Pontiac Was Banned From Racing, So They Sold the Race Car to the Public Instead.

The order went out in the last full week of January 1963. General Motors is out of racing, not at the end of the season, effective immediately. Down the hall in Pontiac, Michigan sat a room of half assembled race cars and shelves of parts worth more than the cars they bolted into. The executives thought they were closing a racetrack. What they actually did was open a store. Pontiac had been here before, banned once in 1957 and back within a year, because a part printed in the catalog is not racing equipment, it is inventory. We cover the Super Duty 421 that arrived at dealerships in a crate, Fireball Roberts winning the 1962 Daytona 500 from the pole without a single caution, and the 14 Swiss Cheese Catalinas built over the Christmas shutdown with 120 or more holes punched through the frame rails. Then Royal Pontiac in Royal Oak, and the Bobcat tune any man could buy on a Saturday. Which brand ruled your main street. Pontiac, Ford or Chevrolet? Half of you were standing right there. #SuperDuty #Pontiac #SwissCheeseCatalina #RoyalPontiac #DetroitIron