Blast From The Past 17
Summary
A wheel-standing, tire-smoking, gear-jamming Baby Blue 1962 Pontiac Catalina, Blast From The Past is an awesomely attractive reminder of the how the early 60’s Pontiacs, Fords, Chevrolets and Mopars started the American Muscle Car Era.
Owners and Sponsor
Owned by Larry and Julie Quinn of Springfield, Illinois – sponsored by Prairieland Development LLC/additional support from crew chief Larry Brennan
Driver
A master showman, ‘Crazy’ Larry Quinn is married to Julie and they have three children, Chris, Mark and Melanie along with two grandsons, Matthew and Evan. Quinn is the CEO of Prairieland Development LLC, which manages real estate nationwide.
One of the most popular drivers in NSS and affectionately called ‘Crazy’ for his wheel-standing high-rpm launches and leave nothing in the trailer style, Quinn has been drag racing 43 years and driven most every kind of vehicle, including a 1932 five-window Chevy coupe, a front-motor dragster and a Ford Anglia. Each one of these cars had a manual gearbox and clutch.
In the 1970’s, Quinn ran with the Midwest Pro Stock, Super Comp and Super Gas groups.
History
A 1962 Catalina, Blast From The Past was originally built in the 1980’s by Larry Hammack, who was eventually forced to sell the machine due to health problems.
While attending the Pontiac Oakland Convention at the Quad Cities in the early 1990’s with a red 1963 Pontiac Catalina 421 4-speed car with 19,000 miles on the clock, the Quinn’s heard there was racing scheduled at nearby Cordova Dragway. It didn’t take long for Larry to be making some runs in the stock class, including a 13.80 at 119 mph pass. He also talked with five Pontiac NSS drivers, who were making exhibition runs during the event.
While they were leaving the track, Julie asked her husband how long it was going to be before they had an NSS car. She got the answer three weeks later, when the
Blast From The Past Pontiac was delivered to their shop.
The car has been intensely engineered and raced ever since.
Technical
Butler aluminum block, 482 cubic inches/Wentzler heads/Hogan intake manifold with two in-line Carter carbs/Liberty 4-speed manual transmission/Boninfante clutch/Ford 9-inch rear member, 5.43 ratio/ Blast From The Past weighs 3,000 pounds with driver/gear changes are made at 8,200 rpm
Performance
For ¼-mile, runs on 9.00 AA/FX index at 150 mph / for 1/8-mile, 5.70’s/ all-time bests, for ¼-mile, 8.95 and 151 mph; for 1/8-mile, 5.66
Results/Achievements
Set event low ET record, 8.95, under National Muscle Car Association NSS rules during the Dave Duell Classic NSS Nationals at Gateway International Raceway (St. Louis) September 2007/many magazine feature stories