[ponyakr]

Originally Posted by ponyakr

while we were talkin at the show, i managed 2 get mb 2 relate 2 me 1 of his dirt racin tales. he said he'd tell about his best ever dirt performance. this was his 2nd dirt racer. his 1st had been a '68 bird. i bought both cars from him, when he was thru with em. he thinks this car may have been a '73--not sure tho. he ran a 400 with ra4 heads & cam, rhoads lifters, a st300 tranny, 12 bolt rear, & 2 radiators--1 behind the seat. the carb was a hawged out 650 holley 2-barrel--i think they flowed something like 890 or some rediculous #. ok he'd already won the points champ 2 years runnin at this track & the points chase was over--it was an end of the year race. he said he would have 1 the points champ at another local track, but they shut the track down with 2 races left. anyhow, back 2 this race. mb won his heat, but it was the sec heat which put him on the front row, outside. there were 12-15 cars in the feature which can be quite a crowd on a short narrow dirt track. the flagman trys 2 keep the field bunched up tite instead of spread all around the track. so there is always lots of bumping when coming towards the flag for a start or restart. this time was no exception. after the green, wb pulled ahead, but was still on the outside. the 2nd car on the inside row hit the 1st car & knocked him over into wb, cutting down a tire & bending a wheel, so wb went 2 the pits 2 change it. when something like that happens before a lap is completed, they usually give the pitting cars time 2 get back out into their original position. but mb's wheel was bent so bad they couldn't get the lug wrench on 2 of the nuts, so they had 2 use a crescent wrench 2 loosen them. so the flagman decided 2 go ahead & restart the race without wb. by the time he pulled back onto the track, the entire field had just passed him heading for the restart. all he could do was just fall in behind & play catch up. he said if he had still been runnin for points, he would not have done this. but with nothing 2 lose, he decided 2 just let it all hang out & see what the old pontiac would do. said he drove like a wild man(remember he was still known as wild bill at this time) said he passed em rite & left, hi & low, whatever it took. finally got up 2 4th behind the #2 & 3 place cars which were battling it out for 2nd. he was on such a tare, he passed both of them with 1 move, which put him in soul possession of 2nd place. so he set his sites on the leader---then he came back into his rite mind & remembered that he had a 12 bolt car rear end with stock axles(of which he'd broke several) he knew that as hard as he'd run comin 2 the front, 1 of those axles mite be just about ready 2 pop--so he reasoned that 2nd would be much better than last, with a dnf. so he just fell in line behind the leader, a safe distance ahead of the 3rd place car, & followed him 2 the checkered(about 4 laps). he said that with truck axles, or hi dollar car axles, he could have easily won, but just didn't wanna take a chance that nite. so he considers this 2nd place finish his best race ever. & it was lots of fun 2, cause all them cars he passed wuz hi winding small block chevys. i just love a good "1 pontiac beats all the chevys" story--don't ya'll?

here's a well earned trophy for a great finish in a hard fought battle!