2 Consecutive Daytona 500 Pontiac Pole Winners, Different Drivers

04/29/2017 – Having discussed drivers who have won consecutive poles for the Daytona 500, there is also the manufacturer streak to consider (for example, Chevrolet has won the last 5 Daytona 500 poles with 4 different drivers).

While Pontiac was the first manufacturer to win consecutive poles for the Daytona 500 (1960-1963 with Cotton Owens/1960 and Fireball Roberts/1961-1963, a streak of 4 that was not equaled until 1974-1977 with Chevrolet, and then finally beaten with the most recent Chevrolet streak 2013-2017) Pontiac’s last streak of consecutive Daytona 500 poles was 1981-1982 with Bobby Allison and Benny Parsons respectively.

Allison’s pole-winning performance and the accompanying story has been discussed on this blog several times and does not bear repeating.  Parsons’ accomplishment is somewhat less known, possibly due to the fact that he crashed out half-way and didn’t lead a single lap on the day.

Pontiac would go on and win the Daytona 500 pole on 2 more separate occasions, 1993 (Kyle Petty) and 1998 (Bobby Labonte).

 

Upcoming Race at Richmond

04/28/2017 –  Pontiac had reasonable success at Richmond, with 11 wins over the course of the 1960’s, 1980’s, 1990’s, and 2000’s.  The Pontiac Richmond winners are broken down as follows –

• 1960’s 

1961 – Joe Weatherly
1962 – Joe Weatherly
1963 – Joe Weatherly

Pontiac’s 3 victories in this decade were behind Dodge/6, Plymouth/5, Ford/5, but ahead of Chevrolet/1.

• 1980’s

1988 – Neil Bonnett
1989 – Rusty Wallace
1989 – Rusty Wallace

Pontiac’s 3 victories in this decade were behind Chevrolet/10, Ford/5, but ahead of Buick/2.

• 1990’s

1992 – Rusty Wallace
1993 – Rusty Wallace
1999 – Tony Stewart

Pontiac’s 3 victories in this decade were behind Ford/10, Chevrolet/6, but ahead of Oldsmobile/1.

• 2000’s

2001 – Tony Stewart
2002 – Tony Stewart

Pontiac’s 2 victories in this decade were behind Chevrolet/10, Ford/3, Dodge/3, and tied with Toyota/2.

First Win From the Pole – Daytona 500 – Pontiac

04/27/2017 – As we continue – by chance – the theme of pole winners, the Daytona 500, and Fireball Roberts…

Winning the Daytona 500 from the pole is a rare accomplishment and the short list of those who have done so reveals no lucky drivers, but several of the great Cup drivers in history who left their mark(s) on the sport –

• 1962 – Fireball Roberts
• 1966 – Richard Petty
• 1968, 1984 – Cale Yarborough
• 1980 – Buddy Baker
• 1985, 1987 – Bill Elliott
• 1999 – Jeff Gordon
• 2000 – Dale Jarrett

We obviously see that Fireball Roberts was the first driver to accomplish this as he dominated the 1962 race driving Jim Stephens’s 1962 Stephens Pontiac Catalina, leading 144 of 200 laps and leaving his closest competitor – Richard Petty, and the only other finisher on the lead lap – 27 seconds behind.

Fireball Roberts in his Pontiac pours it on, putting Fred Lorenzen in a Holman-Moody Ford a lap down.

 

3 Consecutive Daytona 500 Poles – The Pontiac Angle

04/26/2017 – Young phenom Chase Elliot has made several splashes in the Cup series, not the least of which are his 2 consecutive Daytona 500 poles (2016-2017); there is no doubt that with his obvious talents and the resources offered by Hendrick Motorsports/Chevrolet, one can say with reasonable confidence that young Master Elliot has a very bright future ahead of him.

However, beyond the rarefied air of 2 consecutive Daytona 500 pole winners (in addition to Elliot there is only Buddy Baker 1979-1980/Oldsmobile) there is the more exclusive club of drivers in Cup history that have won 3 consecutive Daytona 500 poles –

• Bill Elliot (1985-1987/Ford)
• Ken Schrader (1988-1990/Chevrolet)
• Fireball Roberts (1961-1963/Pontiac)

This makes Roberts the only driver in Cup’s classic era to have accomplished this feat, and for those that want to be ultra-Pontiac-picky-proud, he did it with a genuine Pontiac V8 under the hood, not a GM/corporate V8.

 

1993 Richmond Pontiac Excitement 400

04/25/2017

Vintage Newspaper Articles, Part II – Cotton Owens Wins For Pontiac

04/24/2017 – …and here’s why.

Vintage Newspaper Articles, Part I – Cotton Owens Signs With Pontiac

04/23/2017 – …and what a fine move by Pontiac this turned out to be.

2003 Pontiac NASCAR Wind Tunnel

04/22/2017 – A picture that I stumbled across on the old Jayski page.  This is reputed to be Cup wind tunnel testing for the 2003 Grand Prix.  I can only surmise that this must have been early on in the development of the racecar as the bumper definitely does not look like what showed up on the track in 2003 (and a few times in 2004).

Johnny Benson Jr at the unveiling of the 2003 Grand Prix racecar, notice the different bumper aspect.

Driver’s First Win Pontiacs; Part VI – Bob Burdick

04/21/2017 – Bob Burdick’s brief, but successful, foray into Cup racing shows the true charm of those early days.  Bob only had 15 career starts, 7 of those in a Pontiac, but one of those Tin Indian starts in 1961 gave him an upset win at Atlanta and forever etched his name in the Cup and Pontiac record books.

Enjoy a great article on Bob Burdick, Nebraska’s racing legend –

http://www.midwestracingarchives.com/2009/10/remembering-champion-bob-burdick.html

Burdick’s 1961 Pontiac, note the fender inscription – ‘Built By Farmers In Nebraska’ .

Driver’s First Win Pontiacs; Part V – David Pearson

04/20/2017 – David Pearson needs no introduction to NASCAR fans, the legendary ‘Silver Fox’ won 105 races in only 574 starts (looking at his career statistics, one could argue that he only ran a true full-time schedule for 5 of the 28 years he raced in Cup), claimed the pole position 113 times, and won 3 Cup Championships (one of which was his astounding 1969 season where he managed to attain 42 top-5’s out of 51 starts).

When mentioning Pearson, the owners/cars he is usually associated with are his great successes with Cotton Owens/Dodge, Holman-Moody/Ford, and the Wood Brothers/Ford, but it was in a Pontiac that Pearson first visited victory lane.

Breaking into Cup in 1960, Pearson campaigned self-owned Chevrolets without much success (he did win his first career pole at Gamecock Speedway, Sumter SC).  The 1961 season started pretty much the same until he he was asked to drive John Masoni’s 1961 Daytona Beach Kennel Club Pontiac for the 1961 World 600 at Charlotte.  Pearson proceeded to dominate the race (starting 3rd but leading by the second lap) leading 225 of 400 laps on the day and putting the rest of the field no less than 2 laps down (despite limping around the final 3 laps with a flat tire).