The Pontiac That Ate Ferraris: How A 1963 Tempest Super Duty Dominated Daytona In The Rain

This is the story of the 1963 American Challenge Cup at Daytona International Speedway. A run up race to that year's Daytona 500, it saw some of the world's best sports cars, Corvettes powered by Chevrolet's secret "Mystery Motor" and others decimated by a specially prepared 1963 Pontiac Tempest Super Duty.

It is the story of a brilliant engineer named Ray Nichels and an equally talented driver named Paul Goldsmith taking the fight to a group of cars that seemed far more impressive but turned out to be nothing more than canno fodder.

The story of the car, the story of its success, and it's beyond wild end is all right here. Enjoy and please like/subscribe to follow along for more racing history content!

[TheSlowoldman]

My first car was a 1963 Pontiac Tempest with a 326 V8. I bought it for 50 bucks out of a field. In 1979, I was 13 years old and helped deliver hay and grain from my parents feed store. Mr. Van Natta was an older gentleman we delivered feed to every other week. He noticed I kept looking at the old Pontiac in the field. He asked, "Bud, do you like that old car?" I mean, I was thirteen, I liked any car at that point. He asked me how much I would give for it. I told him I had saved up 50 bucks working at the feed store. He told me if my dad would come over and help me get it running I could buy it for the 50 bucks. I rushed back to the feed store and told my dad. A couple of weekends later and changing fluids, replacing the battery and a few other things and I had my first I drove the wheels off of it in the 8 acres we had at the feed store. Wish I still had it.

[andyharman]

Mind-blowing story. The very thought of driving 155 mph at Daytona in the rain blows my mind. The fact that a mid-size Pontiac coupe put a butt-burning spanking on Corvettes and Ferraris makes it something that not even Hollywood could have conceived. The Tempest put on a perfect storm.

[scotttiemann]

The transaxle in the coupe was in fact, , built engineered and built by Pontiac. All twelve cars received it. Not just the Nichols car. The wagon in the video, I restored for the late Randy Williams. He spent many years finding all the correct parts and pieces. One couple known as the DeLorean coupe also has its special transaxle. Two more coupes that we have restored have conventional rear axles and transmissions in place of the SD specific 4 speed power-shift transaxle. We restored the wagon in 1999. It is now in a collection in Florida. Scott Tiemann

[robertreynolds]

That's one hell of a story. Chalk up another for American ingenuity. I wish that more people could appreciate what an industrial giant this nation once was. Sure would love to see more manufacturing here again. Thanks for sharing!

[stephenboulter]

As a British motor racing fan of many years I thought I had a fairly broad knowlege but had never heard about this fantastic story, what an amazing combination of top driving talent and engineering skill explained in an excellent video, thank you!
Incidentally, I was driven to look up more info on Paul Goldsmith and was very happy to see he's still going strong at 96! Kudos to him!

[ronmerkle]

Great video, Brian. Always liked the 63 lemans. My dad worked for a pontiac dealer in the 60's and got to see all the new pontiacs come in. Still own and race my 68 firebird I've owned for 47 years. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[originalpunkSxE]

GM has always said that they instituted a racing ban so that they wouldn't be broken up over monopoly regulations, but I still feel to this day that GM couldn't risk a whole season of their brand new Corvettes getting whomped on by a stodgy Pontiac 2dr sedan. So they told EVERYONE to stop.

Also, I'm very pleased to be the 389th like! Poncho Power! lol

[joestephan]

Thank you for this. Of note:
1) Paul Goldsmith is the only racer to win the beach races at Daytona on two-wheels (factory-supported Harley) & four driving Smokey Yunick's Pontiac in the last race there before next one moving over to the new Speedway. Both races were won at record-breaking speeds five years apart.
2) He is also the only person to do same at the Milwaukee one mile oval, the motorcycle race when it was still dirt, the stock car race after it had been paved.
3) He also did same on the dangerous Langhorne circular one mile dirt. He won USAC & NASCAR Stock Car Races there, in both hardtop & convertible divisions. As well, he won the motorcycle 100 milers where the lap was taken with steel-shoe'd left foot on the ground, sliding the entire way!
4) Goldsmith also won Stock Car Races when AAA preceded USAC and nine in NASCAR. (his last of 123 NASCAR starts at Bristol where he won!)
5) To get around faster Goldsmith became a light plane pilot. One year he Sunday won the USAC Stock Car race on the half-mile Ascot dirt in Los Angeles, on Thursday of that same week he won the qualifying race & pole at Daytona!
6) After becoming Ray Nichels' Vice President he began flying customer racing engines back and forth with him.
7) Though Daytona had been open for five years at this point it was still unknown territory. The track learned with each race. With Racing Sports Cars designed & built for up & down, fast & slow on each lap, it doesn't surprise me they couldn't run fast enough on the oval. Winners & losers both learned that day what is now taken for granted.

[clicks]

Great story. It reminds me of Buick’s quest to build a monster. Gotta love the Grand National and the GNX.

[iexlrate]

This was very well done, I've heard about the race but not in detail. That Tempest needs to be in a museum, but knowing the German engineers at the time it was destroyed after they reverse engineered it. It's possible that transmission is the basis of the duel clutch transmission.

[online]

This was a very interesting video, I really enjoyed. I happen to currently own a 1964 Pontiac Catalina that was originally purchased new and owned for a long time by Mr. Enoch Staley. Enoch, along with Bill France and others, was one of the founding members of NASCAR and he was also the builder, owner and operator of the North Wilkesboro Motor Speedway in North Wilkesboro, NC. I acquired the car a few months ago as a roller, the original engine and transmission were missing. Its now back on the road with a '66 vintage 389 and a TH400 transmission. The car also happened to contain some really neat memorabilia when I got it - 2 60's vintage Winston Cup race suits (appear to be child size) and Enoch's old Safari hat that he wore that still has "Wilkesboro Speedway" written on it in black magic marker. The car also has a second speedometer in it - mounted under the dash. I can only assume it was used in some official capacity on the racetrack. I suspect this car was probably used as a pacecar at North Wilkesboro. Anyway, after watching this video about these interesting Pontiac events that happened in 1963, now I am wondering if this wasn't what inspired Enoch to buy this car in the first place. It does have an optional 2.56 gear in the reared - I'm sure this car would literally fly. There was even still a speeding ticket in the glovebox that Enoch got in Hillsville, VA on April 25th, 1964, going 70 in a 55 zone on highway 58.

[caribman]

..and Panch's Maserati was NOT a "Birdcage" - it was a Type 151 (not a Type 60 or 61). But add to this story one detail about the Nichels Tempest that was not noted: as bad as the weather was, the Tempest lapped all those cars on dry-weather tires. Paul Goldsmith was a monster that day.

[larrypanellajazzsaxophone]

The car has been recreated and is on display in the Motorsports Hall of Fame at Daytona. Vintage Motorsport Magazine just did a feature on it in the September/October issue that just arrived in my mailbox today. Fascinating story.

[AXer]

So much fun to see this kind of history played out and described. I'm a longtime Pontiac fan, never knew this story. Thanks!

[CrawdaddyCustoms]

One of my favorite Pontiac stories… pisses Chevy, Ferrari, and Porsche people off, all at the same time! 😂

[jimebjim]

Owned a 63 Tempest wagon briefly. The Gray Ghost was legendary.

[ML]

Luv' it when you hear from somebody "in the know". Mr. Tieman is, w/o a doubt, that somebody!

[CaptApple]

I had a '63 LeMans in the mid 80's. I guess they had the same body as the Tempest and it sounds like they had that same transaxle. The flexible driveshaft guide tube at the back of the abbreviated bell housing for the clutch assembly broke at the baseplate and I could not afford a specialty weld fix back then and couldn't find an unbroken one in any junkyard. It was a nightmare. Eventually I sold it to a salvage yard who paid me a premium of about 400% on their usual rate because "some guy had been hounding them for Lemans parts." I just waved and smiled because I knew I was that guy : ).

I really liked it's pickup, the comfy seats and the huge trunk.

[johntechwriter]

This story is deserving of a 30-minute documentary, complete with video, interviews, and examination of surviving relatives, since this is a one-off. This car and its descendants inspired the muscle cars that came later, and was successful in oval and drag racing. But this was its greatest victory, beating Ferraris and Corvettes on their own turf. What a testament to the builders, who had nothing to go by and, their first time out, humiliated dedicated racers with years of development behind them.

[proparanoid]

Really appreciate... good story presentation. Esp. meant something to me, as when I was in H.S., my Uncle came to visit for a private talk with Aunt/Uncle I was staying with. Too young to legally drive, Uncle didn't know, or care. He tossed me his car keys as a bribe to get me and my friend out of the house for 'a while.' Outside was AJ Foytes #2 Stingray, about halfway set up for racing. Cage/firewall/instruments, racing seat (1 ea.). Suspension still stock, no idea on the engine. But it was fast enough for us, and we were fortunate enough to return it in one piece... a little closer to the ground than it used to be (smaller tires). LOL. A couple of weeks latter, we drove a 10 ton propane truck. Not so fast.