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Valiant Pontiac Firebird Drag Races Top Fuel Dragster, Probably Just for Giggles

Because there is nothing sacred across the automotive realm anymore, one can imagine that when it comes to drag racing all sorts of surprises are in order. Such as old Chevy Novas pulling seven-second passes or classic Malibus dipping below the four-second threshold. But when it comes to quarter-mile battles, there’s always an explanation.
Fourth-generation Pontiac Firebird drag races Top Fuel dragster on Shift 10 photos
Photo: Shift / YouTube
Fourth-generation Pontiac Firebird drag races Top Fuel dragster on ShiftFourth-generation Pontiac Firebird drag races Top Fuel dragster on ShiftFourth-generation Pontiac Firebird drag races Top Fuel dragster on ShiftFourth-generation Pontiac Firebird drag races Top Fuel dragster on ShiftFourth-generation Pontiac Firebird drag races Top Fuel dragster on ShiftFourth-generation Pontiac Firebird drag races Top Fuel dragster on ShiftFourth-generation Pontiac Firebird drag races Top Fuel dragster on ShiftFourth-generation Pontiac Firebird drag races Top Fuel dragster on ShiftFourth-generation Pontiac Firebird drag races Top Fuel dragster on Shift
For example, the smoking’ fast Nova had a twin-turbo engine assembly that went up to 20 psi at the strip. Or the fact that it was an eighth of a mile race for the vintage Chevy Malibu, not a regular quarter-mile encounter. And have you noticed how we’re just circling around the General Motors realm for this one?

Well, there’s also a reason for that. Namely the latest video from the good folks over at the Shift channel on YouTube which is simply titled “top fuel dragster vs street car.” That certainly got us intrigued and upon further investigation, we didn’t find anything about the Top Fuel representative. Luckily, there was a little bit of information about its foe – which presented itself as a fourth-generation Pontiac Firebird.

Judging by its no-hood cool looks we even had a glimmer of hope that we’ll end up surprised at the end of the quarter-mile pass. After all, it’s not uncommon for such things to happen. But, then again, in the other lane stood a member of the team of quickest accelerating racing cars in the world. Alas, sometimes the pre-ordained measure of things really doesn’t get stirred up despite our biggest expectations.

That was one of those cases, as the Pontiac tried – and failed – to impress the Top Fuel dragster with a wheelie. Thus, it was only logical that a sizeable gap would occur, and it could be judged that its driver didn’t even push the throttle too much – given the 7.17s (at 185 mph / 298 kph) result. On the other hand, the Firebird didn’t even drop below the 11-second mark... and that’s clearly a shame because we were really expecting a single-digit result.

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About the author: Aurel Niculescu
Aurel Niculescu profile photo

Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution.
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