Regarding the Holley carburetors and a similar situation Jim Hand did for the Q-Jet carb and the mention of the Stubstack. Testing has shown that the contoured venturi inlet on the Holley 'HP' series carburetors offers balanced airflow for increased horsepower over a carburetor design with a choke tower. The Stubstack with its smooth contour cleans up the flow and the engine responds to that.
https://www.knfilters.com/racing/stubstacks.htm
A fwiw, it's nothing new. One of the all time best custom carburetor builders Brad Urban did a similar thing many years ago. On his high performance Holley carburetors for maximum airflow the choke tower was machined off and he did a CNC radiused air entry.
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'70 TA / 505 cid / same engine but revised ( previous best 10.63 at 127.05 )
Old information here:
http://www.hotrod.com/articles/0712p...tiac-trans-am/
Sponsor of the world's fastest Pontiac powered Ford Fairmont (engine)
5.14 at 140 mph (1/8 mile) , true 10.5 tire, stock type suspension
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDoJnIP3HgE