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Old 05-08-2008, 08:34 AM
Keith Seymore's Avatar
Keith Seymore Keith Seymore is online now
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Motor City
Posts: 8,182
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Race Career for the '65

I had mentioned we had very good success with both our '63 Cat and our '64 GTO, both being undefeated in NHRA class competition. You probably expect me to say the same thing about the '65, and I wish I could, but alas I cannot. Although we did very well*, by now there were some local players on the scene that had really stepped up their program and were causing us some problems: Art Noey, from Shaker Engineering, for one. We traded the record back and forth but Art was a significant thorn in our side.

The car was actually lighter than it needed to be for B/Stock. One technique for making the weight break was to roll through tech with the tow bar (and safety chains) still in place, toolbox and slicks in the trunk, fuel tank full of fuel and me standing on the scales! After passing tech, all those items would come flying off/out of the car in time for competition...**

* Dad used to "toy" with the locals a little bit. As his reputation grew, he could tell they were waiting for him to choose a class before they would enter (choosing a different class). He used to wait until the last minute, then write the class designation on the window and then watch his competition scramble to sign up for something else. Similar games were played through the week, as his buddies would, as discreetly as possible, ask where he thought he might run that weekend (so that they could better their chances by running at a different track).

The other thing he would do is never "tip his hand" or show what the car was fully capable of until it was absolutely necessary. During time runs he would make one pass, launching hard and coasting through the top end (to make sure the car was performing on the bottom half of the track). The next pass he would launch easy and then run hard on the top end. He would never win by any more than he needed to, and would only run hard when pressed to do so. Then, when he did make a good, full, hard pass he would often see his competition taking off the windshield wipers, pulling their floor mats out, etc in an effort to gain back some bit of performance!



** We did get caught "light" on one occasion. Dad made a pass and, before he retrieved the time slip, the tech official directed him across the scale.

"I don't want to go across the scale" dad said.

The tech official unrelentingly directed him back. "I really don't want to go across the scale" dad said.

"You have to - you just set a B/Stock record" the tech replied.

"You can keep your record, I'm not going across that scale!"

Well, he did, and it earned him a brief "vacation" from racing at that particular track.

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We also had the opportunity to do some "tire testing" with this car. Back sometime between '65 and '67 we did some work for M&H and tried out a new style of slick called a "wrinklewall"...

We made about 6 passes and after we were done they let us keep the tires

So that next weekend we went to Ubly Dragway and ran those tires. Some of the locals saw us running (and the times we were running) and so they started airing down their traditional tires. They were wallowing all over the place and really it was kind of unsafe. It got so bad the track announcer finally got on the PA system and told everyone to put the air back in their tires or he would throw us all out...

__________________
'63 LeMans Convertible
'63 Grand Prix
'65 GTO - original, unrestored, Dad was original owner, 5000 original mile Royal Pontiac factory racer
'74 Chevelle - original owner, 9.85 @ 136 mph besthttp://www.superchevy.com/features/s...hevy-chevelle/
My Pontiac Story: http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=560524
"Intro from an old Assembly Plant Guy":http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=342926

Last edited by Keith Seymore; 08-27-2019 at 10:51 AM.
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