https://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20150622/NEWS/150629818 And the last race https://www.hotrod.com/articles/hrdp-0702-hemi-vs-buick/ I feel old
This goes on all the time.The third meet between Buick and a Hemy Cuda was in Canada,they where supposed be driven to the track,but the Cuda show'd up on a trailer.Buick guy's did not put up much fight and the race was on.The first race the Cuda red lighted and the Buick ran him down on the 1/8 on a mile.With that,the Cuda,without any reasons went on the trailer,and that was it.I never had any problems with Hemy's or otherwise,just ask the older guy's around here,they still remember my car.By the way,my next door neighbor's daughter's husband was a big Cuda fan,and his brother bought a 1970 brand new Cuda.He remarked to me one day that his brother never lost a race to any Chevy,Pontiac,Ford,or Olds.I said to him: Did he have race a Buick? Yes,once,but that was a strange car!That was the only car that ever beat him,but that was only once.To which i said;Did he aver race any other Buicks?No,he said,to which I replied : That's why he only lost once. Do we remember with all things being equal.on the shootout between the 6 major makes,all things being equal,the Buick came out with 27 horses more then Chrisler and the rest followed.Then they went from a 750 carb to a 850 carb,all 5 made less horsepower ,Buick made another 25 horses.Something to think about.By the way,Jim Here was [I think ] the builder for Buick.Bruno.
I have to laugh that nobody caught-on who the folks are in “Nick’s Garage”. They are Mopar guys from Montreal. Jar anyone’s memory yet?
Bruno I don't understand the last part... "Do we remember with all things being equal.on the shootout between the 6 major makes,all things being equal,the Buick came out with 27 horses more then Chrisler and the rest followed.Then they went from a 750 carb to a 850 carb,all 5 made less horsepower ,Buick made another 25 horses.Something to think about.By the way,Jim Here was [I think ] the builder for Buick.Bruno." I know now at FAST races, I have read at fourms of racers asking where are the Buicks gone. They said they caught up passed them.
I'm confident that this will go on until the end of time. Buick and Mopar will without a doubt take turns winning each time another match race surfaces.
A lot of the cars are not totally stock...lots of internal mods....it's gotten crazy. When I was racing my X in the early 80s there were still cars with original engines with little or no mods. I would run stock Hemis such as 69 Charger 500 with 3.23 or 3.55 gears and I could hold them off until half track but but the 1/4 they would often drive by me. Hard to compete against a race motor with dual quads...... Sorry but that's just the way it was....
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/big-block-engines If you talk to Greg Gessler, the answer is we reached the limits of the stock block, simple as that.
On the street, in light to light encounters, torque is king if you can hook it. That's where the Buick 455 got it's reputation. We are talking light to light action here guys. The Stage 1 GS with that BB transmission would go down into 1st gear from 35 MPH and under.
I don't think I have hit the limit of the stock block, A Buick 455 F.A.S.T. car can definitely go faster than I have gone. My car was very old school and basic. It just takes a lot of time, work and $$$. If anyone is interested in funding a F.A.S.T. project, please contact me.
Julian,hope this helps.The magazine sponsored meet required the 6 big blocks to be fairly equal,about the same compression,aluminum heads,one carb [ the 750 ].A ll of these motors were built by a machine shop that specialized on that make.Ours I think Jim Weise from here was the maker of the Buick motor.All the motors went on the dino,all used a Quick Fuel carb rated at 750 cfm.Lets not forget,at that time the only head for the Buick was TA's,most of the others had a choice of different heads.At the end Buick had about 27 horses more then the closest rival,the 440 Mopar,Chevy followed, then Ford,Pontiac,Olds.Then they decided to find out what a bigger carb would do.As I stated before,Buick was the only one that gained another 25 HP,all the others lost HP.Hope this kind of clarifies what I stated before.I just had in mind that we all new about this,but a lot of you guy's are too young,and came here later.We actually don't go around bragging about it all the time. Bruno.
I guess I remembered wrong. I thought it was because you had reached the limit compared to the other makes. Was your best about 10.95?
Greg, I agree that the block is not the limiting factor. It’s not a great platform relative to others, but it is woefully sufficient, at least for a little while. Knowing what you know, where would you concentrate your efforts? Heads? Intake? The car??
Back in the early 90'S Duane's GSX was running 11:70'S and with that same combo Duane raced the Hemi 'Cuda in "round three" of the Hemi shoot outs. It looked 100% + stock for that race and still does today . In 1997 The GSX ran 11:40 in BG . Several decades ago,we worked with Bob Lindquist and built a stock appearing Silver Stage 1 car, it was running 11:0'S the last time it was out, That was at Indy in the August heat, Rob Ross was driving the car. Bob Lindquist sold the car right after that. Long gone now. The limits are far from being reached for BUICK stockers. Duane's GSX has been sitting in storage for about a decade now. Not even being driven. We always think of taking it back out of the moth balls, and building a new combo for it. We don't have the time space or resources. The shop is always FULL with customers projects. And even now we are booked solid with several years of work ahead of us. So when can we find the time or the resources to reconfigure the combo on the GSX ? It too is basic old school. The engine is 25 years old !! It is NOT that GS "can't be competitive" in Sock Appearing TODAY. It's like Greg says.
My all metal car,with SI heads,done by Gessler,a solid cam [TA 308 ],in 1993 at Englishtown with a 462 [30 over]my car ran 10,27,then a month later we went to Atco and the best run was 10.22.This with 10 inch tires,as the back was stock.This is all in the our club newsletter.I drove that car all over.as it was street legal.Bruno.
Bob, I would concentrate on all 3. Better heads are almost always a plus, the intake is really just an extension of the intake port. A lighter car with less weight up front is a big help. If your goal is to try and be competitive with the 9 second cars you really need to look at and optimize everything. The Buick still has more to go in the F.A.S.T. world, but it's really in a different league than some of the other makes. There is a very well prepared F.A.S.T. Pontiac Firebird that has run a 9.99. With enough hard work amazing things are possible..You just need the right person with the determination to do it. Larry, yes 10.95 was the best.
Rock N Roll GSX (Keith) touched upon it. The Hemi Cuda in shootout #3 that got beat by the GSX (Keith’s brother Duane’s car) was the folk’s at Nick’s Garage’s Hemi Cuda. The Cuda red-lighted, and Duane ran by him anyway. Nick’s Garage packed it in after one race.
