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DF368 · 01-07-2004, 10:15 AM

Hello all. I'm a long time Pontiac fan, particularly of '61 Catalina & Ventura's. In the mid 60's my brother and I raced a 368HP-SD in upstate New York. I was wondering if there is anyone out there who remembers Max Sterling and his "White Lightning" '61 SD Ventura. He frequented Cecil County Dragway and was the NHRA MPH record holder for a while in E/S during the summer of '68.Any pictures of this car? Any idea of what became of it? Just curious.

DF368 · 01-07-2004, 10:15 AM

Hello all. I'm a long time Pontiac fan, particularly of '61 Catalina & Ventura's. In the mid 60's my brother and I raced a 368HP-SD in upstate New York. I was wondering if there is anyone out there who remembers Max Sterling and his "White Lightning" '61 SD Ventura. He frequented Cecil County Dragway and was the NHRA MPH record holder for a while in E/S during the summer of '68.Any pictures of this car? Any idea of what became of it? Just curious.

60man · 01-07-2004, 12:38 PM

Yes. I remember the car but not Max. I believe it also ran at Aquasco and Manassas(Old Dominion Spedway. I thought the car was bought by someone in Virginia.

Outlaw Pontiac Racers Association"For Those Who Live The Legend"
Do it now fool! Life is short.

60 Ventura 4300# 12.38 @ 108.10 / 1.66 60'

donpontiac · 01-21-2004, 02:57 PM

howdy doug and all. i owned this car for about fifteen years. i went to see max in laurel md to meet him and verify that this WAS his old car. based on some snapshots i took with me, he said it was the same car. he loaned me a really neat 8x10 glossy that i had copied of the car coming off the line. (sorry, no air under the front tires) i sold the car in '91 to don miller or penske racing and delivered it to him in mooresville nc. he's using it to reserect a factory '61 sd. the white lightning car (as per max) was NOT a sd car when he got it but he has a great scrapbook with some pretty impresive timeslips. i'll try to get a nice digital scan of the photo and post it later. i think he's still around laurel.

Floyd Hand · 01-21-2004, 04:18 PM

donpontiac, Thanks for joining us here at PY and for making the post.

60man · 01-21-2004, 08:54 PM

donspontiacI checked your profile Don.Not much there. Did you live in Manassas Park??
I curently race the old Gene Calhoun car the Arapaho which made many a pass down the Old Domonion Speedway strip.

Outlaw Pontiac Racers Association"For Those Who Live The Legend"
Do it now fool! Life is short.

60 Ventura 4300# 12.38 @ 108.10 / 1.66 60'

donpontiac · 01-22-2004, 03:15 AM

yeh troy, that's me. the short fat real good looking guy. i moved to orange county va about 15 years ago where i live now. i own a junkyard in culpeper. you still selling tools? i'll try to update my profile. i'm still getting used to this site, it looks like a good one. took two weeks to get approved. thought i was gunna have to pee in a jar. i'll try to get that picture scanned. looks like a couple people would like to see it. later, don

60man · 01-22-2004, 07:32 AM

donpontiac : It's a small world. Often wonderered what happened to you and White Lighting. What's the name of your junkyard. I am not that far. I live in Leesburg area still.
Give me a shout some time.
(703)509-2537-cell phone

No.Not selling tools anymore. That business went with the divorce.

Outlaw Pontiac Racers Association"For Those Who Live The Legend"
Do it now fool! Life is short.

60 Ventura 4300# 12.38 @ 108.10 / 1.66 60'

60man · 08:57 PM

DON: Do you remember this car??

Outlaw Pontiac Racers Association"For Those Who Live The Legend"
Do it now fool! Life is short.

60 Ventura 4300# 12.38 @ 108.10 / 1.66 60'

sdbob · 01-22-2004, 07:28 PM

Love those early race car's. Didn't Max have a 62? I remember from somewhere but not sure?

63gpstanley · 01-22-2004, 09:50 PM

How about you guys posting some photo's of early big cars (past & present) for us poor bastards down-under as we never get to see them.
Magazines show tons of GTO/F-Bird stuf but no early cars.

Dave.

60man · 01-23-2004, 06:36 AM

63GPStanley :Hope this image works. But here goes. Took this picture at 2003 Norwalk race/show.

Outlaw Pontiac Racers Association"For Those Who Live The Legend"
Do it now fool! Life is short.

60 Ventura 4300# 12.38 @ 108.10 / 1.66 60'

60man · 01-23-2004, 06:44 AM

NO image. Sorry. I will try later after I figure out what went wrong.

Outlaw Pontiac Racers Association"For Those Who Live The Legend"
Do it now fool! Life is short.

60 Ventura 4300# 12.38 @ 108.10 / 1.66 60'

60man · 01-23-2004, 07:07 AM

Hey Don. Might want to check this site out.
www.outlawdragseries.com

Any one else is certainly welcome also.

Outlaw Pontiac Racers Association"For Those Who Live The Legend"
Do it now fool! Life is short.

60 Ventura 4300# 12.38 @ 108.10 / 1.66 60'

DF368 · 01-23-2004, 07:36 AM

Hey Don;
Thanks for the info on Max's '61. By the way he did race a 62-SD for a while. If you "Google" Max Sterling there is a website that has an old photo of him coming off at (I believe) Old Dominion. Our '61 was also not an original SD. It started life as a 425A-348HP. I picked up the bumpers from Dick Jesse (there's a story there too)and various other SD equipment, such as the heads, etc. from all around the East coast. In '68 we held Max and his car in high regard because our class was loaded. We were running against Olds 4-4-2's, Road Runners, '57 vettes and the new Z-28 Camaros. We were capable of holding our own against all of them (actually the 4-4-2's and Road Runners were pretty pathetic) but the Z-28 was a quick car. Then in mid-season Chev. announced a new set of heads and cam package that put the Z-28 over the top. It wasn't long before they had the E.T. record down in the 12.4-12.5 range, but Max's MPH record held for most of the season. Thanks agin for all the interesting info. Would love to see the picture when you can post it. Now here's another memory tweaker. How many out there saw Fred Borcherdt's '57 F.I. Chieftain run at Cecil County? I saw it a couple of times and it definitely was impressive. He had a manual timing advance/retard system that really helped out on the top end. Nice car

DF368 · 01-23-2004, 07:41 AM

This is for GPStanley (and anyone else interested). It's the only picture I have of my old '61 when we were running in E/S in 1968. Best E.T. at the time was 12.88 @ about 108+.

donpontiac · 01-24-2004, 05:41 PM

hey doug,

donpontiac · 01-24-2004, 05:48 PM

oops, that's one way to get your posts count up!!!hey doug, i googled max sterling and got 270,000 matches!!!! can you give some more text to narrow the search or maybe post a link. i'd love to see the pic you were mentioning. i have quite a collection of pontiac jpegs and would love to share them but i don't know the best place on this site to post them. suggestions????

donpontiac · 01-24-2004, 05:50 PM

i'll try to post one now, but remember, i'm a newbie.

DF368 · 01-26-2004, 07:23 AM

Don & All
Wish I could advise you on how to post pix but I'm having problems. I tried to post an old picture of our car but was unsuccessful. Try "Googling" Max Sterling+62 Pontiac". There's a NHRA website with info on old major races. Max is mentioned as the Stock Eliminator winner in his '62 D/S Pontiac.

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