NHRA Record Holder – Pulpaddict

Contrary to popular belief, the first Ponycar was not a Mustang. Plymouth beat Ford, introducing its compact sporty car – ’64 PLYMOUTH BARRACUDA: FIRST PONYCAR – a couple of weeks earlier!

Plymouth introduced its Valiant-based, fastback ’64 PLYMOUTH BARRACUDA: FIRST PONYCAR on April 1^st, 1964, edging out Ford’s Mustang reveal on April 17^th.A few months later in August, Ford showed its competitive 2 2 fastback. Plymouth may have beaten Ford to the marketplace, but it barely dented Ford’s ownership of the Ponycar market segment. The first model year is often referenced as 1964 ½, and the Barracuda barely dented Mustang’s appeal and sales success: 23,443 compared with 126, 538!

Even with its Formula S model with 273/235 powertrain, too many enthusiasts viewed the Barracuda as simply a fastback Valiant. Plymouth was, unquestionably, the underdog, constantly playing catch-up with Ford. The Mustang had established the market segment and offered a proven solid-lifter 289/271 engine option. But Plymouth had a not-so-secret weapon: The Golden Commandos’ Goldfish. Plymouth’s in-house drag-racing engineers – members of the Golden Commandos club – were tasked with building a racecar to raise the performance profile of the Barracuda. With the 273/235 engine, the Barracuda fit right into NHRA’s F/Stock class. Ray Kobe, lubricants engineer and president of the club, assigned engine-building chores to dyno and tuning specialist, Forrest Pitcock.

In June 1965 I spent a couple of hours with Golden Commandos’ John Dallafiore and the Goldfish at the Chelsea Proving Ground drag strip. He was evaluating engine modifications and I was working on a story for the November issue of Hi-Performance CARS. He graciously loaned me his helmet so I could make a few passes in the four-speed Goldfish. With its small-displacement, single-four-barrel engine and 4.89 gears, I shifted at a tick under 6,000 rpm. It felt like a strong mid-14-second car. Three months later, driver and transmission engineer, John Dallafior, won F/Stock at the 1965 NHRA Indy Nationals. He was a considerably quicker and faster than me – 103.68 mph in 13.47 seconds!

After winning Indy, the Goldfish was modified to run in C/Modified Production, including boosting output to 375 horsepower. At the 1965 CARS Magazine S/S and FX Championships at Cecil County Dragoway, Dallafior posted some incredible times in the Goldfish. His best time was an impressive 111 mph in 12.56 seconds! While the Goldfish was originally scheduled for crushing in 1966, it escaped destruction. In 1999 it was discovered by Bruce Lindstrom rotting away in a cow pasture in Kearney, NE. It’s been restored to its former glory, and Lindstrom was inducted into the Mopar Hall of Fame in 2013!

For everything you’ve always wanted to know about the ’64 PLYMOUTH BARRACUDA: FIRST PONYCAR please visit https://over-drive-magazine.com/2024/07/09/1964-plymouth-barracuda-fact-sheet/

Check out 1965 Barracuda details @ https://over-drive-magazine.com/2024/07/10/1965-plymouth-barracuda-fact-sheet/

Back in the day, Motown’s Van Seymour, a GM employee, was a “sleeper” driver of ROYAL PONTIAC’S LIGHTWEIGHT GTO.

Few people even knew that Pontiac built lightweight GTOs for racers across the country. It’s a missing link in Pontiac history. Ace Wilson’s Royal Pontiac was one of the brand’s “connected” dealers and sponsored under-the-radar “sleeper” drivers to promote the dealership and brand on the street and at drag strips. Van Seymour raced his GTO in B/Stock in 1965 and B/MP from 1967 through 1974 and was a NHRA record holder five times!

Royal Pontiac, in Royal Oak, MI, was a big-time national player in the upper ranks of B/Stock, B/Modified Production A/Stock and FX drag racing in the 1960s. Perhaps the best-known driver running a car for Royal was none other than Jim Wangers.

An ad executive promoting Pontiacs during the week, Jim raced Pontiacs from coast to coast on the weekends. Royal also sponsored other independent campaigners on the drag strips of the upper Midwest. One of those stealthy, but none-the-less, talented racers running below the radar was Van Seymour.

Van spent his entire working career in the employ of GM, first for Chevrolet Pressed Metal in Flint, MI, and later at the Pontiac Engineering facility in Pontiac, MI. for GM’s C-P-C Advanced Manufacturing group. However, Van did not drive his whole racing career for GM, as he began by racing Fords in the late-1950s. By 1960, Van was campaigning a Ford Galaxie convertible equipped with a four-barrel 360 horsepower 352 cubic inch big-block emboldened by a Paxton supercharger.

Van’s extraordinary mechanical aptitude soon enabled him to sort out problems with Ford’s new for 1961, 3×2 Holley induction system; problems that Ford’s own engineering experts couldn’t resolve. With a correctly running 3×2 setup installed on his Galaxie, Van was making a name for himself, both inside Ford engineering and on the local drag venues. As Van’s racing career progressed, he found himself on the “ignore” list at Ford, so he played his cards in a developing game at Royal Pontiac. Royal recognized his talents, both driving and mechanical, and signed him on as a “sleeper” driver.

Continue reading ROYAL PONTIAC’S LIGHTWEIGHT GTO @ https://over-drive-magazine.com/2023/03/07/1965-pontiac-gto-keith-seymores-lightweight-royal-gto-is-a-heavyweight-in-feathery-fabric/

Lead GTO photo courtesy of Al Rogers, Freeze Frame Image LLC