Month: September 2020

Rare Pontiacs in Cup, Drivers With 1 Career Pontiac Start

Posted on by Pontiac Racing

09/13/2020 – Jim Hurtubise was quite the character, a 4-time winner in AAA/USAC Champ Cars over the course of 22 years and 96 starts, he also accumulated 36 starts over 17 years in NASCAR Cup racing, the highlight being a surprise win in the 1966 Atlanta 500 driving Norm Nelson’s 1966 Plymouth (with sponsorship by Plymouth). Rumor was that Hurtubise carried a wrench with him and lowered his car during the race, tossing it out before the race ended.

A much more forgiving and appealing story about Hurtubise was that after he was badly burned at the Milwaukee Mile for the 1964 Les Mays Classic USAC Champ Car race, he had the surgeons form his terribly damaged hands so that he could grasp a steering wheel. Stories like that, along with his well-known gregarious attitude, made ‘Herk’ (short for Hercules) a fan favorite.

Out of Hurtubise’s 36 Cup starts, he only had 1 in a Pontiac, which was at Riverside International Raceway for the 1963 Riverside 500. Starting a surprising 9th in a field filled with many domestic motorsports heavyweights of the day (not just NASCAR regulars such as Fireball Roberts, Joe Weatherly, Paul Goldsmith, and Richard Petty, but also drivers such as eventual winner Dan Gurney and Troy Ruttman) Hurtubise eventually retired from the race with engine problems after a couple of spins, finishing 27th in his #75 Mountain Meadows Motel 1961 Pontiac Catalina.

Rare Pontiac Paint Schemes, Jimmy Means

Posted on by Pontiac Racing

09/04/2020 – Jimmy Means, one of the hardest working men in NASCAR, campaigned Pontiacs throughout the ’80’s and ’90’s, working multiple small business deals to keep his operation up and running.

Means struck a rare, one-off deal with McGee Trucking to sponsor his #52 Pontiac Grand Prix at the 1993 Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 15, 1993. Starting 31st, Means ran his usual, deliberate race and finished 2 laps down in 25th to winner Mark Martin in the Roush Valvoline Thunderbird (the highest finishing Pontiac on the day was Rusty Wallace in the Penske Grand Prix who finished 6th after starting 10th; Wallace also led 4 laps on the day, the only Pontiac to lead a lap).

This race would be McGee Trucking’s only foray into Cup racing.

While this race was in 1993, it appears Means was using a 1990 model as the Grand Prix’s nose changed slightly starting in 1991.