Quote:
Originally Posted by ornjcr8
Just wondering if any of you young folks from the early 60s era would remember what class a 1962 Pontiac 389 would have been slotted in.
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Being a Pontiac drag racing fan, I find this to be a interesting question. When the '62 Cat came out, I was not even a teenager yet. I had no idea what was going on in the drag racing world. My 1st experience with a Pontiac was riding with an older schoolmate, in his parents 64 389 Cat. It was the quickest car I'd ever ridden in. Would actually squeal the right rear tire, at take-off. My next Pontiac encounter was riding in another older classmate's 389 powered '40 Chevy & his brothers 4-speed '65 GTO, also 389 powered.
But, in doing a little research on the question you asked, the only drag info I found for '62 Cat was all about the 421SD powered cars. Don Gay won the A/S class at the '63 US Nats & the '64 Winter Nats, with his '62 421SD Cat.
http://www.hotrod.com/articles/hppp-...na-super-duty/
So, back then, a 389 Cat would have ran a lower class than A/S. But, as others have mentioned, there were several different 389 engine options for the '62 Cat. The CRI site lists about 9 different 389's, which NHRA recognizes, for the '62 Pontiacs. So, a '62 Cat could have run in any one of several classes, depending on it's engine/trans combo.
http://www.classracerinfo.com/EngineSelection.aspx
Thru the years, NHRA classification methods have changed. Today, there is only one '62 Cat, that I'm aware of, in competition. It belongs to a member here, Norman Warling. It has the 3-deuce 389 engine. For most cars, NHRA will allow you to add or remove weight to run a class above or below the class which the car would naturally fall into. I have pics of Norman's Cat, with both L/SA & M/SA class letters on it. I assume that, back in the mid '60's, this engine combo would have run a much higher class.
So, I'm just curious to know exactly why you are interested in this '62 389 Cat info.
If you really wanna pursue this early '60's info, you might wanna try to contact Norman Warling, or Bob Michael. Bob is a long time Pontiac racer, who recently built a '62 GP, with the 3-deuce 389 engine. In the pic of it below, it's running K/SA. Maybe one or both of these guys can help you find the exact info you want.
Another very good source of old drag racing info is the Class Racer forum. Lots of guys post there, who were around racing, back in the early & mid 60's.
http://classracer.com/classforum/forumdisplay.php?f=3