Full Throttle

This weekends Cup event in Richmond, the Crown Royal Presents the Russell Friedman 400, wasn’t always named as a result of a fan winning a contest for the privilege.

From 1996 through spring of 2003 the event was called the Pontiac Excitement 400 as it was sponsored by the Pontiac division of General Motors.

That’s significant in a number of ways, most importantly Pontiac is no more after being dropped from GM’s model line-up, but in NASCAR terms the Pontiac brand has had a long and storied history in the sport. What follows are a few highlights of that history.

In the early to mid-fifties NASCAR had seen two dominate brands The Fabulous Hudson Hornets run rough-shod over the competition early in the decade before being regulated out of the sport. The Chrysler 300’s of Carl Kiekhaefer decimated starting fields in 1955-56. But a peek into the future also occurred in 1956.

The brand Pontiac first appeared on a NASCAR track in 1956 at Daytona. The legendary Cotton Owens drove a Lou Moore prepared 1956 Pontiac Chiefton sent to Daytona by Semon E. “Bunkie” Knudsen, then General Manager of Pontiac Motor Division. Owens maintained second place behind Tim Flock until a broken fan belt forced him out late in the race.

The following year, Owens returned and won the race this time in a Ray Nichels owned entry.

Owens sat on the pole with a speed of 134.382 mph, a remarkable achievement given the half tarmac half sand racing surface. Equally remarkable was his average winning speed, and still course record, of 101.541. It was Pontiac’s first NASCAR win, National Speed Sport News went to press three days later with the headline that Cotton set a new Daytona record in a ‘57 Pontiac.

Pontiac launched an advertising campaign that rightfully proclaimed, “NASCAR’s Top Award Goes to Pontiac, Undisputed Grand National Champ over all Stock Cars, regardless of Size-Power-Price.”

During the 1961 NASCAR Grand National season, several races were televised, bringing the action home to the fans. There was also a rise in factory representation on the track during the season, which helped to sell cars. Pontiac, the brand that won most of the televised races, showed a sharp increase in sales.

‘61 also saw Ray Fox solidify his place as a legendary engine builder (Having won the previous years Daytona 500 with Junior Johnson). The Sly Old Fox became the first engine builder to win three Superspeedway races that year World 600 at Charlotte, Firecracker 250 at Daytona, and Dixie 400 at Atlanta. He did it with a Pontiac and David Pearson as the driver.

Oddly enough the car was owned, and sponsored by the Daytona Beach Kennel Club. (Greg Biffle would be proud)

Pontiac won its first Manufacturers’ Championship in ‘61 and duplicated the award the following year, the only two times they accomplished that fete in NASCAR history.

Pontiac started the 1962 campaign as they left off in ‘61 with Fireball Roberts leading 144 of 200 laps of the Daytona 500 in a beautiful black & gold Pontiac Catalina. Roberts and Joe Weatherly’s Pontiac also won the 100 mile Daytona pre-lims leading up to the 500.

In all Pontiac won 22 of 53 events, including 7 of the first 8 races, but saw their dominance wain later in the year as Plymouth with Richard Petty at the wheel previewed his history in the sport with 8 wins.

The remainder of the decade saw few Pontiac wins as GM had decided to put all their support behind the Chevy brand. The dearth of wins would continue in the decades of the seventies as not a single Pontiac competed at the top level of the sport.

That changed in the eighties, and it started oddly enough with a crash at Daytona.

Cale Yarborough dominated Speed Weeks setting a speedway record with a 200.503 mph lap on his first lap of qualifying. But on the second, he lost control of his Monte Carlo, getting airborne and flipping upside down (See short video). In addition to wiping out his car, it eliminated his chances at winning the pole.

His back-up car was a Pontiac built for short track racing. Starting eighth in the #28 Hardees Pontiac Cale pulled a classic slingshot on the backstretch on the final lap to beat Bill Elliott, Buddy Baker and Joe Ruttman who crossed the line three-abreast. (Video of the final laps)

Pontiac went on to win 5 Winston Cup events in ‘83 with Richard Petty ( 3) Tim Richmond (1) taking the other checkered flags.

Petty still in a Grand Prix had two wins in 1984 (Dover and the Firecracker 400 his 200th and last win) and Tim Richmond had the other win on a short trsck (North Wilkesboro).

It would be another 3 years before a Pontiac graced victory lane again, Rusty Wallace drove the slope-backed #27 Kodiak Pontiac in 1987, winning on the road courses at Watkins Glen and Riverside.

1988 started strong with Neil Bonnet capturing early spring dates at Richmond and Rockingham N.C. The year finished with Rusty Wallace compiling 6 wins for Pontiac. Rusty’s win at Riverside was the final NASCAR Winston Cup race staged at the venerable Southern California road course.

Rusty, driving for owner Raymond Beadle, tallied the only Pontiac wins in ‘89 with 6 wins (Rockingham, Richmond (2) Bristol, Watkins Glen and Michigan)

Completing the decade of the eighties, Dale Earnhardt won the first sanctioned Busch Series race and first superspeedway event in the history of the series. Dale won the 1982 Goody’s 500 in a Pontiac. Not only that, Earnhardt went on to win nine Busch Series races for Pontiac between 1982 and 1986.

Kyle Petty started 1990 with a win at Rockingham (third in his career) in a Pontiac, Rusty Wallace wouldn’t see the same success as the previous year as he only captured the checkers twice (Charlotte and Sonoma).

Kyle Petty mirrored his Rockingham win in 1991, as did Rusty for a two win season (Bristol and Pocono). The roles were reversed in 1992. Kyle had two wins (Watkins Glen and Rockingham) with Rusty getting a single win at Richmond. 1992 saw the birth of Rusty’s infamous “Midnight” car which ran for 6 total seasons.

Kyle again had a single win in ‘93 at Pocono but it was Rusty Wallace that had a resurgence that year. Drivers Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace battled for the points lead throughout the season, but even Wallace’s late-season rally - winning five of the last eight races and a total of 10 races during the season - was not enough to overcome Earnhardt’s excellence.

!994-95 saw Pontiac go winless as Rusty Wallace had switched to driving Fords.

Bobby Labonte, driving for Petty Enterprises, took the famous #43 Pontiac to it’s single Victory Lane celebration in 1996 at Phoenix in October.

Labonte switched to Joe Gibbs Racing in 97 and won the season ending NAPA Auto Parts 500 at Atlanta. The only other Pontiac win was Bobby Hamilton’s at Rockingham for Petty Enterprises. The following year Labonte was Pontiac’s standard barer with wins at Atlanta and Talladega.

In 1999 John Andretti broke through with his second career Cup win at Martinsville in the Petty Enterprises Pontiac. The bigger story was a battle for supremacy between Joe Gibbs teammates, Bobby Labonte and then rookie Cup driver Tony Stewart. Stewart scored three wins in the #20 Home Depot Grand Prix to Labonte’s 5 wins in the # 18 Interstate Batteries Grand Prix.

Stewart and Labonte again split the Pontiac wins in 2001 with Tony getting the edge 3 wins (Richmond, Sonoma and Bristol) to 2 (Pocono and Atlanta) for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Sterling Marlin, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, and Kurt Busch all remained in contention in the final weeks on 2002. But it was Tony Stewart who would ultimately prevail with consistent finishes and 3 wins for Joe Gibbs and Pontiac. Labonte had single win at Martinsville and Johnny Benson, Jr. also picked-up a single win in the Valvoline sponsored Grand Prix at Rockingham.

Joe Gibbs switched to Chevy at the start of the 2003 season.

that left team owners Gene Haas (Jack Sprague), Larry McClure (Mike Skinner), James Rocco (Johny Benson Jr.), Nelson Bowers (Jerry Nadeau) and Cal Wells (Ricky Craven) to carry on Pontiac’s winning tradition as Pontiac left he sport after 2003.

It was left up to Cal Wells and Driver Ricky Craven to write Pontiac’s final chapter after 47 years of competition at NASCAR’s top level. And what a final chapter it was.

Craven won the March Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington edging out Kurt Busch (See still image below and video above) on the final lap in one of NASCAR’s most exciting finishes ever, with a margin of victory of just 0.002 seconds, a record that still stands.

“The last two laps of the 2003 spring race at Darlington were the kind of thing you only see in movies,” recalled Busch, who was piloting a Ford Taurus for Roush Racing and in the lead on the race’s final lap. “Sometimes a finish is just destiny. That’s what that day was.”

Darlington was Pontiac’s 154th and final win. Good for fifth all-time behind Ford, Chevy, the now dead marquee Plymouth, and perhaps soon to be deceased Dodge. (If the Gov., Fiat and the UAW have their way)

R.I.P. Pontiac, assuming car brands go to Heaven say hello to your namesake Chief Pontiac.