Would you like fries with that, Jim? I think Arlen Vanke drove for Knafel Pontiac way back when, Glasgos can probably clarify that. There was an article in one of the magazines about them being THE Pontiac team before Royal. He won at Indy just a few years ago. Blew everybody's mind.
I remember he drove Pontiacs. I suppose like a lot of the GM drivers he switched to MOPAR once GM shut down support for racing in the early 60s.
I think the light weight of those Mopars starting in 1962 was also a huge factor. They wanted to win! No doubt the lack of factory backing hurt, but a lot of it just went underground and out the back door...GM was kind of like the OCA today that hates racing.... Interesting about the sign about Fords on the door of that one car in the pics. Don't know why, but out East (NJ) seems everybody hated Fords as drag cars at that time. I recall an absolutely gorgeous 62 Ventura named "Veni, Vidi, Vici" at Atco in 1963. It was a mild custom with a 4 speed and really ran good. He was so pissed when a Ford beat him, he slammed the door after the run and used every 4 letter word I'd ever heard as well as some new ones (don't think they were in English)..attracted quite a crowd in the pits and took a lot of ribbing from the GM and Mopar drivers. He finally said, "that's it for racing, it's back to the show circuit for you"...never saw it again...
It was a cult thing. We luv chevies and Panchos! Hate Blue Ovals. Tasca was about the only decent Ford Shop on the East Coast then. Even I ran Pontiacs until I discovered FE Fords.
Tasca was/(is?) wired pretty deep into the top floor of Ford World Headquarters. When they wanted a car built for a family member, the call went out, and the plants snapped to attention.The Probe that we prepped at Flat Rock probably cost AAI 2 to 3 times the cost of a production car...Heard same goes for Ford plants also.
