1962 Mickey Thompson/Hayden proffitt Super duty 421 AFX Tempest

[63409]

 

[63 dream'n]

Cool video …..thanks for posting…….. love that car…….The only body style Pontiac built that was better, was the 63 Tempest

 

[55Brodie]

My sister had a 61 Tempest 3 speed, rope drive with half of a 389 back in the early 70's. Scary car to drive; probably was worse than a Corvair.

 

[Phil Reed]

Hayden was racing a 1962 Belair hardtop 1962. I think that Tempest would have been a 1961.

 

[63 dream'n]

OK, the nat event schedule gets cranked up today, at the Pomona Winter Nats.

Every year at this time, I think about the Pontiac powered cars that did good there, back in the early '60's. In '62, Mickey Thompson's 421SD powered A/FX Tempest won the class, with Hayden Proffitt driving.

And I've mentioned that Carol Cox became the 1st female to win a class, at a nat event, winning the S/SA class.

A '63 Tempest won the A/FX class in '63. Not sure of all the other Pontiac wins back in those days. As mentioned, I've read that in those early days, the A/FX & S/SA classes ran in "Top Stock". But, the class was called SS, by some, even back in those early days.

"... Factory Experimental Pontiac Tempests.

The first one appeared in 1962 at the NHRA Winternationals, built at Mickey Thompson’s shop in Long Beach, CA, by Hayden
Proffitt and Lloyd Cox. It was a standard 4-cylinder Pontiac Tempest Le Mans, now fitted with a 421 Super Duty engine and
transmission out of one of Mickey Thompson’s Super Stock cars (legal Super Stock engines were an NHRA requirement at the time). The stock Tempest rear swing-axle was replaced by a Pontiac Catalina rear end. In short, it was a 1962 Pontiac Super Stocker in a compact Tempest body/chassis. It dominated the A/FX class at the 1962 NHRA Winternationals.

What worked well in the FX class in 1962, built by independent racers, would work just as well in 1963, built by the factory and distributed to the favored Pontiac racers around the country. Whereas the full size Catalina sedans had a 119 inch wheelbase, the Pontiac Tempest was built on a much smaller (and lighter) 112 inch wheelbase.

A total of twelve Pontiac Tempest A/FX cars were built, all with the 421 Super Duty engines. Six were Tempest coupes and six were Tempest station wagons. All the factory cars were delivered with a special rear-mounted trans-axle set up but many of the racers eventually switched to the standard engine-mounted transmissions and the Catalina rear axle assembly..."
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Copied and pasted from another source………

 

[409envy]

I believe Hayden ran his belair in super stock and then drove MT’s Pontiac in Af/x. You were allowed to run more than one class and drive more than one car. Case in point, at the 63 Winternationals Hayden drove his 62 belair in A/Stock, his z11 in l/p (limited production) and when his car had engine issues he slipped behind the wheel of Tom Sturm’s z11.

Pics of all the cars at Pomona in 63 starting with Sturm’s z11 with HP at the wheel squaring off against Shirley Shahan. Then a couple shots of the 62 A/S car and finally his z11 before it blew up.

 

[W Head]

Don't remember who's car it was, but in the summer of 1963 at Hobbs New Mexico Dragway there was a gold with a white top F/X Tempest.

W Head

59 Impala 409-2,4s

 

[mark johnson]

Hayden drove M/T’s Pontiacs in 1961 and in early 1962 at the Winternationals. In the Spring of ‘62, HP switched to Chevrolet products with the red Bel Air that he won Indy ‘62 in September.

 

[George Klass]

Hayden drove M/T’s Pontiacs in 1961 and in early 1962 at the Winternationals. In the Spring of ‘62, HP switched to Chevrolet products with the red Bel Air that he won Indy ‘62 in September.

Mark is 100% correct.

 

[George Klass]

Hayden was racing a 1962 Belair hardtop 1962. I think that Tempest would have been a 1961.

Yes he was, the red Chevy bubble top. But he started the year in 1962 driving Mickey Thompson's Pontiac 2-door sedan at the 1962 NHRA Winternationals. A short time after the Winternats, he quit working at M/T's and got the red Chevy (Cone Chevrolet). As far as the Tempest A/FX car that he and Lloyd Cox put together, that was a 1962 Tempest. Once Hayden left the Pontiac deal with M/T, the Pontiacs were maintained and driven by Lloyd Cox, including the '62 Tempest. If I recall, Lloyd Cox won the A/FX class with that car at the NHRA Nationals in 1962.

This is the 1962 Pontiac Catalina that Proffitt drove at Pomona at the Winternats, and is the same car that Lloyd Cox drove at the NHRA Nationals.


Here is Lloyd Cox winning A/FX in the final round with the 1962 Tempest at the NHRA Nationals.