Category: NASCAR

1989 Whitcomb Pontiac – Ken Bouchard

Posted on by Pontiac Racing

02/03/2024 – A rare shot of Ken Bouchard in the Whitcomb Racing Grand Prix at Daytona for 1989’s Speedweeks. Whitcomb was able to eventually secure Simoniz as the race sponsor, so this is capturing the Grand Prix in it’s unsponsored state.  Bouchard wound up finishing a more than respectable 16th (two laps down), but lasted only four more races with Whitcomb (DNQ’ing for race number four) after having an average finishing position of 30th+ following the Daytona 500. Whitcomb replaced Bouchard with Derrike Cope who ran the first five races of the 1989 season in Jim Testa’s #68 Purolator Grand Prix with Cope conveniently taking along the Purolator sponsorship, much to Testa’s chagrin (who never fielded a car again). Cope finished 1989 with Whitcomb with four top-10’s in the Purolator Grand Prix. Cope, of course went on to Daytona 500 glory in 1990 but in a Whitcomb Racing Chevrolet; perhaps the same reskinned car? That short decklid on the Pontiac GM10 body definitely put them at a disadvantage on the superspeedways compared to the other manufacturers.

1994 – Bill Elliot in a Cup Pontiac?

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01/12/2024 – The mid 1990’s were notoriously grim time for Pontiac in Cup, and – to a degree – they appeared to be looking outside of the box for a solution to right the ship after Pontiac ace Rusty Wallace and Penske left the Pontiac camp for Ford at the end of his wildly successful 1993 campaign. This was an article from the web archives –

https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1994/rt9406/940612/06140181.htm

Alternative history image and source –

My McDonald’s Pontiac
byu/Familiar_Delivery790 inNr2003

Readers of the blog recall a similar article from the internet archives was covered by the blog regarding a possible Rudd-Pontiac connection in 1995/1996 (Rudd fans are quick to point out that he had driven a Pontiac in Cup for Richard Childress in the early 1980’s) –

When Ricky Rudd Almost Switched to Pontiac for 1996

PONTIAC TRIES TO FILL ITS GARAGE

While its five Grand Prix teams continue to struggle through a tough year in the Winston Cup series, Pontiac has been courting new teams for the 1995 season with generous offers of factory assistance.

After failing to lure Bill Elliott into the Pontiac fold (he’s contracted to Ford for another year), Pontiac has turned its sights on Ricky Rudd and Dale Jarrett, sources familiar with the discussions report.

Rudd started his own team this year with Ford, and Jarrett is in the GM camp with Chevrolet.

“We have been approached,” Jarrett said Saturday. ”But I would say right now we’re pretty happy where we’re at. Chevy has a new car [Monte Carlo] coming out and [crew chief] Jimmy [Makar] has been working hard with GM on that. So at this particular time I couldn’t foresee us making a change from where we’re at.”

Rudd said he couldn’t comment on whether he has been approached by Pontiac or what his team might do for next year, “but we’d have to have open ears, as would anybody in the sport” to any offers of assistance.

Rudd would seem to be a more likely prospect than Jarrett because he’s in a Ford. Sixth in points, Rudd also is doing the best of the new car owners. While he gets help from Ford, he’s not at the top of Ford’s pecking order.

Pontiac has Kyle Petty, Wally Dallenbach, Bobby Labonte, Michael Waltrip and Bobby Hamilton. The best finish among them in 1994 is Waltrip’s third at Talladega.

Don Taylor, the Winston Cup program manager for GM’s Motorsports Technology Group, said he could not comment on whether Pontiac is courting Rudd and Jarrett. He did say: “I don’t believe Pontiac would want to be in a situation where they’re adding teams just to add teams. Pontiac has had a small number of teams, and the MTG has been working very closely with those teams. Our first priority is working with the existing teams to optimize their performances and get them back in the winner’s circle.”

  Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 12, 1994                   TAG: 9406140181
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LONG POND, PA.                                LENGTH: Medium

2016-2024 – Pontiac Racing Passes 50K Views

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12/29/2023 – The Pontiac Racing blog just passed 50K all-time views. When I first started this blog in 2016, I figured it would be an accomplishment if the blog could possibly (eventually) reach 100 views per month; what a surprise for what truly is a sub-niche of classic NASCAR.

An earnest and heartfelt Thank You to everyone who has stopped by for a peek or a comment/message over the past several years.