[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.

[Engine-Ear]

Although I sat down to get some work done (and it's still waiting for me to START!), a sincere "Thank you" for sharing all that you have, ponyakr.

[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!

[Unclesamscandy]

I enjoy the postings and memories and info from the past - very interesting. God bless!

[wrenchmen]

I just saw this thread for the first time and I could not stop reading!...I read thru the first 6 pages and must say you certainly have a knack for putting your stories into words for us all here to enjoy!

Thank You!

[ponyakr]

thanks for the kind words guys. i have really enjoyed reliving these old memories & sharing them with ya'll! i'm new to all this modern technology. its great to be able to share stories & info with other pontiac folks!

[Money Pit]

Thanks for posting your experiences! Very enjoyable stories!

[ponyakr]

i remember 1 day at a race in tx, in a small section of grandstands on the pit side, there were 2 guys who seemed 2 be having more fun than anybody else there. so i moved a little closer to check it out. this was still during the time trials & some of the cars were not even in the same class. apparently these guys either didn't know this or didn't care. as they sipped on there favorite tasty beverage, when the car they picked won, they would whoop & holler like school kids when their team scored, & then snatch the money out of their friends hand. they were betting each other on who would win each tt pass. i soon discovered that they were choosing there pick based on brand, color, name, graphics or somtimes just because the other guy had already made his pick. no, they didn't have a clue what was going on & obviously didn't care. but i'll venture a guess that they probably enjoyed the race more than anybody there that day. so this proves that even watching tt can be fun if you have the rite attitude!

[dirtbird5x]

Last weekend me a couple friends did something I rarely do....we went to the drag races at twin city. Man oh Man have they done a lot of work to that place. If anybody want to see a first class facility go to the dragstrip in Monroe, La.

MB

[cuz68]

Im on page 3, And im enjoying your stories very much. TKS-Randy.

[ponyakr]

for those of you not familiar with the movie "The Blob", you can google it & you'll see what i describe as a big hunk of slimey, jelly lookin stuff that eats people. there's a description & video clip of the movie(1958) which was steve mcqueen's 1st leading role. anyhow, that's what we called the 1st pontiac powered hot rod i ever rode in. i've mentioned it earlier in my story--now i have some more details about it. it belonged 2 a hi school friend we nicknamed "Howard". i ask him last year if he had any pictures of it. he said he probably had some in the attic & would try 2 dig them out. then he hit a couple of bumps in the road & was on the side for a while--but he's on the road again now, so i called him tonite & he said he found the pics--so i'll get em sat & share em with ya'll.

[ponyakr]

i think howards dad & 2 brothers had a hand in the blob project. his older brother later had a 65 goat in which i got my 1st goat ride--which i've mentioned. the 1st motor they put in it was a 317--but by the time i 1st rode in it they had upgraded 2 a 389. the tranny was what they called a "Hydro". i'm sure you old timers will remember them from the late 50's. howard told me they had 4 speeds but could not be held in 1st manually. B & M modified the valve body so it could be manually shifted. when i 1st started going 2 drag races the "B & M Hydro" was about the only automatic used by gm racers. i remember a local hotrodder running a sbc 327 with a b&m hydro in an anglia body--called it "Odd Job". anyhow, we had lots of fun cruisin in "the blob" & it was definately the coolest ride in the parade! somtimes when you're young you don't fully appreciate things. but lookin back now--those musclecar days were really special times in our lives! we've come a long way--with lots of bumps along the way--but me & howard still like to fool around with these old pontiacs. i'll share some more info & pics of howards stuff as soon as i can.

[ponyakr]

as i thought about the old "Hydros", i was reminded of some of the other heavy duty stuff pontiac came up with in the late 50's & early 60's. most of the racers of that period used the pontiac rear end--the big chunk type--maybe 58-64 or there abouts. all the big cars had em, so they were plentiful & cheap for several years after that. then there's all the sd 389 & 421 stuff--enuff 2 rule nascar & a lot of drag classes of that period. there's no tellin what mite have been with the rite people in power at gm. but the way it went down i guess we'd better just be glad of what did happen--like goats & birds, ram airs, ho's, sd 455's & all the other good stuff we did get before it all ended--even tho its over--you'll have 2 admit--it was a great run! & lets all be thankful that we now have lots of repro stuff & don't forget all those cheap chinese parts. & especially--Thank God GM can't do a thing 2 stop it! LONG LIVE PONTIAC(in spite of GM)! my name is ponyakr & i approve this message! (you'll just have 2 excuse me--sometimes i get carried plum away!)

[ponyakr]

the blob was a 1940 chevy deluxe--all iron--heavy metal. the 317 was a 56--$50 at a local junkyard. then the need for speed increased. bought a 59--389 block from a machine shop for $25, a #10 pontiac solid cam from a class racer for $20. took the guts out of a set of used hyd lifters & added shims 2 make em solid. used a carter junkyard 4 bl from a pontiac. made a set of fenderwell exit headers from exhaust pipe scraps & pieces--including E-Z open dumps. built a hydro from 57 pontiac ($10) & a rebuilt 57 olds with a busted drum. the rear end was a 4.11 chunk type out of a 56 chevy. used shoe polish 2 write the letters "the blob" on the sides. did street/strip duty. pulled it 2 the track with his dads 61 impala--powered by a 326 out of a 67 lemans. he used a set of recap 7" cheater slicks. he kept the blob til 1977. a preacher kept buggin him about buyin it--so he made him a price he figured was way more than the preacher would pay--but 2 his surprise the preacher agreed 2 the price so he had 2 sell it. says he's regretted selling it ever since. i'll go 2 howards place & get the pics tomorrow--will post as soon as possible. this is a real good example of build it on a budget--use what you can find cheap--then upgrade as you can--enjoying the ride all the while. glad i got 2 share a little in the history of this old pontiac powered blob!