My Pontiac Story

[Keith Seymore]

October 2009:

Found this at Mom's house today. I had been looking for it for quite some time (but not in the right spot, apparently):







Some of you might remember that Ubly Dragway was in the mainstream news about a year ago, as a result of this:

[Keith Seymore]

How We Met Jim Wangers

It occurs to me that I haven't yet told you how we first met Jim Wangers, a very long time ago. I hadn't shared this yet because I wanted to make sure I did so in a way that paid him the appropriate amount of respect, as an icon of the era, that he deserves. I think I am ready to do so now.

I may have mentioned that my Dad had started to record his thoughts and recollections in a yellow legal pad. He made it through about 20 pages of handwritten notes, starting with the early 60's up through the end of 1963, before his passing. I was sitting here, re-reading those notes, when it occurred to me: why should I reconstruct and editorialize and summarize when it's already here in front of me? Perhaps I should let "him" tell this story in "his own" words...

So - here we go - "How we met Jim Wangers", as told by Van Seymore:
[my comments are in brackets - K]


"My first encounter with Royal was by accident. They came to Central Michigan Dragway [now Mid Michigan Motorplex, in Stanton Michigan] on the second or third Sunday in September of 1960. Wangers was fresh off his Stock Eliminator win at Detroit Dragway. On this Sunday they had the Maroon car 'Hot Chief 1' (the car that took Stock Eliminator), [Dick] Jesse's white automatic 'Hot Chief #2', and a blue car.



"At this time I was racing a Ford; it was the first 360 HP delivered in Michigan and at this time it had the three Holley two barrel set up on it and was running as a 375 HP (with a letter from Ford).







"Steve French was the Tech Director and flag man at Central and I knew how to read him. As time trials opened Jim brought the Hot Chief #1 to the line and I came up in the left lane in my car. Steve would look at the right lane and then the left, and when the person in the left lane nodded the flag came up. By knowing this I was gone and I don't think I beat Wangers as much as I startled him so bad he couldn't catch me, but he sure sailed by me at the end of the quarter.

"When we returned to the pits Frank [Rediker] and Jesse were laughing so hard they were almost rolling on the ground. Wangers sure didn't see any humor in it and he came over to where I was parked and said 'I bet you can't do that again!' I was feeling kind of cocky so I said 'Sure I can'. We lined up again, in the same lanes, and although I didn't beat him by as much I still got to the end of the quarter first.

"By now Frank and Dick were laughing so hard they could hardly stand it. Jim came back over to where we were parked and said 'You can't beat the blue car!'. He sure was right, it didn't matter if I knew the flagman or not, he beat me that run.

"Later, I asked Frank about the engine in the Blue car and his comment was 'it's not quite stock'. I never did find out what 'not quite stock' meant."

[Keith Seymore]

One more:


"Early in 1961 I saw Royal at Detroit Dragway with the '61 cars. This was probably the sharpest looking race set up ever. The tow cars were red with white racing stripes and the race cars were white with red racing stripes. Wangers was trying to come up with a Royal package and was trying different paint combinations and Frank was working on an engine tune. I think a couple of cars were sold in '61 with body colored aluminum wheels and maybe racing stripes.



"Later in the summer I saw Jesse at a drag strip and he asked me if I was ready to switch to Pontiac. At this time Dave Evans and Dennis Gray from Ford were pretty active in drag racing. I had a crank at Larry Jewell's in Inkster and a block at Jack Conley's in Brighton and was building a 428 ci engine to run. When I told Jesse that I was going to stay with Ford for a while (this is a Chevrolet Die Maker who can't get a thing out of Chevrolet but could race for Ford or Pontiac) he said ok, but that he had sold the car he had been using as a demo and for me to come down the next day to see it.

"So on Monday I made my first trip to Royal Pontiac . When I got there a mechanic named 'Charlie' [Brumfield] had just finished bringing the engine up to 368 HP spec and a guy named Mack was working on the Slim Jim transmission. It was a white Catalina with a white interior and aluminum wheels. Jesse said 'it's ready for delivery, go with Mack to test it'. Being young and innocent I said ok.

"When Mack fired it up it sure did sound good. He drove to Stephenson Highway and stopped at 14 Mile Rd in front of Jim Robbins Co [it's an industrial park now; I drive past it every day ]. I have been on some rides with street racers, Jim Wangers and Dick Jesse included, but never for a ride like this. When we got back to Royal and everyone was laughing and Jesse asked how the ride was, then I knew I had just 'been had' and that racing with Royal would be a lot of fun."

[Keith Seymore]

More recollections by Van Seymore:

"I saw Jesse again about twice before the season ended and again at the Autorama at Cobo Hall in January. He said the '62 program was under way and that it was going to be great. He said that Pontiac had built six Super Duty cars before Christmas.

"I got a phone call the middle of the next week and Jesse was more hyper than usual. Pontiac was trying to get the people at Daytona, especially Smokey Yunick, to run the new 421. The stock car guys didn't believe the Pontiac engineers when they said the 4" stroke would go 500 miles. According to Jesse an agreement was reached: the four cars with the 4 bbl engines were moved to Royal and if the cars would run from Royal Oak to Daytona then Smokey would run the 421 (this was something that everyone except Smokey agreed on). The day Jesse called me he had just turned the cars over to Fireball, Paul Goldsmith (who was still living in the Detroit area) and another two drivers. The cars made it to Daytona, Smokey got more horsepower out of the 421 than anyone thought possible; he and Fireball sat on the Pole, won one of the short races and won the 500".

[Keith Seymore]

Some insights into Dick Jesse:

"One of the drag cars was at Royal at the same time and was being tuned [so that it would be "stock"! ] and painted the way Wangers wanted it to be. It was given a Bobcat paint job and Charlie checked the engine, the lash on the valves, the carb jetting, pulled the fuel filter and replaced the distributor with one Frank had reworked.

"In a conversation with Jesse he said that Gil Kohn was going to let Royal use Detroit Dragway for the test and I came down I could go with him. I remembered it being on a Monday morning but in a conversation with Roger Huntington he said no, we met on a Sunday. I can also remember being in a hurry to get back to Flint to go to work so that would explain that (Sunday was double time!).

"In 1960 Standard Oil came out with the Atlas Bucron and it was better than a lot of the recap slicks were. Vogue had a good tire, too. Jim had Vogue tires on the car for Royal but they changed to the Bucron's at the strip but it was cold and he had traction problems. I stayed to watch a few runs and Roger was making the runs with Wangers and then I left. Jack Watson was still working for Pontiac at this time and had a '61 with a 421 in it and I think he gave me a ride back to Royal Oak.

"The test car was very impressive in looks, too. I thought '...this is a race car?'. Power radio antenna, the interior even the steering wheel was deluxe and with the Royal paint it was a pretty car.




"As pretty as this car was and even the way it ran this was not the car campaigned in 1962. I think this car stayed in the Detroit area in 1962 and Royal had a big display at the Autorama in January of 1963 with a car in it and I think it was this car, the one used the previous January for the road test.

"In 1962 Royal cut back and only campaigned one car, a red 4 speed car. I kidded Jesse and said it was because Pontiac didn't build any automatics so he could drive one. But at one time Royal had a line of Super Duty's that extended the whole length of the north side of the agency and one of them was a red automatic. Jesse and the other salesmen were concerned about what they were going to do with an automatic. Jesse sold this car but the buyer wanted to see it at the strip and Jesse took it to Motor City [Dragway] and again it was a Sunday when I happened to be there. Jesse asked me if I wanted to make a pass and I said 'sure'. Later he told me I sold the car for him because he told the other guy that I was interested and going to buy it."

[Keith Seymore]

Early Bobcats & Super Dutys:

"In this late 1961 early 1962 time frame is when everything began to fall into place for Jim Wangers, Frank Rediker and Royal for the Royal Bobcat package. Wangers came up with a B-O-B from a Bonneville and a C-A-T from a Catalina, a special paint scheme and Frank had a tune-up to raise the horsepower from 348 to 370. The Royal Bobcat had officially arrived and it was one sharp looking automobile.

"This was the summer when I was trying to decide which way to go. Ford said a car would be available and by now my car was 2 years old and becoming very dated. None of the promises they had made were kept.

"When the '63's came out Ford had lightweight cars but they just went to the big name people at the start of the year and again the same promise: '...wait until the middle of the year'. Chevrolets were very limited and went to 'name' drivers only and an off the floor 409 left a little to be desired. So if you wanted to have a competitive car for 1963 it came down to going to your local Dodge/Plymouth dealer or Pontiac was building and selling Super Duty's.

"Pontiac was giving the Swiss Cheese Catalinas and the Tempest Super Duty's to their 'name' drivers but the Super Duty engine was available to everyone in a steel Catalina. Pontiac built a lot of combinations in '63: I saw cars with an aluminum hood only, with an aluminum front bumper and one car with an aluminum front clip but steel inner fenders. There were also Grand Prix's mixed in with Super Duty engines."

[Keith Seymore]

Dad buys his first Pontiac:

"Over the years now Dick Jesse and I had become good friends even if I had not bought a car from him. When the '63 introduction date came along I went to Royal to look at the new cars and I went down to talk about buying a car.

"The car I wanted to buy was a '62 Super Duty with the aluminum package and it was a red exterior with a black interior. Jesse and I talked about it and he told me to wait on a '63; that he could have to sell me a '62 but he might be able to get a '63 at a better price.

"We were standing in the door to the service department, by Charlie's stall talking and Jesse was telling me about the '63 cars and program when Wangers walked up. When he heard what Jesse was telling me he told Jesse not to talk about it yet, that it wasn't to be talked about.

"A short time after this Jesse called and said for me to come down that he had a car for me. When I went down to Royal and walked around the Service Department and looked at the white Tempest Wagon and [Lemans] coupe sitting at the end of the body shop there wasn't anything outstanding about either car and, until he started the coupe, I thought he was serious. When he started the engine and the fenders started to shake I knew there was no way he could get me a car like that. He laughed and said that those were 'shooters' cars* and that the wagon was his. The only thing I got on him was that they had to build an automatic so that he could drive it.



* [the coupe being discussed was George Delorean's car]




"He said there was still hope. He had a car at Engineering to show me so we went to Pontiac Engineering on Joslyn [Avenue in Pontiac Michigan]. Dick already had it cleared through Security and we drove to the back of the parking lot and there it sat. It was a Nocturne blue Catalina with aluminum wheels and white wall tires and most important of all 421 emblems on the front fenders.

"Dick said that Pontiac really wanted to get the 370 HP 421 out and in a Catalina it was in 'B' stock but it was in the bottom of the class. The car we were looking at was a regular Catalina (production body and frame) with what he called a 'carryover' aluminum package: aluminum hood, fenders, deck lid and bumpers but the inner fenders and braces were steel. The car was light enough to be at the top of 'B' stock. But they didn't want it in 'A' stock as it wouldn't run against a Super Duty [Swiss Cheese] Catalina.

"My first thoughts were 'well, this is another wasted trip because I would never get this car, either'. But in less than a week Dick called and said that the car was at Royal and in the paint shop.

"Somehow in the process of getting the car for me Dick even contacted Jim Wangers. This was the first car to receive the Bobcat [appearance] package and people at Royal said that Wangers took a very personal interest in it. The painter in the body shop was the only person able to paint body color on aluminum wheels and get it to stay. This car received the ultimate Bobcat paint, along the rain gutters, along the side spear, silver in the grille and on the deck lid. The wheels alone were a work of art - painted body color with the ribs polished aluminum and the loops on the rims painted white.



Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj0M4...eature=related (thanks to Mike Noun)