I was recently speaking with friend and fellow-author, Don Keefe (who is also Editor in Chief of Poncho Perfection magazine) about a project he recently took on. He‘s authoring a new book on Pontiac Drag Racing History for Cartech Books and its slated availability is midyear 2023. If you know anything of Don and his work, the book will be nothing short of spectacular.
I was telling Don about some vintage photos in my collection of Pontiacs on the drag strip that I believed might be useful for his project. One such image (a 4 x 5-inch negative) shows a young man proudly poised before his 1961 Ventura with a hood-full of trophies. It’s obvious that this person was celebrating his numerous victories and the massive trophy at center suggested that whatever organization awarded it considered the victory a major accomplishment.
This photograph has been in my collection for several years, but I hadn’t had a chance to investigate its significance. The collection of trophies suggested that the person and his ‘61 Pontiac were highly successful. I figured it would be of interest to Don Keefe, who is writing a book on Pontiac Drag Racing History, so I scanned it for him.
The photo negative has been in my collection for several years, but I hadn’t had the chance to scan it and look closer. I figured that scanning images for Don was the perfect excuse for me to do so. With the image at maximum resolution on my computer screen, I could clearly see the plaque on the three-foot-tall trophy read “NHRA 1962 Nationals—Champion Award Class Winner.” Knowing that an NHRA National event class win was no small feat and a complete listing of 1962 class winners is likely documented somewhere, I began scouring my resources hoping to learn more about this person and his Pontiac.
A full resolution review of the photo revealed that the largest trophy was Champion Award from NHRA’s 1962 Nationals.
It didn’t take long to I find complete event coverage of NHRA’s 1962 National Championship Drags—held in Indianapolis over Labor Day weekend—in the November 1962 issue of Hot Rod magazine. The Hot Rod team provided 12 wonderfully detailed pages that included editorial copy, photos, and complete results. From it, I learned that the young man was Ralph Hardt of Croydon, Pennsylvania and his 389-powered 1961 Ventura—named Candy Blue—was the A/Stock Automatic Class Champion with an elapsed time of 14.43 seconds at a trap speed of 98.79 mph. There was even a picture of Ralph and his Pontiac presumably making its winning pass.
This photo and caption from the November 1962 issue of Hot Rod magazine confirms that Ralph Hardt and his ‘61 Pontiac took top honors in the A/SA class with an ET of 14.43 at 98.79 mph (bottom photo). Notice Carol Cox and her ‘61 Pontiac (middle photo) claimed the S/SA title. Her husband, Lloyd Cox, (not shown) also took top honors in the A/FX class with his ‘62 Pontiac.
What occurs so often to me when studying various Pontiac images in my collection, what was once simply a snapshot of a person and his car that might otherwise be lost to time, this image took on new meaning. There, stood NHRA National Champion Ralph Hardt of Croydon, Pennsylvania—a real person—and his 1961 Ventura proved the quickest A/SA contestant in the country for 1962. The more I stared at the image, the more I appreciated his accomplishment and even gained an informal personal connection to Ralph.
Hot Rod magazine’s 12-page spread covering the 1962 event in its November 1962 issue includes a complete listing of class winners. Note that Ralph and Carol’s 1961 Pontiacs are erroneously listed as 1962 models. In the hotly-contested Stock classes Pontiac claimed top honors in S/S, S/SA, A/SA, B/SA, C/SA, and G/SA. This success is what catapulted Pontiac’s performance image with likeminded consumers.
With Pontiac a discontinued brand, it’s our duty to educate future generations about the times when dragstrip competition was fierce and every automaker was trying to find an edge on the next, yet any person could walk into a Pontiac dealer, purchase a new Pontiac, compete in its appropriate NHRA Stock class, and walk away as a National Champion. That is how seriously Pontiac took winning during the early 1960s!
Local area newspaper The Bristol Courier and Levittown Times wrote a wonderful article about Ralph Hardt and his Pontiac’s overwhelming success in its September 29, 1962 edition. Not only was he an NHRA National Champion, he and his Pontiac competed (and won) at Daytona Beach in NASCAR 1961 events!