[Mikes455Wagon]

Well we finally got to put the car thru the ringer this past weekend at VMP. The car ran really good and after a carb adjustment it was printing some timeslips. We also pulled some timing out and brought it back to 34 degrees total. The car was running 7.59, 7.59, 7.6 at the 1/8th no matter what I did. At the quarter mark it was doing real well also. Sunday the air got the best it had been early on and the car went 12.078 and followed that pass with a 12.079. It is repeating very well and actually Saturday we went 12.107 on a 12.10 dial in the second time trial and got a ticket into Pinks should we deceide to go. Sixty foot times were consistent 1.58 and 1.59 all weekend long which I am happy with. I did finally get the tach to record the runs...the converter stalls to 2800 comfortably and is easy to stage consistently there then flashes to 3800-3900. We found no gain in time twisting the car harder so the shiftpoints stayed at 5000 for Saturday and Sunday which is down from the 5300 we were shifting at in our first time out with the motor. The car was running a high 107 low 108 MPH and crossing the line at about 5250. We did find the weak link of the car on Sunday which was the almost brand new 1 wire alternator from Autozone. It took a crap and the battery went down fast which is why I got to sit on the side of the staging lanes until the car got jump started. Oh well, its a lifetime warranty part that they are going to replace. I got to meet several people in person that I see post and talk to on here and that was great. I never thought that many people saw my junk until they came and found me in the pits and told me they had saw the car on PY. Dad has shown the 62 GP for years and knows many people in the show world and now we get to meet the racers on the other side of the Pontiac venue which is great! I enjoyed the weekend and hate to see the event go but I can see why they wouldn't keep it. The turnout was very low. If it hadn't been for the racers....the amount of people there would have been VERY LOW. I guess we still have Norwalk and the POCI races to attend this year and I plan on being at both of those. Here are a couple starting line pictures from this weekend.....Enjoy....

[prostreet64]

Great #s; you might want to post your combo so we can see how you got there. Wagons are the ultimate sleepers, imho.

[66bonne]

Hmmmm, not an expert but I wonder if converter slippage might be creeping up on you for the second half of a quarter mile pass. Your outstanding 60' times and 1/8mile times indicate that you could/should be in the 11s.
That is one beautiful, honkin' fast wagon you have !! Love that sleeper look.
BTW: What rear tires are you running ?
Thanks for the post,
Jim

[71 Ventura II]

P.S. Don't tell the guys at Autozone you "Race" your car, most managers don't enforce their policy, but they have one! It reads that any part used for "Racing" is void of all manufacturers warranties! I had an issue with them a few years back on a set of "Lifetime" plug wires. Just something to look out for!

Great times in the "Torque Monster" wagon!!! The 1/8th mile ET show a conversion to 1/4 of low 11.9X's so your within the range. The fact your pulling excellent 60' times but have a relatively low MPH with the ET shows your hooking and booking a torque combo not a HP combo. Impressive!!! JD

[grandville455]

Nice Numbers Mike!.. It is a torque monster for sure! I just guessed for the day u were there . for sat at noon the DA was just over 2000 ft... If u were at virginia motorsports park?.. your 12.08 converts to 11.79 @ 110!

[Mikes455Wagon]

Thanks everyone.....as far as the rear tires go they are 28x9 D06 compound Hoosiers. As far as the DA goes, I didn't have a weather station with me but I heard another driver say it was pretty bad. Everyone I have talked to that has ever been to Virginia Motorsports Park said they got sun burnt and about died of heat stroke at some point and this past weekend was no different, it was freaking HOT! I want a race car with A/C!

[gkinch]

It was as high as 3075 ft on saturday afternoon by my weather station ! It was hard on a fat man in a race car !!

Gene

[triathlonx13]

Yah Mike - Your car was fun to watch ! Are you planning to go to Norwalk?

Chris

[JohnJudge]

Hey Mike!
It was nice meeting you and your father.... Alan and I were pitted right across from you!

[elevatorman51]

Cool car, there are a few people that will lose their lunch money on that sleeper! Like John, I had a good time talking to you and your dad and look foward to seeing the cars progress, Alan

[Mikes455Wagon]

Okay, now I know who even more people are....John after I put the car on the charger for awhile it started great....started just fine when I got home to take it off the trailer so I guess we will try an alternator first since I did but the volt meter on it and see it wasn't putting anything out. Just one of the bugs we gotta get worked out yet. Gene it was nice seeing you and your car too. I got to see the motor when it was in the machine shop so it was good to see it in the car going down the track putting down so fast numbers.....As far as Norwalk goes, I have put in for vacation that week and hope to be there with bells and whistles on. I will probably come up the day before it starts so I can get some seat time in a few roller coasters at cedar point and Dad can walk around and stare at the women......

[Cliff R]

"Hmmmm, not an expert but I wonder if converter slippage might be creeping up on you for the second half of a quarter mile pass. Your outstanding 60' times and 1/8mile times indicate that you could/should be in the 11s."

Not much converter slip going on if he's crossing at 5250rpm's. I don't know the exact tire diameter, but that low of an rpm with 3.73 gearing shows the converter is very well coupled on the top end of the track.

Running 108 mph and not seeing a lot of improvement spinning the engine really hard just shows the limitations of the combination of parts. Very good ET and MPH for the combo, IMHO, with lots of room for improvment(s), good flowing heads, larger camshaft, etc, etc, to compliment the really hard launch with a strong top end charge.

What really matters is if they are happy with the car, and it is consistant, etc. I raced my car for years running in that range, and won all the bananna's on quite a few occassions. Every time I did things to leave harder, make more power, etc, it was a re-learning experience to find traction, consistant RT's, ET, etc to get back in the game....FWIW........Cliff

[PONTIAC LARRY]

Love that wagon..looks and runs great !

[prostreet64]

Ditto what Cliff said; lot of room to grow but it comes at a cost, literally and figuratively.

[MikesOldMan]

Originally Posted by Cliff R

"Hmmmm, not an expert but I wonder if converter slippage might be creeping up on you for the second half of a quarter mile pass. Your outstanding 60' times and 1/8mile times indicate that you could/should be in the 11s."

Not much converter slip going on if he's crossing at 5250rpm's. I don't know the exact tire diameter, but that low of an rpm with 3.73 gearing shows the converter is very well coupled on the top end of the track.

Running 108 mph and not seeing a lot of improvement spinning the engine really hard just shows the limitations of the combination of parts. Very good ET and MPH for the combo, IMHO, with lots of room for improvment(s), good flowing heads, larger camshaft, etc, etc, to compliment the really hard launch with a strong top end charge.

What really matters is if they are happy with the car, and it is consistant, etc. I raced my car for years running in that range, and won all the bananna's on quite a few occassions. Every time I did things to leave harder, make more power, etc, it was a re-learning experience to find traction, consistant RT's, ET, etc to get back in the game....FWIW........Cliff

Don't forget, that engine is exactly what I wanted and intended it be and I'm extremely proud to claim that I built it and that I chose the combination to do exactly what it's doing mostly from what was laying around the shop. I've probably had those heads at least 20 years. I'm still not convinced it might have been quicker, (not faster) with the 268XE can that I did get talked out of kind of. It's old school, old technology, low buck, (in todays world) and it's running better then a lot of of them with a lot more of those high tech parts. It's just a well known fact that Pontiacs did what they did with torque at low RPM. I bought my first one in 1964, a 62 Cat 4 spd. car, have lost count since then, but I do know this about all of them, they made no power above about 5000 but they would smoke the tires, (old tires) at 25 miles an hour in second gear in, for example, that old 62 4400 LB Bonneville I had. It made a lot of believers locally, hmm, that was back in about 1971. I'm happy with it just like it is. It ain't broke and we ain't gonna fix it. If Mike wants the other stuff, he can build one. That one will bolt right in my 62 or my 66. Was nice meeting a lot you guys at Va Motorsports. Like Michael said, it was hotter than the hinges of hell, and has been everytime I've ever been there, but that's way better than rain. Hope you see at Norwalk.
Old Man

[Mikes455Wagon]

Right now the car is running pretty strong and fairly consistent. I actually hope to catch a couple of local bracket races and see if I can still be there in the end since that is what the car was built to do. By not twisting it hard I truely hope the longevity of parts is very high and by this time next year all I need to do to go racing is change the oil in the car. We will tweak and play some to see if it will go eleven's solidly even when the air is bad, however the east coast is blessed with having a day of bad air being 3075 ft.

[MikesOldMan]

Originally Posted by prostreet64

Ditto what Cliff said; lot of room to grow but it comes at a cost, literally and figuratively.

Very true! There is not an unlimited race budget here. Good luck!
Darrell

[MikesOldMan]

[QUOTE=JohnJudge;3982805]Hey Mike!
It was nice meeting you and your father.... Alan and I were pitted right across from you![/QUOT
Really enjoyed talking with you there. Learn a lot that way. Hope to see you again at POCI and/or Norwalk.
Darrell

[Cliff R]

"By not twisting it hard I truely hope the longevity of parts is very high and by this time next year all I need to do to go racing is change the oil in the car."

I raced my old 455 engine for 6 seasons shifting it at 5000rpm's. It would pull pretty hard to about 5800rpm's, and picked up about .15-.20 seconds when doing so. Not really a lot of improvement, so why grind up the engine when bracket racing to post a slightly quicker ET?

I also used that little bit of additional rpm's if/when I didn't think I was that good on the light (RT), or if it didn't look like I was going to get to the finish line first. Better to run your opponent all the way to the end while not giving them a chance to back out of it, then get on the brakes hard enough to make sure you get there first. Been racing like that for years, and still race like that today, short shifting, saving the engine, and leaving a little room to run someone down if/when needed.....Cliff

[MikesOldMan]

You're my hero here! I love what you do and how you do it, you and your car have character supreme!