The Pontiac engine?

[Megatron]

I was thumbing through the Indy 500 records and noticed that in the early 80s, a "Pontiac" engine showed up. Now I know the Buicks were stock block turbos and the Chevys were stock block atmo cars, but what is this Pontiac engine?

[indyracer56]

On my first trip to the speedway in 1987 I remember seeing Sammy Swindell running a red car with a stock block Pontiac engine. I don't think they ever got it up to speed to attempt a qualifying run.

It seems they were stuck around the 204 to 205 range.

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"Don't Drive Faster Then Your Guardian Angel Can Fly!"

[DaveL]

Dan Gurney used a stock block Pontiac V-8 for his 1984 Eagle. The 1987 effort was by John Butera in conjunction with the Machinist Union team.

It was just another attempt at making a stock block pushrod V-8 competitive. There was nothing exotic or interesting about it.

[Racewriter]

The Pontiacs were a small-block Chevy with Brodix heads, that were listed in the Pontiac hi-perf catalog and given a GM part number. There were two types. One was a 23-degree head with revised valve spacing. That one used special rockers and was the Winston Cup head for a number of years. There are still a lot of 'em on Late Models around the country - I had a 406 with a set a few years ago. It would thump.

The other was basically the Brodix -12 head, with 15-degree valve angle. I think this was the one run on the Indy cars, as well as the GTP cars. The -12 is still the most popular head for sprint car engines. Hope this helps.