In my previous post, I stated that we had only encountered one Stage 1 in all of our many late night runs. It wasn't our only run in with a GS, however. Our elderly high school guidance counsler had a beautiful Harvest Gold 70 GS 350. It had a white vinyl top with white interior. The car sat out in front of school looking like any other teacher's ride. It even had hubcaps and white walls-no road wheels here. It was sold about 1983 to another friend of mine who had very little appreciation for the old car. One night, in another friend's 82 Z28 ( there were 4 of us with the then-new 3rd gen F bodies ) we met up at the local shop and rob for a few brews. The race was on. I warned my friend Mark that the Buick would probably stomp us, having witnessed the carnage of the Stage 1 vs Z28 duel in round one. Mark was a proud, cocky liitle dude, and he just knew that his Maroon over silver, Cross Fire fuel injected Z would have no trouble with the grandpa GS, still sporting hubcaps and all. I was, once again, riding shotgun in this Camaro, and we went from a dry stop. The GS had a definite disadvantage, as it had little 5 inch wide whitewalls vs the fairly sticky Goodyear Eagle GT's on the Camaro. The combination of an excellent chassis with moderate power allowed us to torque the Z against the brakes, while the Buick left off idle. Well, the Z immediately jumped out a half car on the GS, as we hooked and the Buick hazed the whitewalls. I took my eyes off the GS just long enough to glance over at Mark who was now smiling like a fool at his victory in the making. Then the Buick hooked. I turned back just as the Buick motor bogged slightly as the tires grabbed the concrete at about 20-30mph. The old GS swapped leads in a split second, seemingly jumping forward. As the GS350 picked up second, the lead broadened to a solid two cars, and there it stayed. We ran a few more times from a slow roll, with the same results. The Buick would grab a solid 1-2 car lead and hold it. It couldn't pull and extra inch, and we couldn't stop it from rolling out on us. Mark was peeved. I couldn't help but say " I told you so!'" The GS 350 is an often forgotten muscle car, but, in its class, was as good as anyone could hope. I think this particular car was stolen not long after our races, but just as well. The owner was trying to destroy the old car, and, at least, I didn't have to watch that happen. Thanks, Rudy E
