I cant believe that the organizers of these events still let this Firebird of Mahony compete in the P/S class. Gee it's kind of funny that the other Ram Air II's run a half a second or more slower. And now the word is out it put a L-88 Corvette on the trailer at the Muscle Palooza event out east. NO F-----G WAY. The only way that Firebird could do that is to cheat like hell. I'm sorry but am I the only one that sees and feels that way. If I was one of the owners of the other Ram Air II's I'd be one hot mother f----r. As far as I'm concerned Jim Minos Firebird is the fastest stock Ram Air II P/Stocker. There's another black one but don't remember the gentleman's name. But him and Jim are running pretty close to each others times. I think its time for Mahony to prove his car is stock and do a complete tear down inspection. So if anybody out there feels like I do now's the time to speak up about it. Don't just set back and not voice your opinion. Lets hear what you really think about that cheatin Firebird.
Re: Bogus/cheating Ram Air Ii Give me a break. Sure just turn your head to the problem or sweep it under the rug. Everyone knows the car doesn't comply with the rules, but know one does nothing about it. Its time to speak out about it.
Re: Bogus/cheating Ram Air Ii Mr. CJfordman How would you feel if you had your Mustang dialed in the best you could. And then some clown comes to the event with a car just like yours and blows yours e.t./mph right out of the water by cheating like hell. You wouldn't like it. And don't think that it cant happen to you. I'm just trying to be real here P/Stockers. I honestly feel its time to call Mahoney to the mat. Its only fair to the other P/Stockers that do comply with the rules. Its that simple.
Re: Bogus/cheating Ram Air Ii I don't know why you got such a boner for Mahoney and fail to mention a bunch of other cars that are considered suspect by many.Spread the attention them to all or none.
Re: Bogus/cheating Ram Air Ii Those are some pretty strong accusations. Do you have any evidence of cheating or are you just upset that the car runs better than yours? BTW, Mino's bird isn't too far behind Rick's... and he's shifting gears.
Re: Bogus/cheating Ram Air Ii Being from the school of thought that says the RA4 is Pontiacs best engine,why do these RA2,S keep proving me wrong? Both Jim,and Ricks cars have ALWAYS ran strong.I suspect that the Auto is 60ing alot better than the 4 gear,and that could be a half a second difference between the two of them.Case Closed....
Re: Bogus/cheating Ram Air Ii Do stock shocks come with adjustment knobs on them ? Do control arm bushings have to be stock ?
Re: Bogus/cheating Ram Air Ii No I don't have solid evidence. But a lot of reputable racers been telling me that he was caught a couple motors back using aluminum rods, a knife edge crank, plus a kilgore trans. Now if that is true and some of the P/Stockers heard it right from the horses mouth then he needs to come clean and prove he is complying with the rules. That's all I'm saying. And yes I'm sure that there's other cars that should be looked at, but this one sticks out like a sore thumb. And no I'm not mad because his car is faster than mine. His car should be faster than a stock 1970 GSX / Stage 1
Re: Bogus/cheating Ram Air Ii I don't buy that nobody cares. I think a lot of P/Stockers care except they not comfortable speaking out about it. I'd bet you right now there's a few P/Stockers out there who are biting at the bit to jump right in here. And to tell what they know about Mahonys Firebird. And why they don't just baffles the hell out of me. I know one P/Stocker who races a 1970 Chevelle LS-6 who knows a lot about what was done to Mahonys car and he's not saying a word. Come on jump right in here, this is your chance to speak out. You know who you are. I wish the other two Ram Air II owners would jump in here and voice how they really feel.
Re: Bogus/cheating Ram Air Ii When you get to the top of the heap, the organizers need to heavy tech any car that runs and sounds above what is expected. We were in the trailer last year at Stanton with a good friend and fabricator, he heard that teal bird start up and his comment was, are you kidding me! That thing revs like one of our race cars. He had never even seen the car, so you tell me. I started a post last fall and put it all on the table, it was a good discussion with only pennigton responding, all others were silent. Mahoney and buddy were silent.
Re: Bogus/cheating Ram Air Ii Wow, enough is enough.. Rick will be hard teched as much as necessary at the PSMCR to be deemed legal. As far as I know, out of the top 15 he is the only racer that has been requested by mail to do so. Why go on and on about it?
Re: Bogus/cheating Ram Air Ii Rick has never refused any type of tech and he has stood side by side with every other car in the field when it comes to tech. At Palooza the guy`s who raced the Vette`s were there having a great time and enjoying life, Scott and Rick were working on that Firebird after every pass. I believe the Pontiac should be pulled aside for deep tech but not alone, I think the Firebird is as legal as all the other cars racing.. It`s BS to just pull his car down, WTF.. All the top cars need to be teched, peroid!!!!!
Re: Bogus/cheating Ram Air Ii Why is what Rick's car doing so surprising? Jim Mino was running pretty darned fast decades ago. Jim hasn't done much to his car over the years (until very recently). I've talked to Jim a few times, and he has always maintained that everything is completely "stock", but he has spent considerable time making sure everything involved with going fast is as good as it can be, right down to sorting thru boxes of stamped steel rocker arms to find the ones with the truest ratio (for example). Rick comes along with a "max-effort" build of the same car with an auto trans and starts beating up on everyone, of course they are going to cry "foul". The RAII Firebird is the perfect pure stock candidate. The 68's were light cars, and the RAII used the first production round port heads, with the good factory cast iron high performance exhaust manifolds, basically a heavy set of headers. The intake manifolds are excellent. I found that out back to back testing them against every intake out there that would fit under the hood of my car. After flogging a half dozen intakes at the track on my old engine making 514hp, the stock intake was the overall winner in ET, even though it gave up as much as 2mph to some of the aftermarket single plane offerings. The carburetor they use is EXCELLENT. I have a couple of customers using similiar carbs in Super Stock running mid-9's over 150mph! The 400 cid Pontiac engine has a good bore to stroke, and rod length to stroke ratio. It's not going to throw all it's power on the tires on the staring line, like some of the bigger CID engines do. Obviously, it's a very good combination of torque and HP for that sort of racing. I'm not on here to defend Rick, just making a few points. He chose the right car, and put the funds in the right places, it is going to be winning combination. I can tell you this much about his combo, I did the carb for it, it will pass any inspection by any judge with a microscope. His carb never had the first grinder or sanding roll touch it, it is "as cast", and not "messaged" anyplace, in any way. Sure it has all the things that need to be done to it to support the power level, but it is legal, rest assured about that. Just to give you an example of how dedicated Rick is to the effort. When I built his carb, he asked for a full set of custom machined secondary metering rods, from the same cores, same tip length, and included angle, in .002-.003 incriments so they could put the fuel curve EXACTLY where they wanted it at any track in any weather. Assuming he went after the entire project with that much effort, it's no wonder the car is at the top of the pile!....Cliff
Re: Bogus/cheating Ram Air Ii I agree Dave ,all he top cars need to be teched.Would the tech be able to locate any lightweight internal parts,dont know,just asking.
Re: Bogus/cheating Ram Air Ii Thanks for the input Cliff.I am not as familiar with the ram air advantage.they do have good exhaust manifold for sure.I seen a 50 hp difference in my 396 pure stock motor as compared to the a stock manifold.
Re: Bogus/cheating Ram Air Ii Gentlemen, Dan and Bob have asked that we wait until September to see how the heavy tech process is run, who is looked at, and then judge the process...... can we please do that without the need for moderation ?
