1972 Firebird Carries Front Wheels 330 Feet In Eliminations Round
Dwight Ausmus drives through wheelstand like a normal Sunday drive.
While this 1972 Pontiac Firebird does not have an LS under the hood, we know you’ll appreciate a good wheelstand for a hard-running big-block car as much as anyone here. At last weekend’s NCMA-NMRA All-Star Nationals at Atlanta Dragway, Dwight Ausmus carried his front wheels so far down the track that we weren’t sure he was ever coming down. It takes a pretty brassy set to yank gears in the middle of a wheelstand, but Ausmus is no stranger to driving with a view of the clouds. He drives it to at least 330 feet pointing at the sky and still manages an 8.79 coasting through the top end.
Ausmus runs his Firebird and its 568 cubic-inch BES Racing Engines Pontiac V8 in the National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) NA 10.5 class. As the class name suggests, that’s a naturally aspirated motor with 10.5-inch racing slicks and that means when these cars hook, those front wheels like to elevate. You can find plenty of video of Dwight ripping wheelstands for the first hundred feet or so. He has also picked up a few event wins in the NA 10.5 class with e.t.’s of at least 7.92 and possibly quicker.
This time around, Ausmus qualified third in the class and won his first-round elimination when T.J. Strange broke out. The wheel-carrying launch came in the second round of eliminations against Leonard Long, who bounced Ausmus and went on to finish runner-up to John Langer’s Pontiac-powered ‘69 Trans Am in the finals. As for Ausmus, if you can’t win it, put on a show, right?
It was a long Tennessee winter for Ausmus, who put his beloved 1972 Firebird into the wall late last year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway while trying to avoid Bryan Cobbett’s Mustang that had hit a wall hard after a mechanical failure. The Pontiac needed at least a new nose, fender, radiator support, and hood after the crash. However, Ausmus was back in action at the NMCA opener at Bradenton Motorsports Park, where he qualified 5th.
The best part of the whole video, by the way, is the shape made by all the sponsor stickers in the Firebird’s back window. With the angle of the wheelstand, the rear window just looks a bit like a maniacal, toothy grin at the insanity of running wheels-up for one-quarter of the track.
Carry on, Dwight. Carry on.