[ponyakr]

let me remind you again that the reason i'm dumpin all this on ya'll is because the bad boys in the race section wanted to know what i'd ever done. i'm not a bragger, this is "just the facts ma'm". i don't have the coins for an 8 sec heads-up ride & at my age i would'nt want 1. but we did o.k. at bracket racing so here's more about it. from the very beginning of her 1st full season T.J. was a winner. she learned how to cut a good lite & the car was very consistant. & as the wins piled up the fangs began to come out on some of her competitors. they began to clamor "ilegal, tare it down, ain't no legal pontiac that quick". but it was probably closer to legal than most of them. not only were they furious when the pontiac beat 'em, when they saw T.J. get out of that pontiac, it was fuel on the fire. this is what caused some of the cussin, wrench throwin, rock slingin incidents i mentioned in an earilier post. back then i don't suppose anybody had ever heard of the butlers, or the kaufmans, or any of the other big boys out there now. all i remember back then was nunzi & h-o racing specialties. they were pontiac guys & sold all kinds of good parts. h-o also published a monthly newsletter with how-to articles, feature car stories & other pontiac news. T.J. was the featured car story in the july '75 issue. i'll dig 1 out & post it when i learn how. some people like to look at pictures of the old pontiac racers. i do too. that reminds me, i came across a picture of a white ss wagon that we saw at a race back in the '70's. the guys name was jack mullins. i don't know where he was from, but the race was in greenville miss. i remember jack pullin the wheels & snacthin the the gears. i was told that he set several national records & was responsible for many hp refactors by nhra for the 389 motor. any of you old timers out there remember jack. if ya do let me know.

[ponyakr]

i,ve already covered our disaster year of '76 so i'll move on to '77. while i was trying to harness the monster(455) T.J. went right back to winning. our local track became such a hostile environment we started looking for other places to race. Back then there were still lots of tracks. Tyler and Hallsville, TX; Prescott, ARK; Haynesville, Monroe and Forest HIll, La.; Greenville and Jackson, MS. We went to all of them. Bracket racing saved many local tracks for several years. Got to where only deep pockets could afford a stocker or SS, but anybody with a car and the entry fee money could bracket race. We noticed one thing in common at all the tracks. Anything quicker than a .500 light was red, and if you could cut a good light and run your dial, you could win - TJ did. So we began discussing where to race. She had proved we could win anywhere. So we decided to try and find the least hostile track to race regularly. We'd given up on finding any serious Pont. racers to visit with at the tracks, so we set out to find the least hostile Chevy guys. These were Tyler and Hallsville, TX; Prescott, AR and Haynesville, LA. TJ just reminded me that almost everywhere we went, we had a cheering section among the spectators - It was the "black" section. Back then Black people loved Pontiacs. I remember seein em jumpin and hollerin and clappin when we'd win. I guess that's another reason why some of the arrogant Chevy boys didn't like us.
So if there's any Black Pontiac dudes tuned in, God Bless all you Black Pontiac Brothers! Also see TJ in Nov. '77 Hot Rod Mag. I'll post it when I learn how.

[ponyakr]

i'm now posting this on the pontiac stories forum as instructed. i've mentioned this briefly, but our largest crowd of loyal fans by far was at the haynesville track. i.m not sure exactly why. the west side of this old airstrip was sorta cut out'a the side of a hill. so there was sort of a bluff overlooking the track. fans could drive right up to the edge. so right after the time trials started the vehicles would start drivin up on the bluff to get a good view of the race. some would back their pick-ups as close as possible to the edge & soon each truck was full of folks of all ages. it was a family affair. some trucks had mammas holdin babies, grammar school kids, teenagers & grown-ups of all ages. it was almost like an after church picnic. they were laughin & talkin, eatin & drinkin & just havin a great get together. it was such a contrast to the other track we went to where there were seldom any spectators at all. bracket racing is just not a spectator sport. i guess thats why tracks today are trying to cook up all sorts of heads-up classes. anyway when the races started the folks really got into it. it was like a high school football or b-ball game. if there car won they'd jump & hollar & carry on & some would even bet on the races. i don't know why, but from the 1st time i took the ole goat up there, these fans loved it. & when T.J. started racing they loved her too. i don't know why they loved pontiacs so much, but it was really refreshing to finaly feel wanted, loved & and accepted instead of the cold & even hostile reception we got a most tracks. because of this, we went to this track many times when there was a bigger race somewhere else, just to "put on a show for the spectators".

[ponyakr]

as i,ve said '78 was our best year yet. i saw today in our scrapbook that T.J. had figured it up at the end of the season & we had won $ at 69% of all races attended. thats not a record, but at the time we thought it was great. we usualy went to 2 races a week, so we had to pay for truck gas, gas for 3 cars, eats & motel. we won enuff to cover all these expenses with a little left over. the cars were already built so the only expenses not covered were truck notes & insurance. & thats what the day job was for. i? was living my dream! there was never a thought of what are we going to do this weekend. we knew that when saturday came, "we are outa here", usually headed to tyler, texas for the sat. nite race, then on to either hallsville,texas or haynesville, La on sunday. sometimes it would rain on our parade. i hate rainouts. some weekends it rained sat. & sunday. i remember what a sad, hollow feeling it was driving back home in the rain knowing we had just blown a whole weekend & did'nt even get to back off the trailer. it just made the whole week gloomy. but, hey, there's always next week. it was,nt always fun & excitement but the good times more than outweighed the bad. lets crunch some numbers. we went to 49 races but 4 were rained out. we had 15 wins--that means we won exactly 1/3 of all races completed. we also won money with 7 runner-ups, 6 semi-finals & 4 qtr. finals. & that doesn't include all the semis & qtrs at track where they didn't pay that far down. we won races at 5 different tracks. anybody know how much gas was in '78? here,s 1 fill-up 19.7 gals for $11.40--aprox. 60 cents. entry fee at 2 tracks was $7, 1 was $10, & usually either 15 or $20 for a big race. inflation has taken its toll. & we could have done better but we had to take a whole month of to get a new trailer house set up & get married. but i guess it was probably worth it. as i look back on it now, all in all i'd have to say it was definitely 1 of the best years of my life. against all odds, including all the chevy naysayers & pricks, we had proven beyound any shadow of a doubt that our trusty pontiacs were up to the task & there was not a hi-dollar chevy any where out there that we couldn't beat! more evidence of this is captured in the results of the ihra points meet held that year at tyler & printed in the ihra paper "the drag review". if it'll scan alright, i'll post it. (ps) T.J. is investigating how to get all these pics & stuff processed so we can share it with you. please bear with us, we're new at this & still "dummies" on the subject. hey we don't even have a cell phone. can you believe that? T.J. bought 1 a few years back, but we live so far back in the sticks it would'nt work out here, so she took it back.

[ponyakr]

well in '79 we picked up right where we'd left off. there were no changes needed on the cars. they were set up as good as i knew how to do it. so they still worked just like last year. but things felt different now. we knew we were at the top of our game. we had nothing left to prove. so we could just go to the races & have fun. that driving sense of ergency to keep improving, & win every race was gone. it was different, but still a great feeling with such a relaxed atmospher now. even when we lost there was not that big let down like there used to be. we just loaded up & happily headed towards home with discussions of where we wanted to stop & eat. sometimes it was pizza (I LOVE PIZZA- DO YOU HEAR ME?), sometimes it was seafood & there were some great all-you-can-eat buffets in shreveport on our way home. & then there was grandma's, a little place just east of the tex-la border, in waskom. they made the best homade rolls you have ever tasted. we always bought a bagfull to take home with us. sometimes i'd eat 6 or more going home. T.J. just came thru & read the last post & told me i might need to clear something up. i said we had to get married. no, she was not pregnant. i just meant we had to take time out from racing to get set up so we would have a place to live after we got married. she also said i ough'ta tell ya'll that we dated for 11 years. we did'nt rush into this thing. we knew we were "2 peas in a pod" & i'm happy to report that some 30+ years later, here we are! but something strange happened. she still looks 30 something & I'm old & ugly (I HATE MIRRORS!) we'd fenced off part of my dads cow pasture to set up the trailer. he farmed cows, i farmed goats & birds!

[ponyakr]

we won some races that year, including another winner, runner-up finish & in july i won the biggest race of the year at tyler. & on the way beat 1 of the best racers there, who at the time was just a teenager. his name was edmund richardson, we called him "little eddie" he & his dad, who was known as "fast eddie" raced together & they were good. i've recently heard of a business called " the edmund richardson school of drag racing" i assume it's the same folks, probably is, they were some good dedicated racers. well after that there was just nothing left to prove. so we decided to just stay at home for a while by the "speed barn", chill out, & take a well deserved & long overdue break. T.J. could still drive her street bird to work & reflect on the great times we'd had in those old pontiacs. her street rides included her first '68 bird racer turned streeter, a brewster green '73 455 ta, a black 76 455 ta, and a smokey & the bandit style '77 or '78 t-top ta , all 4-speeds. yah, we were pontiac freaks. then the strangest thing happened. i warn you what i'm about tell you may be offensive to some, so you may want to turn me off here. as far as i know i have never hear the audible voice of God. but in 1979, on the inside of me i heard these words: take your ole goat & your bible, load'em up & take 'em to "wild bill"(a pontiac racer friend), and when you get there, tell him "God told me to give you my goat & my bible & that this is just a token of how much he loves you". so we did. we unloaded the goat, handed the bible to a speechless bill & then drove off leaving him standing in the driveway. in a few days he came over to find out why i would give away my prized posession like that. so i told him the whole story about it, & then shared the bibles plan of salvation with him. we had the honor of leading him to receive Jesus as his savior. 30+ years later we now call him "mild bill" instead of "wild bill" & he recently preached his 1st sermon! PTL! to me there is absolutely no greater feeling in this life than knowing you have helped someone shape their eternal destiny in a positive way.

[ponyakr]

we had another pontiac racer friend named eugene(but we call him oogene, after the puppet character on the gospel bill tv show) i had sold him a decent '68 bird & 2 parts cars & he'd built his own bracket racer. he lived about 30 min away & one day showed up on our doorstep. he said, "i heard about what you did for wild bill, & i gotta know more about it ". so we shared the whole story with him & were again honored to lead another pontiac racer to the lord. he recently called me & said " i know where my old race car is if your interested. i work with a mans son who says his dad has it in his back yard with a chevy motor in it, but he's gonna put the motor in a chevy body & sell the bird." so i went & checked it out. well, it was in purty sad shape, but most of the parts were still there: roll bar, shifter, 12-bolt with 4.56 gears & glass hood with a snorkel scoop. at $1000 i thought it was a great deal. when i told T.J. she said " i think thats great, & i'll even buy it for you". so a friend picked it up & brought it to me. it needs a lot of work but the base is there- & no, its not for sale. if our local track ever gets straightened out i'll start puttin it back together. right now i,ve got 2 racingjunk.com cars with no place to race. they were closed all last season. some new people bought it this year. but mud racin is big around here & there's a mud track right beside the drag strip. they finally opened the strip after mud season & ran a few races, but i'd allready give up on 'em & sold my 2-car rig, & started dirt racin at a track only 20 min from home. i.ve got some more stories about "wild bill" & dirt racin i'll share if i don't get kicked off the site. this is a great country, 1 of its foundation principles is the freedom of religion. you can freely practice any religion you choose, or none if you choose. you can be an athiest,agnostic-- you can even worship the devil himself if you choose. many thousands(if not millions) of brave men & women have fought & died to help protect this freedom. so if you know a vet who has been there & lived to talk about it, let 'em know that you appreciate what they did!

[6x400gmc]

Originally Posted by ponyakr

we won some races that year, including another winner, runner-up finish & in july i won the biggest race of the year at tyler. & on the way beat 1 of the best racers there, who at the time was just a teenager. his name was edmund richardson, we called him "little eddie" he & his dad, who was known as "fast eddie" raced together & they were good. i've recently heard of a business called " the edmund richardson school of drag racing" i assume it's the same folks, probably is, they were some good dedicated racers. well after that there was just nothing left to prove. so we decided to just stay at home for a while by the "speed barn", chill out, & take a well deserved & long overdue break. T.J. could still drive her street bird to work & reflect on the great times we'd had in those old pontiacs. her street rides included her first '68 bird racer turned streeter, a brewster green '73 455 ta, a black 76 455 ta, and a smokey & the bandit style '77 or '78 t-top ta , all 4-speeds. yah, we were pontiac freaks. then the strangest thing happened. i warn you what i'm about tell you may be offensive to some, so you may want to turn me off here. as far as i know i have never hear the audible voice of God. but in 1979, on the inside of me i heard these words: take your ole goat & your bible, load'em up & take 'em to "wild bill"(a pontiac racer friend), and when you get there, tell him "God told me to give you my goat & my bible & that this is just a token of how much he loves you". so we did. we unloaded the goat, handed the bible to a speechless bill & then drove off leaving him standing in the driveway. in a few days he came over to find out why i would give away my prized posession like that. so i told him the whole story about it, & then shared the bibles plan of salvation with him. we had the honor of leading him to receive Jesus as his savior. 30+ years later we now call him "mild bill" instead of "wild bill" & he recently preached his 1st sermon! PTL! to me there is absolutely no greater feeling in this life than knowing you have helped someone shape their eternal destiny in a positive way.

That's my dad!

Britt