by Jack
Grampa was a retired and as a hobby he enjoyed keeping his old Buick just as pretty as it was the day he bought it. He loved that car and it seemed like he was always tinkering under the hood just for the fun of it.
Well, as the story goes, it was late one evening around 11 pm and Grandpa was returning home from the Elks Club. He pulled up to a stop light at 4 lane intersection and there he waited for the light to change. Not a car in sight, no traffic in front, right or left of him. Then he heard screeching tires and looked into his mirror noticed a car coming around the last corner. He watched in the mirror as the car’s headlights closed on him and then the driver pulled into the fast lane and the speedy driver pulled up bumper to bumper with the Buick. 
He looked at the sleek red BMW coupe and then he glanced at the car’s two occupants. They were grinning like Cheshire cats and looking right at him! The passenger gave a head nod as if to say let’s race. The driver gunned his engine, which momentarily drowned out their loud rap music. The driver bumped the clutch and braked at the same time, causing the BMW to lurch forward a few inches. Was Grampa was being taunted into a street race?
The driver repeated this lurching movement and again, revved his engine. But, Grampa just looked straight ahead now, choosing to ignore these two young men. Then he glanced down for a quick look at his seat belt then back to the street, his eyes scanning in all directions. The street was still empty except the BMW and the Buick as the passenger rolled down his window, “C’mon old man, go for it!” And the men both laughed again, but Grampa only tightened his lips, looked straight ahead and gripped the steering wheel a little tighter.
The light finally turned green and the BMW literally leaped out of it’s tracks, as the powerful 4 cylinder engine churned blue-white wheel smoke from under the front fender wells! The driver was already throwing it into second gear before Grampa’s Buick even rolled across the crosswalk.
When the BMW was about 100 yards out Grampa dropped the hammer and put went pedal to the metal. The Buick came alive with a mighty roar and its front wheels lifted 6 inches off the pavement as it launched. The G force pushed Grampa back into the black leather bucket seat, his right hand was now on shifter that was hooked to a 4 speed B&M hydro. The Buick’s tachometer shot to 6900 RPM before each shift. They were barely midway into the next block and the Buick was already 6 car lengths ahead of the new Beamer. Then, just as suddenly as their defeat happened, ol Gramps was shutting her down, coming off 100 mph in just over 6 seconds flat.
The stunned occupants of the BMW could only stare in disbelief. This was a classic jaw dropping moment. This ol Buick had taken on a whole new persona of a hulking black metal monster, one that had just taught them a lesson about respecting one’s elders, both in terms of the car and the driver!
The occupants of the Beamer had enough. They made a left turn at the next intersection, slinking away into the night… in total humiliation.
What they didn’t know was, Grampa wasn’t driving just any ordinary old Buick. This was a highly modified Buick Grand National from 1986. It came stock with a high performance McLaren turbo-charger mated to a powerful V6. But, over the years Grampa improved and improved on this road rocket until he had some serious major horsepower under the hood. He once ran his Buick in the NHRA super stocker class where it turned a low 8 second quarter-mile with a speed of 162 mph. The BMW wasn’t even a good contest with its puny 14 second ET’s.
The Grand National is considered among the rarest of the rare, and perhaps the most sought-after muscle car from the 1980s. It’s no wonder those young men in the BMW didn’t recognize what they were trying to race, but I’m sure they’ll never forget it.
This was the fastest production stock car of its time.
Correction: This was the fastest US manufactured production stock car of its time.
Are you sure this is a 1983? Buick did not build a Grand National in 1983. The first Grand National GNX was built in 1987. The two door sport coupe was was called the “T-Type”.
In any case I had the opportunity to drive a Grand National (I think it was 1984) when it was listed as the fastest production car in the US in Car & Driver or some other magazine (I forget).
Yes, it was awesome in a straight line and not too bad cornering.
My Mom got a standard Regal in the early 70’s. My folks had purchased Buicks for years. That Regal was junk. The automatic transmission was undersized and broke in 3 years. The coach work was horrid. (Buicks were once known for superior coach work.) Except for the high gas mileage Buick Opels, it was the last Buick they ever bought.
We are doing some high octane bench racing here, a SS/ class and 8 seconds when?,
awwww come on. Even the AA/SS today only run in the low 8’s and that is a 426 hemi set up generally.
So a modified intercooled turbo v-6 in SS,in street weight and tires, Im not buying it in SS, maybe a modified comp class where more non factory bolt on Ponies are allowed, but in SS, show me the time slip please 🙂
Great story, those Grand Nationals were a beast from 35 mph up after the turbo kicked in. but at a factory 245 hp, and 162mph. Get yer pink out pal, cause a got a race fer ya….with a Stocker Camaro, NHRA stocker that is…….
Harold, check this out: “According to the Buick Grand National Racing Association’s Web page, currently the quickest Grand National is John and Marka Gallina’s NHRA super stocker that has run a 7.98-second ET in the quarter-mile at 167.44 mph.” http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/vintage-speed/4296068
Where’s your pink slip? : )
Jack did you know the “911” roadster that broke the Bonneville salt flat speed record at 304 mph is right here in Chico? The owner and driver is a family friend and his shop is off of Park Ave. The car is on display in his shop and is one mean looking machine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT7gkj44hSQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPdWnYNxMFc
True, but that Buick I would not consider a real SS cars. The Buick ran cylinder heads and a lot of other parts that never saw the line. A true SS car would run production pieces. Those cars were some of the old modified classes. When nhra dropped modified, they put some of the classes into super stock and others into comp.
SS/DX allows turbos. Cars in these classes are allowed tube chassis and fiberglass body parts. Not so stock super or otherwise, cars running these frames and such are more comp, and defiantly modified class, but they need a slot to race in and its dial in racing, so NHRA folded to the almighty $ and let them race in a special class for them..
The DX and other classes were considered “modified stock” and have engine rules which are more liberal than traditional Super Stock or GT classes. The modified classes (SS/AM, etc.) are even more liberal, allowing, for instance, multiple carburetors. These classes are similar to Super Mod classes that run in Comp. Eliminator.
All of the classes mentioned are classified by pounds per cubic inch. Comparatively, the traditional Super Stock and GT classes are classified by pounds per NHRA-factored horsepower.
So in a special built Duttweiler Stage2 twin turbo engine V-6 w/turbo class Buick GN about 7 or 8 years ago someone put together a turbo Buick Regal for the class and set the record. They were VERY fast but not like Buddy Ingersoll’s bad Buick since they carry more weight than he did in Comp. I’m not sure about the chassis requirements but I think it might be similar to Comp’s super modified class.
I also see there is no current record for the DX class, which would tell you that no one can build a car (yet) for the class rules. Currently the bad A$$ of SS class in NHRA competition, is SS/AAA. A 2010 Mustang at 8.04 and 166.83. And it is a legal SS car.
Now, if you follow Turbo Buick racing, you have may have heard of Tony Gomes and his insane ’87 Grand National. If not, let’s get you up to speed. Tony campaigns this Grand National in a class called Turbo Street Outlaw (TSO), which is a heads-up, stock-style suspension class, (not a NHRA SS class) based on stock-bodied Turbo Buicks. There are no cubic inch, cylinder head, or engine management limits. Competitors can run any turbo they want up to a mid-frame 88mm compressor and they must run on a stock-style suspension setup, with a tire no wider than 11.25 inches.
So this need for speed dude named Tony Gomes and friends ,are running in this class where they can run a full exhaust (that exits behind the rear tire), a full interior (including the stock seats), and a pair of Mickey Thompson drag radials.
And what makes this car so special? How about the fact that it has gone as fast as 7.97 at 175.5 mph and is not only the record holder for e.t. and mph, but it is also the fastest stock-suspension Turbo Buick in the country. Oh did I mention, it is a real Stock bodied car and suspension. But not a SS class car by any means.
See ya in the staging lanes, and do bring a pink………….