Pontiac @ Bonneville

Bonneville Salt Flats July 25, 1962

Along with the 421 cubic engine It had a three speed transmission and 3.08:1 rear axle gears, Goodyear 8.00/8.20 x 15 road racing tires. It was fitted with a roll cage to protect the driver. An aluminum radiator was used in place of the car's standard radiator. For the record circle run Mickey shared the driving with Lloyd Cox, a fellow who has done well with Pontiac on the drag strips. Lloyd and Bobby Strahlman had tuned the stocker and gotten it ready for its runs. Bobby is a field Representative for Champion Spark Plug Co.

Mickey and his crew were on the salt at five a.m. Tuesday morning the 25 of July with the stocker, waiting for the sun to come up so they could start flying and standing start straightaway runs. By spacing several timing lights along the ten-mile course, USAC had made it possible for Mickey to try for several records each time he made a one-way run. All records are average speeds of two-way runs but one run from south to north and another from north to south could account for several distances. However, standing-start and flying-starts couldn't be mixed.

After the straightaway runs were completed, the car was taken to Wendover and given a thorough inspection to be sure it was ready for the circle. It was back at 5:00a.m. the next morning. At approximately 5:45 a.m. Mickey accelerated away from the USAC timing stand to start the endurance run, according to the plan, they would run the car until it gave up.

Because of the car's limited fuel capacity and low fuel mileage anticipated at high speeds it was expected to run, a pit stop was to be made every ten or eleven laps for fuel. The car sounded good as it roared by on the first lap and a check of its speed on the second lap showed it to be running 149 mph. At the end of the first ten laps Mickey pulled into the pit area which was just inside the course approximately one-half mile past the timing stand. The car's fuel tank was filled and the engine oil was changed. During the oil change while filling the engine back up with oil, it was spilled onto the red hot headers and started a fire, but a quick blast from a dry powder fire extinguisher the flames were snuffed and no damage was done.

Lloyd took over as driver for the cars's second set of laps and it wasn't until he stormed away that they realized that a goof had been made by stopping at the end of the ten laps, rather than after the eleventh lap, One of the records Mickey was trying for was the standing-start 100 miler. By slowing to stop at the end of 100 miles rather than passing the timing stand at speed he had cut his average speed for the 100 miles by quite a bit.

Ray McMahan and Ken Downs, who were on hand representing Mobil products, measured the quantity of fuel that had been added to the car to check the car's fuel mileage. The car proved to be getting five miles per gallon at 149 mph. It maintained this mileage as long as it run.

During the eleven laps Lloyd drove, the car's lap speeds slowly dropped to just under 147 mph. The engine caught fire again while adding oil but was quickly extinguished and Mickey was on his way after a pit stop of 1 minute and 10 seconds.

At about the three-hour mark the car slowed to lap speeds of approximately 140 mph. This happened while Lloyd was driving and on the next pit stop air was heard escaping from the right rear tire. After a new tire was installed the car was once again on its way.

Mickey signaled on one of his laps that he was going to stop the next time around because the car was not running right, but it was discovered that only two more laps were needed to complete 500 miles and a new record. So Mickey was flagged a message to complete two more laps so he continued on to complete the 500 miles plus an extra lap for safety. When Mickey came in the plugs were changed to try and find out what was making the car slow. The crew decided that the problem must be in the engine's valve action. The pit stop took 4 minutes and 22 seconds.

Mickey stayed in the car while the plugs were being changed and when the car's speed didn't go back up to where it belonged the decision was made to check the valve lash on the left cylinder bank. This was done on a stop that required five minutes and 26 seconds but during the stop word came from the USAC trailer that the car was only two laps from another record distance of 1000 kilometers. Mickey could just as well have gone the extra two laps but actually the five minute pit stop had a very slight effect on the 1000-kilo average speed.

On the next pit stop the right rear tire was soft. This was the one that had been replaced earlier. While it was being replaced the crew pulled the rocker cover off the right cylinder head to adjust the valve lash and discovered one of the intake rocker arm studs was broken. This apparently had happened back at the three-hour mark and the car had been running on seven cylinders since that time. The stud was of the screw-in type rather than the standard press-in type and would have been easy to replace if it hadn't broken flush with the cylinder head.

The tools required to remove the stud weren't on hand so the crew decided to remove the exhaust arm for that cylinder and continue the run. After a certain amount of deliberation pro and con they decided that the best move would have been to leave the exhaust arm as it was. But after a couple of laps Mickey pulled into the pit and parked the car. The time was 11:30 a.m. and the run was over.

Well what started out as a fill in for Mickey (See Last Run For The Challenger) saved the day. Instead of going home empty handed Mickey and Lloyd broke several records which were established in 1957 by a fleet of Fords that were on the salt for several weeks.

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