I thought Ford Thunderbolts ran low 11s ... maybe very high 10s. Would love to see a GS Stage 2 vs. a Ford Thunderbolt.
Thumper ran a heads up challenge against a max wedge 426 Mopar at our first Penn-Ohio meet in Columbus. We were there the same weekend as the Mopar Nationals and National Trails gave us one lane for running our Buicks. Bill Wills arranged a race between me and their quickest car. First race I was a tenth quicker and took the stripe.; 2nd race he redlighted trying to make up the tenth. So 2 out of 3 went to the Buicks. They were surprised but good sports about it.
Never heard that story Gary. What year was that? probably in the 80s?? You might have started the whole "Buicks run like they are tied to a tree" thing from the Mopar boys....
Lon,that had to be around 1987. Bill Wills or his brother would probably remember better than me. Rich Lassiter kicked a hemi's butt with his street "blue" stage1, after a radio personality said Buicks run like their tied to a tree.The challenge was made and The Race was covered by a magazine.Prompted 2 later races , Buick lost 2nd but prevailed in the 3rd. Hemi loaded up after getting beat in first round with some lame excuse and left.
There is a fuzzy video of Lassiter's race . Don't remember where I viewed it. Anyone else view it ???? and maybe post it . Bill
That first race took place in Gainesville Florida in 1984 I believe. I was there quite by accident and it's what got me interested in Buick GSs. I bought my Son his first car, a 1972 GS350 shortly after that followed by my first GS, a 1970 GS455 Convertible.
That Hemi (I believe, GTX) was owned and driven/raced by ...... Roy Badie (then, a local radio D.J.). Neither car was stock, but they were stock appearing (and all were up front about this). Badie's quote on the air was, "Buicks run like their tied to a tree!" Rich Lassiter was a little irritated and offered up Ol' Blue for a heads-up challenge. I was told Roy eventually became a good sport about it ... but it took awhile. The following Mopar cohorts made sure the Hemis in the following races had a number of racing parts simply b/c Mopar carried part numbers for pistons, rods and cams. A story in the vein of 'David vs. Goliath'.
I still have a unmolested extra set of st2’s with Kustom headers I display with my unmolested st2 heads. There still out there!
They may be out there, but we're not hearing much! I'm a Flintoid and spent much time "running around" in the mid '80s. Often a customer at Kustom, Lunkas was there at the time. I was always curious about who they got to do the S2 headers...he was more interested in selling me the stuff in the shop there. Devon
And if anyone ever remembers a silver '63 'vette taking money back then on James P Blvd, it wasn't me. 302DZ with many mods. Now THAT was fun, but got over it after Lunkas died doing the same. Devon
How many sets do you all think are left from the original run that are now either in someone's garage sitting on a shelf, or on a car?
Oh, that's fun to think about. But how many sets? If one broke, how many "singles" are rusting away somewhere? Did some get welded up, and beat to death even after that? The fact that we've got 50 years since then and even some of the prototype stuff is still out there is pretty amazing. Devon
It seems like a very large % of them are still out there. Probably 10% (?) just in this thread. I'm amazed at the price they still command given the availability of aluminum.
I think it's more of a nostalgia and history thing now. Not all the GM divisions were in play, I was Pontiac crazy in the early '80s and read about Pontiac's RA IV round port heads. I think the die-hards at Buick were trying to catch this wind. Chevrolet and Pontiac were at the forefront in the late '60's. Pontiac's RA V heads are akin to Buick's Stage 2 heads "wannabe" status. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in those days. You have gearheads born in the '40's who were racing their dad's cars when he wasn't looking, went to school and the results are what we're messing with 60 years later! Devon
On that note, I have audio from my late grandfather who passed in '64 before I could meet him. He and family wrote (recorded, reel-reel) to his kid who was USAF England at the time. Grandpa was burgess (mayor) of the town. It was a Happy Birthday recording, and a bit of tongue-in-cheek chastising, too. Complaining about cameras these days? How about a phone call from the Chief of Police from the next county saying "Hi John, saw your car over here, going pretty fast with another lagging behind". Uncle Tom didn't get driving rights from dad for a loooong time after that. Took some time to get the details, but it sounds like Grandpa had a warmed over '49 Merc, and uncle Tom just couldn't resist. Devon
Anyway, consider the times. That Buick even stepped up w/GSX is amazing, way out of the norm for the brand. Devon
