Motorsports Bucket List
 

I got to pondering the things that I've done over the years:

street racing
road rally
autocross
drag racing '77 T/A, Grocery Getter, Boss Bird
currently working on getting ready for some road racing.

Still on my bucket list would be building & driving a desert racing truck.

So the fun question of the morning.....if you had no financial or time restrictions, what's on your motorsports bucket list? Could be a type of event or a special car that you've always dreamed of owning....? (Power Tour, Bonneville Salt Flats, owning a Swiss Cheese Catalina, etc)

Eric

bucket list
 

Some days about all I get done is pondering what is still on my bucket list. For sure finishing my 63 LeMans. That should happen by spring or shortly there after. Then over the next couple of years get a 8.99 or better time slip to go with it. Then finish a 68 400 firebird, 400 - 4 speed, similar to one I test drove back in the day. My dad wouldn't let me have a car like that until after I finished high school. The one I have now has a build date of Feb 29th 1968. That kind of cool. Of course there is more, but this is what at the top of the list.

Easy question, Build five short stroke short deck Pontiacs in aluminum, could be cast, or billet block, it must come in at 410 cubic inches. Put it in a sprint car, and see what it could do with a young, aggressive driver, and crew.

When I was a kid (mid 60s) my Dad took me to the dirt track almost every week. They didn't run sprint cars every week, but the traveling sprint cars would run at our local track usually once every season. I saw 2 of them with Pontiac engines in them, and have always wondered how a modern, high tech, short deck Pontiac would fare against the mostly SBC based engines in a sprint car on dirt. Naturally aspirated on methanol they put out over 2 HP per cubic inch, usually right around 950 HP just to be competitive.

It's incredibly expensive to run a top notch sprint car team anyway, but to run one with a one off different powerplant would be a challenge, both financially, and from a technical standpoint. There is of course no part of any sprint car engine at this point in time that would have come from an OEM source, so making each and every part from either an aftermarket vendor or having it custom made is not unusual to the sprint car crews.

The minimum weight currently for a car, with driver is 1425 lbs. The power to weight ratio is right up there with some of the NA race cars of the world, in any form of racing. There is no way to predict if such a venture would be successful, because no one has ever tried it, Very deep pockets would be at the forefront of the venture.

It's a dream, that comes with a huge challenge, that likely no one in their right mind would ever consider. Kinda like running a nostalgia, Pontiac powered, funny car on nitro...........LOL

Bought my 64 GTO convertible many years ago and drive it in high school.

Went to three different colleges and wound up with 3 degrees: Engineering,
Behavior Psychology, and Geology. Assumed I would one day be a guy like
Carter, (who found King Tut's tomb). Then I saw/ met/ proposed to my future wife.

Worked in 5 different areas of Engineering (after working at Holley Engineering
in their Engineering building in Warren, Michigan & quitting to go to Dearborn, Mi.

F*rd Engineering job areas: Emissions, Truck Operations, Core Engineering, Advanced Engineering, and Research Engineering.
A stack full of Patents submitted, a few were granted. I worked for Ford for 39 years. I did a lot of traveling.
My Boss Homer Perry was the Race Manager for Ford and won Le Mans 4 times. I was involved in 2016 50 years later. ECOBOOST

Raced at the 2001 Bonneville Salt Flats with Gale Banks, Dick Landy, and Bruce Crower.
Was a Scrutineer for SCCA, & F-1 for 14 years. Regional Executive one year.
Raced in the Baja 1000 series 3 times (Ford Truck sent me there.)
The team I supported won the Baja race (compact truck) 3 times.
Observed the Pikes Peak race as a spectator once, going back to Pike's Peak in July to
race with Gale Banks team.

Drag Raced when I was a teenager. No interest in that today (except as a advisor for Marty Palbykin over the years).
Helped the Keen Brothers win the Super Street racing Championship, Billy Glidden was second.
Keen Brothers were later Pro Mod Champions.

346 exits from a perfectly good airplane. Bad ankles today. Some want to jump at least one time before they die.
Been there done that.

Traveled to different places, Asia and South America mostly, met people, took care of business as required.
No desire to travel internationally in the future. Took a trip on a diesel sub twice, once there, once back, never again.
You could say the sub was a unique ride in a unique vehicle. Some want to see Europe, Alaska, Hawaii, no desire.

Tom V.

A day off!

One sub 5 second blast down the 1/4 in a top fuel car.

Hey Tom: what's on your list to do next?

Eric

Vintage road race Jim Halls Fuel Injected BBC ZL1 Chapparal! G forces in a straight line or a corner!

Actually participate on the Gale Banks Race Team effort up Pikes Peak in July.
I had conversations with Gale on the salt, I did a few business transactions with him over the years (Banks Engineering and Ford Research). But not an actual member of his team. He invited me to be on that team a few weeks ago for the July event.

I was, on the first Flatfire team in 2001 when the streamliner was owned by Ron Main.
Record in his class was 220 and he ran 300 the year I was there.

That streamliner evolved from Ron Main's sole ownership TO THE
Main and Poteet "Combined Effort" with several GM engines over the years. Ron had money, George has Cubic Money.

Then Ron Main walked away from the Salt Racing and George Poteet has carried on by himself.
George and Ron were the fastest on the salt for 10 years in a row. Piston Driven engine.

Hope that helps Eric.

Tom V.

Would like to go to a "left coast" Canadian Hill Climb event, Eric, like the event one of our Pontiac members competed in. (drove a Trans Am).

Ford competed in a actual Hill Climb (see video) when we were first testing the Ecoboost systems on cars. We took second place against some very experienced cars. I was not able to be there for that testing. We had the worse case vehicle for the event.
Heavy, not great Aero, (unlike the Gale Banks Trans Am was when Banks set records with the Trans Am, at Bonneville, in 2001.
No ecoboost engines in those days. But the driver did a good job.

https://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/05/...NquumI9KbBH-ZZ

Bucket list is getting a lot smaller, Eric.

Tom V.

Having had SCCA National, IMSA, and FIA licenses, consider drifting and burnouts to be slow and a waste of gas and tires.

Did once put a piece of rubber hose on a handbrake to keep it from latching & won an economy rally with a '38 Mack dump truck. Have won autocrosses (Solo II) with a Buick. Have driven over 200 mph in a GT40.

Consequently do not have a motorsports bucket list.

That is an experience that few will share. Most GT40s will never be driven that hard. I was certified to drive that fast on the Ford 5 mile oval track at Romeo Michigan BUT only had that opportunity once. I was not assigned to that track permanently like the Ford Drivers who worked there each day.

So I can't really claim that on my Bucket List. I drove the car because I needed to be certified for that speed for my work. The Ecoboost Le Mans cars were capable of speeds far higher than that number. Not capable of the driving skills that Joey Hand, Müller, and Bourdais have for that type of racing anymore than assuming I could drive Eric's Funny Car.

Here is a partial video of what the 2016 Le Mans Racing looked like. Ford Won over Ferrari.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSE3zvraJi8

Tom V.

Making some mid 7 second passes with pontiac power and no failures. In a door car. Hope to cross that one off next year. Adding a few more rare Pontiacs to my collection would be nice also. Possibly bring Marty's 71 back to Pontiac power as well.

Congrats on buying Mary's race car.
If you do switch it back to Pontiac Power I think I have a new "Back-up" Roller Camshaft
for Marty's 406 cid Pontiac based Engine. I bought some of his extra parts years ago.

Tom V.

Back in the 60's US441 (military highway) was dead straight (except for one S turn, and out in the middle of nowhere. Dead flat so could see for miles. Except for groves inside Florida was pretty much uninhabited over five miles from the coast Many cars bound for Sebring used to test there.

I spoke to Frank G about your post above.

I believe currently there are only 5 short deck All Pontiac blocks in the world.
(I own one of them. They are cast iron.)

If you come up with the cash to buy 5 of these aluminum short deck blocks
Cast or Solid aluminum, let me know. I will buy the 6th one as Frank will not
produce any of the blocks without a solid (cash before hand) 5 block order.

For your information. I might be wrong, he might want a 6 block order. Then you have to buy 5 of them
and have the 5 you want, and I would have 1 aluminum and 1 cast iron.

Tom V.

Looks like Eric that only a few guys have done anything other than Drag Racing or Street Racing AND THAT IS FINE.

Their Bucket List might have travel, wealth, nice home, smart kids, etc vs racing up Pikes Peak.

Thanks for starting the thread though.

Tom V.

I like threads with a positive spin. I'm happy with everything mentioned. Wish I had lottery money to do sprint cars with Brad.

Eric

Agree, in another thread a few years ago I mentioned a Professor I worked with and raced with (a very few times) in Ohio, Doctor Richard Hathaway.

Photo attached

Here is the post from that thread:

"One of my old Professors "Doc Hathaway" is a crew chief on a very competitive ISMA-International Supermodified Association Sprint car.
When he is racing in the area I try to go and help him and his team."

The area was Fremont's Speedway, Attica's Speedway, and Wayne County's Speedway in Orrville Ohio.

https://www.fremontohspeedway.com/

The link for Attica is damaged,

Wayne County Speedway
http://www.waynecountyspeedway.com/

Help in this case being adding gas to the vehicle, changing tires, setting the wing angle,
etc. No real engine communication.

You should check it out Eric. You live in Ohio.

Tom V.

If I won the lottery, i'd be in a NASCAR Cup car ASAP...No interest in indy style cars...Baja racing would be cool...Boat racing would be questionable...A full on Outlaw Turbo ProMod would be a must too...