[ponyakr]

i did'nt get to go to all mb's races. i was still dabbling in bracket racing some. so what i'm about to tell you is what i remember of what he told me. by the way, mb has some great & abolutely true pontiac war stories about his dirt trackin days. but he would probaly never go on a site like this to talk abouit it. i think they need tellin, so i,m gonna interview him & get some of those stories i think you mite enjoy. now, before i start this, let me describe the set up. its a '68 bird with a 350, trw pistons, stock rods, ra4 heads & cam. they were limited to a 2bl carb. now when i interview him, i'll show him what i'm tellin you & if there's anything thats not rite i'll let you know later. but this is the way i recall what he told me.he had found some other dirt guys, including 1 purty fast late model racer. he would pick their brains & learn all he could about suspension set-up, which is critical to makin a car turn left effeciently. he later found out that the 2nd gen suspension was much better suited to dirt trackin. but he tried to make what he had the best he could make it. to shorten the story i'll just say he got the bird handling really good. he could run just about anywhere on the track he needed to. it would turn left on a dime & even better, when it came off the turn it was diggin hard down the staightaway. now, here's where pontiac power comes shining thru. the chevy stroke was only 3.48. it had very little bottom end torque. so they didn't pull very hard off the corner. but mb's pontiac had 3.75 stroke. so once he got the back tires hooked to the track, he could come off the turns much harder than the chevys. then the ra4 heads & cam would take over & pull all the way to the next turn. so as mb puts it, he "wore them chevys out" with his ole pontiac. i don't know how many races he won that year, but when he didn't win, he'd be right there scatchin for the lead. now keep in mind, he was just like we had been in bracket racing, the only pontiacs there. most races there were maybe 12-15 chevys & 1 pontiac. well they didn't care as long as he was runnin in the rear. but after he started winnin & whuppin up on 'em so bad, they all turned on him. so they started lookin for ways to get rid of him. some local tracks make their own rules & can change them at will. so they kept lookin at mb's car, trying to find something they could get him on. well, they finnally found what they needed. as many of you know, a pontiac usually runs hotter than a chevy. so to keep his bird cool mb had rigged up a 2nd 4-core radiator behind the seat, & connected it to the front with exhaust pipe. that gave it a lot more cooling ability. so they went to the track officials & got a new rule passed, allowing only 1 radiator. as far as i know, there were no cheap alum radiators back then like there are now. so mb just left & went to another track. if i remember correctly, the track where this took place was in forest hill , la. so from the beginning, mb waged a 1 man war against the chevys--i can relate!