norwalk Raceway Park is blessed with a great surface and a competent staff who make the most of what is there. Of course, weather and the sun can cause trouble beyond what any mere mortal can control, and through no fault of NRP's staff, the starting line was getting slicker toward the end of the day. However, it's interesting to note that three of our four shootout participants made their best runs the last time out. The only one who didn't was running bias-ply street tires, per Pure Stock Musclecar Drags rules. This was in spite of the fact that the track conditions were eroding, and the air quality was slipping away. The reason for these late runs coming off so well for our quartet of racers was due to competent tuning and having settled into a comfortable and effective launch technique. We hear over and over at just about every one of our shootouts that making runs without the worry of surviving to the next round is key to allow for more tuning. After all, what we're doing with the shootouts is providing a relaxed test-and-tune session for racers to work out their combos.

Dan Jensen
Though his car was running well, Dan battled with traction all day. With nothing stickier than a set of reproduction Coker Firestone G70x14 tires, he posted his best e.t. and trap speed on Run 5: 12.55 at 109.58 mph. Except for one run where he blew the tires away, all of his passes were within 0.1 second and 1 mph, a very consistent showing. For a factory stock car to run that quickly on skinny tires was nothing short of amazing. His best 60-foot was a 1.88 (1.82 to date), quite remarkable considering the low-tech rubber.

Deloris and Kevin Constant
The Constants had a unique approach to their tuning. They did nothing to the engine at all--it was already dialed in. Tuning at the track was aimed toward getting the car optimized for the conditions at Norwalk that day. By stiffening up the suspension and keeping an eye on tire temperatures, they decided they couldn't improve on their initial pass settings and went back to that configuration. It rewarded them with the best pass of the day: 10.16 at 135.37 mph. Incidentally, the four passes they made were all within 0.06 second and 0.68 mph, which goes to show that when you have your combination sorted out, you're chasing after small improvements. In Deloris and Kevin's case, they found them.

Lorin and Greg Budzinski
With a fresh set of slicks under their '81 Grand Prix, traction wasn't much of a problem for the father-and-son team. After adding 2 degrees of timing and giving the 466-inch Pontiac a cooling-off period, Greg was able to shave off 0.09 second and add nearly 1.5 mph between his best and worst run. Their best run was 11.33 at 119.04 mph. Greg's 60-foots were very consistent, between 1.59 and 1.61 in five runs, and the Grand Prix lifted the front wheels about 6-7 inches every time.

Larry Snyder
Larry's Firebird was another case where a well scienced-out package was chasing after fairly small improvements. When the gains are that small, one is running at peak efficiency. The really big gains come from the correction of tuning errors. Snyder's game plan was to vary tire pressure and timing and also to alter launch rpm and shift points. After experimenting with launch rpm from 3,000 to 4,800, he came into his best combination, a 3,200 rpm launch, 6,200 rpm shift points, 9.5 psi in the slicks, and 32 degrees total timing above 5,000 rpm. The tuning and driving changes netted him a best of 10.20 at 129.87, a very respectable number that represents a lot of tuning and planning. The difference between the best and worst of his four runs was just 0.04 second and 0.8 mph. Even with tuning changes, Snyder's racecar was anvil-solid in its consistency.

Conclusion
Our four shootout participants this time out showed a great deal of skill and familiarity with their cars and equipment. They were able to optimize already well-tuned combinations to make the most of the available air and track bite. Next month, we'll be taking four more racers from our Norwalk shootout and presenting them to you for your evaluation and entertainment. Thanks to Bill Bader, Jr. from Norwalk Raceway Park, as well as Pete and Andrea Woodruff from Super Duty Promotions for making this shootout such a fun experience and a great kickoff for the Ames Performance Pontiac Nationals.