[ponyakr]

1974 was purty much more of the same til late in the season when T.J. surprised me by saying " if i'm gonna be here anyway i mite a well race too". well that was fine with me. but she could'nt see over the dash or reach the pedals in the ole goat so we decided on a '68 bird. we found a clean body on a lot in a nearby town. it was a 350 2bl with problems. but the price was rite $350. aah those were the days! i pulled the motor out of the goat, bought a junkyard th400 for $100 & stuck it all in the bird. the rear was a 1 wheeler probably a 2.73 or 3.08. our local junkyard had 1 he said was a 4.11 posi $150. he was rite about the posi but it was 3.23. oh well there have been liars in all generations. that shows just how little i knew at that time. i had no idea how to tell a gear ratio & absolutely nobody to tell or teach me any thing -- i was on my own. the whole process was a learning experience. but i was eager to learn, i had already tasted the thrill of victory & wasn't about to quit now! the car was under geared & had a stock converter so it was over a second slower than the goat. but it got T.J. started & she got some of those beginner mistakes behind her. '75 would be a different year.

[ponyakr]

i got an nhra rule book & started asking ? this time i asked the rite people & got the rite answers. got a sheet from nhra with all the legal specs for our cars. found a machine shop that had built pontiac class racer motors. found out about stall converters( i'd never even heard of a stall converter) bought a 9" converter(vitar was a big name at that time) bought us a lunati cheater cam. then i made another dummy mistake. the rule said pontiac oem cast pistons only. but gm was out til they could run off another batch, so i just bought a set from napa. big mistake. i was told later that the only cast piston at the time nearly as good as gm was sterling brand. of course i'd never heard that name. anyway the machine shop got it together before the season started so i stuffed it in the bird & got it runnin. it was time to race so we just shot it with primer and loaded it up. They made headers legal that year and we found a used set of Hookers for it. They also made 9" slicks legal so we bought a new set. When we made it to the track we really didn't know what to expect. But the converter, cam, gears and slicks seemed to be the right combo. She won the first four races with no problem and the first two at another track. Then the problems started.

[ponyakr]

TJ won the 5th race in a row, but by now the non-Pontiac competitors (all of em) were tired of getting beat by a Pontiac and to add insult to injury, it was a female driver. Thru the years we saw em fume and cuss and sling wrenches and gravel while loading on the trailer after a whuupin' from TJ's early bird. (The hi-dollar Chevy boys were the worst) It finally got so bad we started staying away from our local track if there was a race anywhere else close. Anyhow, back to this 5th race, we were protested. My feeling was "Tear it down if you want to." I knew the only thing that wasn't legal was the napa pistons and I figured since the tech guys were all Chevy boys they'd have no idea what a Pont. piston looked like. I guess they knew that, so instead they just put it on the scales. I assumed it weighed what the book said it was supposed to, since it wasn't stripped down at all. You see how little I knew? If i'd had anybody to help me they'da said "Hey man, you better weigh it, you may have to add some weight." So they said it was a few lbs. lite and disqualified us. Well, all the guys seemed very happy about that. But they knew that she had beat them far enough that a few lbs. wouldn't have made any difference. Experience can be a good teacher, but no fun sometimes.

[ponyakr]

I put a spare tire in the trunk and and made sure the tank was a least half full so if they weighed us it woulnd't be lite. And just as I thought, it didn't slow down a bit. At the 6th race she was well on her way to another win. She was running a Mopar - a Demon or Duster, I think. She had run him several times that year, he wasn't even close. I watched her leave the line, looked good, and no red, so I started back to the trailer. Then I heard somebody say she lost. I was thinking "Something must have broke." But she made it back to the trailer and when she got out of the car she had a sad look on her face and holding her head down she said, "I'm sorry! I forgot to release the parking brake." To keep it from rolling backwards at the end of the staging lanes she would mash the parking brake then release it when it was her turn to race. But this time she forgot. She said "It was close though, I almost won anyway." We've had many a good laff about that thru the years. Sometimes after that I would think to ask her if she had released it, but she never did that again. Pontiac finally got another batch of pistons in so I took everything to the machine shop and soon had the old Goat back on the track. It was doing ok, but then the napa pistons gave up in the Bird.

[ponyakr]

I forgot one incident that was interesting. At the track where we'd won the first 2 races, the Bird started missing real bad, so we lost the round. We decided to just load it up and watch the rest of the race. Then we heard over the loud speaker that they had classed a car wrong and were going to run the whole thing over. And when they got the field lined up they'd call us up. Well, we went to work. I jerked the intake and valley pan off and there was the problem. A lifter had come apart. I didn't have a spare, but all the parts were still lying there so I just put it back together and stuck it back in the hole, adjusted the rocker arm and buttoned everything back up. And just in the nick of time, they were calling us to the staging lanes. So TJ jumped back in, backed it off the trailer and headed to the lanes. Well, I reckon that was the only problem. It ran great and chalked up another victory. We never had anything like that happen again. If you lose you load it up and go home. But it actually did happen once. That reminds me, in case you run hydraulic lifters, never run the kind with a flimsy wire clip retainer. This incident points this out. Make sure you use the lifters with real snap ring retainers. After this incident we always bought Rhodes. There are probably other good brands also.

[ponyakr]

Now, back to the napa pistons. The Bird started slowing down and smokin a little. It would still beat most of em but definitely up to par. So I pulled it out and put the Goat motor in it. I could have left the cam in it, but there was a little difference and I didn't know if they would ever tear it down to check it or not. So I swapped cams and now it was perfectly legal. Looking back on it now I really don't think they would have torn into it at our track. That stuff only took place at point meets and nat. events. That reminds me of another shocker in my continuing education: We had never taken a car to a points meet so I had no idea what to expect. We didn't even get to unload. One of the tech guys saw us and realized immediately that we didn't have a clue what was going on! He walked around the cars, opened the doors and looked in, then he turned to us and started naming all the obvious reasons why we could not pass tech: A piece of chrome trim missing, radio hole not covered with metal, clutch fan of Bird (that motor came with factory flex fan like Goat). He said "Fix all this and we'll look at it a little closer." All the air left our balloon. Thank God, bracket racing was coming to tracks near us soon! Our stocker days were about over. The thrill was gone.

[ponyakr]

With our stocker days behind us we made new plans. The early Bird was still running good so TJ said she wouldn't mind driving that car on the street. So I pulled the tranny and put her a 4-spd in it, some Thrush Hedder Muffs and swapped the 4.56 posi for a 3.23 1-wheeler. It made a nice street car. I guess some folks didn't understand what all the racing decals were about and it was purty loud! But she only got 1 $25 ticket for loud pipes. It was fun for a couple of years, til it got hit. But most of the parts lived to race again. And TJ moved on to a '73 455 4-spd TA for a street ride. It seems that the desire to go faster comes to all who race. I was no exception. Our local track ran a class I think was called Street Modified. They used the stock specs for wt. limits, then you divide your wt. by your cubic inches to determine the class. Of course this favors the small-cube, hi rpm Chevy. I had no business in that class, but the brackets were still a year away, so I decided to give it a shot. I had a '68 ragtop Bird, which could be heavier than a hardtop, so I got to work on it. Found a good used roller from an SS racer and took my block and stuff to a new machine shop in a nearby city. Huge mistake! They had a top fuel car, so they HAD to know what they were doing - right? WRONG! The roller motor made it almost thru 3 passes and the 350 blew up just backing out of the shop. Listen very carefully! Never have machine work done by anyone who has little or no experience working on Pontiac stuff!

[ponyakr]

in '67 a boy that had dated my sister got out from his hitch in the navy & came back home to our little town. he soon began teaching some of us younger guys many of the vices he had learned in the navy. he & i struck up a good acquaintance & as we shared things about our lives, he found out that i liked musclecars. he got a job at our local paper mill & soon had enuff for the down payment on his 1st new car. i probably had some influence on his choice. of course we know that my choice would be a gto. but with no dealer in town, he figured it would be better to buy local so he could get quick repairs if needed. so 1 day a car showed up at our local chevy dealer. it was a gold '68 ss396, 4sp, manual steering, no air. & it had a 1-wheeler rear end. why did dealers order musclecars without posi--some of these options only cost a few measly bucks back then. i guess they did it so they could sell just a little cheaper than their comp. anyway, he took me down to the dealer to show me this car & asked me what i thought. so i gave him my opinion. a few days later i seem to remember being on a load of hay for some reason. as i looked down i watched him pull down our driveway with that gold paint sparkling in the sun. he said "jump in lets go for a ride". he got in the right side & put me under the wheel. by now i'd driven sticks for over 10 years, so i knew just what to do. we eased out onto the hiway & headed for town to join the musclecar parade, already in progress. no, it wasn't the car of my dreams, but in it i could now be part of the musclecar parade, instead of just watching it from my dads pickup in the bowling alley parking lot. he bought amoco white gas from our local american station. it was the highest octane gas available in our town. so, all the musclecars used it. it was also the highest priced gas at a whopping 39 cents. some guys would buy cheap gas at rose oil if they were planning a big drinkin nite with no street racin involved. they could save an amazing 10 cents per gal or more. wow!

[ponyakr]

well my new runnin buddy, whom i'll refer to as jay, took his ss to a neighbor, who was a good welder, & had a set of straight thu mufflers installed. it wasn't near as fast as some of the other cars in town, but now looked & sounded just as good as any of 'em. so we'd "ride with pride" as we paraded thru town. now this was the new "thrill of my life". & it was extremely exciting to me. well, 1 day jay came over & picked me up 1 day to go make a few loops on a sunday afternoon. now by this time i finally had a girlfriend. she was actually jays neighbor. so, on the way to town i told jay to stop by her house so i could tell her where i was going & that i'd come over to see her after we made a few loops. but when she heard the news she decided that she should go with us. but, hey, this was a guy thang. i told her i'd only be gone a couple of hours, then i'd be back to see her. well, she thru a fit & used some words i didn't think she even knew. lookin back, i don't blame her i'da been mad too. but this new found musclecar thang had a grip on me. it was just about the strongest emotional attachment to something i had ever experienced. so, i made a choice. i chose the musclecar scene over the girlfriend. i remember thinking, "am i crazy, what am i doing?" now this girl was beautiful & smart--much smarter than me & she had never treated me bad. so at that time i'm sure a lot of people thought i was crazy. but, we made the brake, & the rest, as they say, is history. now i didn't take this lightly, cause this was the only person outside my family that i'd ever gotten close to. after this we finally did get back on speakin terms. she even later went on a water ski trip with me & T.J. & my friend from hi school with the '64 389 cat. she went on to finish college & became very sucessful in her field, eventually teaching others in the medical field in some large cities. she now gets to travel the world. to me she's sorta like a celebrity or a big sports star that you used to know before they were famous. i'm proud of her acomplishments & glad to say that i knew her back before she was famous. i just remembered this, the last time i talked to her was on the phone. she'd found out that i had a clean '66 gto, and was interested in it. her & her husband bought it & took it back to the big city.

[ponyakr]

now i was a free man. jay & i could ride the roads & make loops as single, unattached young studs(we thought). we'd ride the backroads, sippin on tasty beverages & listening to country music on the 8-track tape player. our favorite was hank williams greatest hits. sometimes thats the only tape we'd listen to all night. it would go round & round(we wore out several) & after we got a little buzz goin, we'd sing every word right along with ole hank. stuff like: Your Cheatin Heart, Jambalaya, Hey Good Lookin & even I Saw The Light. "i gotta hot rod ford & a 2 dollar bill & i know a spot right over the hill, there's soda pop & the dancin's free, so if you wanna have fun come along with me. hey hey, good lookin, what'cha got cookin? how'sa bout cookin somethin up with me". some of you mite be sayin, yuk! how could you listen to that junk? hey, we were both from the country & grew up on farms. i'll tell ya whats "yuk", all this filthy talkin rap & hip hop & the hard rock screamin thats goin on! well, movin rite along. now after we got all jacked up sangin with hank, we'd put on our black cowboy hats & cruise back into town "makin the scene". so during 1 of these scenes T.J. was cruisin in her mom's olds 98 (they were huge back then) & spotted us. now she was a cowgirl, you know, rode horses & everything. so when she saw these 2 dudes in a musclecar & with cowboy hats on, it got her attention. she's made a joke about it ever since. she says "boy those cowboy hats'll git them women". she asked around to find out more about us. i remember seeing her drivin around in that big ole tank & she was so short it looked like she could hardly see over the dash. & she wore these funny lookin little glasses. so i never gave her much thought. then 1 day i saw her get out of the car & without her glasses. my mouth probably hung open as i gawked. she wasn't very tall but she had the most beautiful long straight hair i had ever seen. i was smitten! i remember thinkin "whoa, that little girl is beautiful". well, to shorten this a bit i'll just say, we got together & began to have an occasional date. i could tell that this little girl was special. on our 1st date, we went to see "the sound of music". she dropped her glasses & we could'nt find them in the dark, so we just laughed & disturbed everybody & ate popcorn & had a good time. but, i'd learned from my previous experience to keep the macho musclecar thang seperate & let her know that it was important to me, so she'd give me my space. well she probably didn't like it very much, but she did it any way. God bless T.J. for "hangin in there".

[ponyakr]

in '68 i transferred from college in ruston to college in monroe & moved over there. thats where i started workin at the pizza place where i earned the money to buy my gto. i've told ya'll that story, so fast foreward now to 1976. i've told you about how it was our worst year ever in racing, blowing a roller motor & with it my entire racing budget. move on now to october. we went to the state fair in shreveport. i'd loved the fair for years. i especialy love the corn dogs they sell there. you could watch'em being made, then by 1 hot, rite out of the grease. i'd usually eat a dozen or more. then there was the circle track. i'd watched the hemi cars battle the 427 fords on that track(which we would later have a few drag races on). it was just a small time circuit, but i remember that the top hemi drivers name was Ernie Derr. while walking thru the different buildings of booths & displays, i stumbled across a little table with some free literature on it, so i picked up a couple & put 'em in my pocket. little did i know that those little books would soon change my life. i didn't have any race cars to work on, the season was lost. so i'd just jump in bed early & read the latest car mag, or the latest H-O racing specialties monthly newsletter about pontiacs. 1 nite i noticed those little booklets i'd picked up at the state fair. so i decided to take a look at'em. i figured they were just "junk mail" & i'd just glance at'em, then throw'em in the trash. but as i read, i found that they were explaining to me Gods plan of salvation for man. well, i knew they were telling the truth, cause i'd heard it preached from the bible growing up. mom always made us go to church. but i began to think of all this drinkin & sin i'd gotten into since answering this "call of the wild. well it was more than i could take. i broke down & then answered this new call i was hearing. from that monent on i was a new man! & it was no accident. T.J. & my mom had been praying for me for years. well their prayers were finally answered. i didn't call T.J. to tell her. i just showed up at her door. as i walked in, i didn't have to say a word. she knew that her prayers were answered, i was a new creature & all that old life was history. we just stood in the middle of the room & hugged & cried for a long time without exchanging a word. so even tho our racing that year was a disaster, it turned out to be the greatest year of my life. nothing else even compares. now i'll leave you with these thoughts. if your praying for a friend or loved one, don't give up, your answer may be rite around the corner. & if you've never had this experience, i invite you to try it today. you won't be sorry. its been over 35 years ago & i've never regretted it for 1 second. its the greatest single thing thats ever happened in my life. so i highly recommend it. PTL!--------------------john 3:16 , romans 10:9,10 ,2 cor. 5:17

[bryansMtngto]

are these the pages to a book?? like Titled Where I come from?? or the life and times of Ponyakr? Have to admit have gotten some good laughs out of a few of the pages. and enjoy some of the Vintage Pics.

[ponyakr]

1 day back when i had a harley sporster, i was outside tinkerin with it, fixin to take a little ride. about that time i heard some noise & when i looked up i saw 2 girls walkin down our driveway. they were talkin & pushin 2 bicycles. as they got closer, i recognized them as copperheads sister & my 1st girlfriend. they had been best friends from their school days together. i can remember that they were the hottest girls there at all our home dance party record hops. they knew all the latest dances, the twist, the mashed potatoes, the pony--you know all the old stuff from the early rock-n-roll days of the '60's. all the boys wanted to dance with these gals. i guess they were the most popular girls in school. so now i'm wondering why these girls are walking down my driveway, pushin bikes. well, i soon learned that they were just havin a little reunion & decided to take a bike ride. but the chain was loose on 1 of the bikes & had come off. when they spotted me outside they figured i could put the chain back on for'em. so we made small talk while i put the chain back on & tightened it up. & they were soon on their way. then i jumped on the harley & went to town to make a few loops. now as i thought about this last night, the thought came to me,"i bet 1 of those bikes belonged to copperhead. the girls probably just borrowed them from the boys for their little outing". i'll ask him about it next time i talk to him. he's done some charity work on my old drag car. he installed a new starter & a soft touch rev controll box. & he even used his truck & trailer to haul the car to the track. so maybe this is just payback for me wrenchin on his bike years ago. thanks copperhead!

[ponyakr]

i have no book to sell nor any plans for 1. i assure you i would never have started this without help from the boys on the racing site. when i tried to share some of what i'd learned thru many years of bracket racing that i thought mite be of help to someone just getting into the sport, some of the big boys took offense, saying i was trying to tell them how to race when they already knew more than me. i told them several times that the info i shared was not for heads up classes or electronics classes using tranny bakes & delay boxes, but only for footbrake classes. i also said that these were things that had worked for us & had produced many wins. this seamed to make some mad & they began to ask what i had ever done that made me think i could give advice on the subject. so i decided i must tell my story. thus the thread where i came from. as T.J. & i began to look back thru our old racing scrapbooks & records we began to think of things we had'nt thought of in years. so as we thought of something that we thought someone might enjoy hearing about we posted it. lately when my eyes 1st open in the morning sometimes the thought of something will come to me & i go look it up in our records, then share it. this whole thing is more of a surprise to me than anybody else. 1 more thing. the post that i made that made some so mad was "how to win more races" well i've read that info over very carefully at least 10 times & i've had T.J. to read it & i can't find 1 single thing i'd change. thats exactly how we won races & not just a few. it may not work for everybody, but it sure worked great for us. 1 more time, let me say, i harbor no ill will towards anyone. if i have offended anyone, i apologize, please forgive. also for those who have or will speak negatively against me, i forgive!
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