Congratulations on a great discussion of road racing Pontiac Tempests. As mentioned, there is not a lot of information available on this subject. By way of introduction, I am researching articles on the subject and would welcome any information or leads that anyone has. I can answer some of the questions raised so far:
There were four Tempest entered by Ray Nichols in the 1962 Daytona Continental, two powered by V8's and two by four cylinders. Drivers included Ward, Foyt and Goldsmith as mentioned, the fourth was driven by Harry Heuer. Ward was credited with a 27th place finish, the other three were DNF's. The cars headed the grid based on engine displacement and Foyt did lead the opening lap. The cars were entered at Sebring that year, but did not show up. There are a few small B&W pictures in a 1962 edition of the now defunct magazine Sports Car Graphic.
The 1962 cars were homologated by the FIA for competition, but the Homologation Papers have been lost. We have tried the FIA, ACCUS, SCCA, Daytona archives, NASCAR, every Pontiac expert known, GM Archives, etc, without any luck. Does anyone know where these papers are or where else to look?
In 1963 Paul Goldsmith won the American Challenge Race on Saturday February 16 in a Ray Nichols entered, Tiny Worley prepared LeMans. Conditions were deplorable resulting in a small 14 car field. Goldsmith's luck ran out the next day when he retired early in that year's Continental. The car was powered by a 421 ci carbureted by two Carter four barrels. There are questions about whether the engine was in 62 or 63 configuration. There is also an unconfirmed story that the engine was removed from the car and installed in Lee Roy Yarborough's Studebaker Sportsman to race later that week. The car was allegedly sold to Mercedes for competitive analysis and has not been seen since, despite much searching on both sides of the Atlantic. The late John Sawruk supposedly had documentation of this and either wrote an article about it or lectured about it. Does anyone have anything to confirm this? I believe the story, but as Ronald Reagan used to say "Trust but verify".
The article on the Tempest SD transaxle was on page 42 of the January 2010 issue of Smoke Signals. Shawn, thanks for the kind words.
There is a mention by jpg1843 about the car and Goldsmith competing in a 1963 race at Watkins Glen. My research has not found this, is there any confirming information available?
On the Gray Ghost, a 2000 retrospective in Car and Driver said that the car was sold to Louis Spoerl, a Pontiac/Cadillac/GMC dealer in Cumberland, MD. He raced the car in SCCA events and co-drove a Firebird with Herb Adams at Daytona in 1979 (DNF - Oil Pressure). The article says that the car was restored with Pontiac's help in 1996 and was used in Vintage races in the Midwest, still in the Spoerl family's hands. A friend mentioned seeing the car on static display at a show in Ohio a few years ago, but doesn't remember much else. Anyone know where the car is today?
In response to shadetree30, a photo in the Car and Driver article shows the car with a Casper cartoon on the rear sail panel. I didn't see that in pictures from the 1971 Trans Am season, so maybe Spoerl added it during his ownership.
As mentioned, I am interested in any information or any leads anyone has on these three subjects.
Thanks Mike
