[ponyakr]

just came from our local car show. it rained all nite. quit about daylite. turned cold, wind picked up to about 20 mph, clouds stayed til about noon. but lots of folks put on their jackets & came out anyway. saw a few with only t-shirt & shorts--they only made 1 pass thru & disappeared. by 1 pm we had brite sunshine & all the chrome began to sparkle. it was just like my racin days--lots of chevys & not many pontiacs. but the few that were there made a good showing. 2 1st's, 1 2nd, & 1 overall choice of the show from the local police dept. the pics of the '69 redbird are of my longtime pontiac racin buddy "wild (now mild) bill" jenkins old street/strip bird, turned show car. but it ain't no trailer queen. he drove it to the show--about 35 mi., then left there heading to a cruise-in at a mcdonalds about 50 mi. away. not 2 good on mpg, but loads of fun per mile! he's had it since '74. i'm including a shot of it beside T.J. in the l-o-n-g staging lane lines at the end of the year NHRA div 4 bracket finals race at green valley, Tx in '77. had a 400 back then. now has a 455 with e-heads, h-beam rods, a solid roller cam & dougs headers. probably about 600 hp. he said its a lot stronger than anything he ever raced-G-forces from a rolling 2nd gear punch. it was definately the quickest 1/4 miler there. 1 of the vettes probably had a little more top speed, but would be embarrassed by the redbird in a drag race!

[ponyakr]

i've always been proud of mb's pontiac racing acomplishments--this project looks like another winner to me!

[ponyakr]

mb says its a work in progress. looks like he's off to a great start!

[ponyakr]

"bird" emblem is what was left of the "firebird" emblem after a small fender bender incident in the mid '70's. placque is from the local police dept. as their choice for best of show. trophy is for 2nd in musclecar. would've easily won 1st, but as we know, the 455 with e-heads & headers was not exactly factory stock oem stuff.

[ponyakr]

the solid roller in the red bird now is the same cam mb ran in this late model dirt racer. it wasn't legal in the other classes he ran, so he just saved it for a rainy day, such as the 1 we had sat. here's the redbird in the staging lanes at green valley, Tx in '77. & anybody into the older stuff? this '39 won 1st in street cruiser.

[ponyakr]

the car that won musclecar was a 442. it was nice but won mostly because it was all original, or at least appeared so. a mid '70's gp won 1st in his class. i didn't catch the class, but mb said he had also won 1st at another show he went to. it must be an original survivor. it looked like he just washed the motor with a pressure washer & took it to the show--rust & all--no fresh decals or anything. you can tell i don't know much about the show car scene. i promised ya'll some pics of a nice '68 bird that belongs to an old schoolmate we called "howard". he's usually at this show, but his wife had some surgery & he couldn't make it this year. me & T.J. will go over to his place & get some pics to share later. there was a real 426 wedge mopar from the early '60's. it had 2 carbs & push button drive. looked just like the pics i remember seeing back in the day. i mentioned it to mb & he knew all about it. said he had rebuilt the carbs for it. for mb its just like it always was in racing--he works on other peoples stuff to help support his own effort. we also had some nice bikes, trikes & choppers at the show. i drove along in the parade behind a nice chop top 30 something street rod as mb & some of the other guys rumbled off towards the cruise-in at McDonald's. it was a nice end to a very enjoyable day. me & mb had sat in our lawn chairs, rite behind the redbird, talkin about the good ole days for hours. & all the while we were rite under the speakers which were blasting out the oldies from the '50's & '60's. it was just a great atmosphere! i'll steal a quote from someone else on this site--if i have to explain it to you, you won't understand!

[6x400gmc]

Ponyakr,

Here's a picture of the 428 that "MB" as you call him, built for me. Note the redbird in the background.

The second pic is after I dropped it in my car.

Britt

[ponyakr]

i recently went to a drag race at our local track. they've spent a lot of money fixin up the place. new concession stand, new & really super nice rest rooms, expanded pits with an extention off the return road going thru it & get this--fresh concrete for most of the cars to pit on. that beats the old days. i remember crawlin around in the dirt tryin to work on a car in the pits. now they can just bring their floor jack & creeper & stay clean. there was a good turnout of cars too. maybe they'll make it. i sure hope so. if they do, maybe i'll get to do some more bracket racing after all. as expected, there were absolutely no pontiac powered cars there. 1 thing i did notice that was strange. there were very few camaros, novas, chevelles, mustangs & mopars in the e bracket. most of the door cars have been replaced with dragsters. most are bbc & except for paint & graphics look just alike. i talked to some who used to race door cars & they said thats why they had quit. the dragsters are low, fast & hard 2 see at the finish line. there's no way to judge what needs to be done at the finish line. its sorta like pinks all out at the big end. 2 me, part of the fun of bracket racing is the finish line strategy. i've posted on the track website, suggesting that they seperate the dragsters & door cars in order to bring back some of the old musclecars that quit for this reason. several people agreed with the idea. don't know if they'll make any changes or not. of course those who run the dragsters don't want to change a thing. if i raced 1, i would'nt want any changes either. just curious--do the dragsters run with the door cars at the tracks you guys race? & if so, have many door cars quit because of it? 1 thing seems to be a sure bet--if i get to race some more, i'll be the only pontiac powered car there. but, thats allrite, it'll make me feel rite at home--just like the good old days!