[Formulajones]

It was an eventful day. Dad with dirt in the carb issues that limited both of our runs. Simply ran out of time and the track closed early to start prepping for the upcoming NHRA national event.
But we got a feel for the cars, both with new combinations and had a pretty good time. Weather and DA conditions had the track over 2,000 ft DA by mid morning so not as good as I hoped.

My 70 Formula with it's stock RA III 400 and 3.31 gear, stock converter and all. With aluminum wheels on the car for the first time and a too tall 28" sticky tire. Car scaled at 3840 with me in it. Soft 1.88 60 foot, the little 400 struggles a bit to pull the car out but pretty happy overall beating it's previous best. It went 13.10 at 103, twice. Best MPH of the day was 104 early on when the air was a little better. Car was extremely consistent. This pass corrects to a 12.78 at 106. When we get some better air I'll go back and grab that elusive 12 second timeslip. Very happy for a bone stock car that basically just drives itself down track.

https://youtu.be/er1z7PpqsnY

Dad had a handful of issues. First pass was aborted due to excess wheel spin. Forgot to lower tire pressure and fill the air bag (duh). Then had dirt getting into the needle and seat that fouled the plugs, stripped the threads in the carb that required a redneck repair. Missed the call to Trophy Class but In the end got him fixed up. They allowed him some test and tune hits but only got 2 shake down runs with the car before they had to shut the track down. On the scales with dad in it, it was just over 4,000 lbs.

This pass he comes out easy and doesn't go full throttle until right after he gets in second gear, then puts the engine on the rev limiter for about a second. Runs it out the back to drive around the other guy. Kind of a throw away run but got an idea on MPH. Went 11.98 at 121 mph.

https://youtu.be/NuqUgiETbT4

Here's the in car video of the same pass. He gets a small lecture about his first pass skating around the track LOL. This shot is a better example of what I explained above.

https://youtu.be/YYoXURd5rM0

This is the last pass of the day as they were shutting the track down. Dropped air pressure some more, still coming out easy with the car with a very soft 1.85 60 foot. Car usually goes 1.5 60's. Still hitting the rev limiter on each upshift. I only found out afterwards he's trying to shift at 5700 with a 5800 chip in it. We'll have to make some changes there as well. Kind of another throw away run but 11.36 at 122 mph tells me once comfortable with the car we should see at least some 10.80's with it. This pass corrected to an 11.10 at 125 mph.

https://youtu.be/Ah_LjF_Sxow


And a little fun grudge run between dad and my good friend Mike. Mikes car is stout with a very mild low compression 455 that he drives to the track. So far Mike is up one run to nothing. To be continued......

https://youtu.be/ruT8waXeVbw

[johnta1]

Those are some pretty decent times considering all the problems.

Congrats!

[Formulajones]

Thanks John.

I'm not sure dad is completely happy yet but sometimes unexpected things like that happen. I'm pretty happy that the car MPH was about what I expected with a corrected 125. I'm thinking with good air and rev limiter adjustments 128-ish is there. Then put the first half of the track together with a good pass and I think the car will be where dad wanted it. Which is too fast anyway, he won't do a roll bar. When he finally gets that pass all put together I think it will retire from the track unless he decides to invest in safety equipment.

It's already starting to warm up here so doubtful we'll get any good racing weather until next Nov-Dec.

[PAUL K]

Good job! Sounds like a fun time.

[68azbird]

Iron D ports to the front

[GTO JONES]

The drive shaft bothers my I didn't want to come out real hard, still got the stock one in there, that and not changing the chips .....LOL, I'll change them this week before we do the carb. Don't forget I still have the DOMINATOR.

[Tim Corcoran]

Anyone have any pictures from Pontiac Heaven, how was the event?

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by 68azbird

Iron D ports to the front

Haha, way to go Mike!!


All I can do is nag it on, my junk is too slow

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by Tim Corcoran

Anyone have any pictures from Pontiac Heaven, how was the event?

I shot a bunch of video of Saturday and Sunday. No pics though.

The video I posted above is from Sunday and what you see there is pretty much what you got. There were maybe 10 cars racing Sunday??? when we had the drivers meeting I only counted about 8 guys, LOL. Only 2 of them in the money class so they were both guaranteed a podium finish with cash in their pocket lol. Kind of a ghost town but that's why we reserved our racing for Sunday hoping to get a bunch of runs in so dad could test and tune the car. That's how it went last year. Unfortunately Wild Horse shut the track down early to prep for the NHRA coming up this weekend so they stopped the racing at 1pm and that was that. I barely got 3 runs in, and Dad BARELY got 3 runs in himself, he was actually the very last car down the track and they closed it after that.

Saturday was a different story. With it being Nostalgia drags, they had Fords, Chevys, Mopars, and Pontiacs mixing it up, along with sling shot rails, a wheel stander made a pass and was on display with the original Little Red Wagon (wrecked of course) and Bob Ruggles Hemi Under Glass. Lots of good racing that day. I have a ton of video of that I'll put on youtube in the next couple days. If this goes on next year, I may just bring a Chevrolet down to race on Saturday for some fun, then possibly reserve Sunday for just bringing one Pontiac instead of two and just concentrate on one car at a time that way.

[ta man]

Nice car! I like the second run when the track cop comes up.

[vitamin c]

Originally Posted by ta man

Nice car! I like the second run when the track cop comes up.

I had to watch that also. What was he referring to?? wheel speed and the wall coming up fast?? was he talking about the shutdown end of the track?

[Squidward]

It was great meeting 3 generations of Jones men, and adding to my extended Pontiac family.

Yeah, Saturday was hopping. I was hoping to get a few more Sunday runs in, too, but my water pump had other plans.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by vitamin c

I had to watch that also. What was he referring to?? wheel speed and the wall coming up fast?? was he talking about the shutdown end of the track?

LOL yeah kinda funny. It was the pass before that, dad came out hard and was skating all over the track. I expected him to get out of it but he stayed in it shifting gears and I'm on the sideline yelling "GET OUT OF IT" LOL

He got close to the center line and finally backed out. We got back to the pits and realized we forgot to let air out of the tires and fill the air bag.

So the next time around the track police told him if he keeps that up he's going to meet the wall. The day before they did have one car scrape the wall.

So we adjusted the tires and the air bag where we usually do for the car to hook and wheelie, but after that Dad decided to just take it easy at the starts.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by Squidward

It was great meeting 3 generations of Jones men, and adding to my extended Pontiac family.

Yeah, Saturday was hopping. I was hoping to get a few more Sunday runs in, too, but my water pump had other plans.

Ha, yeah I had to think about that for a second, I guess that is 3 generations of Jones' LOL

That was a great day Sean, I kind of hoped to hang into the evening too, run some more, and maybe all of us head out and grab food somewhere. I thought about packing the portable grill and bringing some burgers for everyone but I thought maybe the track frowned on that. But it is kind of nice on Sunday to sort of have the track to yourself for the most part.

Have we all brainstormed about your engine combo? I've been thinking about that since Sunday. Sounds like you and Mike have tried everything.

[Squidward]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

Ha, yeah I had to think about that for a second, I guess that is 3 generations of Jones' LOL

That was a great day Sean, I kind of hoped to hang into the evening too, run some more, and maybe all of us head out and grab food somewhere. I thought about packing the portable grill and bringing some burgers for everyone but I thought maybe the track frowned on that. But it is kind of nice on Sunday to sort of have the track to yourself for the most part.

Have we all brainstormed about your engine combo? I've been thinking about that since Sunday. Sounds like you and Mike have tried everything.

WHP has postings about no external food or beverage, although that didn't stop me from a cooler full of Gatorade and ham sandwiches. I used to love grilling Saturday evening at the Speedworld events in years past.

I was able to park my FB with the hood up and get a pic or two with the "purdy" cars in the show area. It's something I have tried to do as a joke since the earliest PH events back in the day. I try and get a pic next to the nicest/rarest/priciest show car, usually a 69 T/A in previous years.

We'll either figure out how to make a little 350 do solid 13's, or we accept its limitations. It has been a fun experiment to try something different. If I raced more than 1 or 2 times a year, I might be able to figure out the launch. But I will keep chucking away, with some help from my friends.

[68azbird]

Originally Posted by GTO JONES

The drive shaft bothers my I didn't want to come out real hard, still got the stock one in there, that and not changing the chips .....LOL, I'll change them this week before we do the carb. Don't forget I still have the DOMINATOR.

Come on now
Stock shaft with 1310 u joints in my car. I'm not loosing any sleep over it.
I don't have any fancy vacuum pump set up in my car.

[Old Man Taylor]

I still have the stock shaft in my '64 GTO, and it has a convertible u-joint to a Chevy rear end. It ran 10.80 at 129.31 with a 4 speed and slicks.

[ta man]

Originally Posted by 68azbird

Come on now
Stock shaft with 1310 u joints in my car. I'm not loosing any sleep over it.
I don't have any fancy vacuum pump set up in my car.

I'd be worried about a stock shaft too with his dyno numbers ..over 700 hp can wreck things real quick!

[GTO JONES]

Originally Posted by 68azbird

Come on now
Stock shaft with 1310 u joints in my car. I'm not loosing any sleep over it.
I don't have any fancy vacuum pump set up in my car.

Your my hero.!!!!!!!

[GTO JONES]

Originally Posted by Old Man Taylor

I still have the stock shaft in my '64 GTO, and it has a convertible u-joint to a Chevy rear end. It ran 10.80 at 129.31 with a 4 speed and slicks.

Your my hero too.