We took the Boss Bird to the Ames Performance Pontiac Nationals in Norwalk, OH for the weekend of August 5-6. We had a bit more power dialed-in and took to the track on Saturday. Unfortunately track conditions weren’t ideal (street tired cars ran ahead of us, putting hard rubber on the track) and the car made a hard turn sideways right after the launch. Back in the pits, we found some engine damage due to a clogged oil passage….so it was probably good that we didn’t make a full hard pass. Saturday evening (pictured below) turned into a late night engine rebuilding thrash, complete with carryout pizza at the track for dinner. Since it’s the only nitro car at that event, we draw a lot of attention from folks who are interested in the inner workings of our engine.
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Sunday at Norwalk was equaling frustrating as the car launched hard and then hazed the tires; resulting in another aborted pass. It was decided to procure a fresh pair of slicks before our next event and we ended up getting the pair off Antron Brown’s TF car that he used to win Seattle.
Armed with a freshened engine and fresh slicks, we headed to the annual BOP (Buick Olds Pontiac) event at Cordova Dragway. Steady rain Saturday forced the postponement of the race till Sunday. Weather was beautiful on Sunday and racing was on! As many of you know, Cordova is Arnie Beswick’s home track and the legions of fans of the “Farmer” were treated to seeing Arnie tow the Boss Bird into the water box using his restored Farmall tractor. The crowd loved it.
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(Cordova photos courtesy of Dougie (track photographer). Not authorized for redistribution)
The first eighth mile was spectacular! Our 3.882 @ 192.58 is the quickest documented run in history for any Pontiac-engined car of any kind. The #2 quickest Pontiac engine is in a lightweight dragster so this ET also means we have the most powerful traditional Pontiac engine of all time! Somewhere around 1000’, the car got out of the groove and made a hard move to the centerline. Good sense prevailed, I lifted…and coasted to a 6.09 quarter mile ET. Early indications are that the engine survived without any serious damage.
We left the engine in the car for display at the Society for the Improvement of Conditions for Stray Animals (SICSA) annual car show and charity auction; this Saturday 21 Oct. We will also be doing some school visits this fall before the weather turns bad.