Tell me about Buick in NASCAR in 86 and 87.

[Project TNX]

I know nothing about Buick in Nascar in the I/C era.

Who were the drivers?

What engine did they use?

Did they win often or ever?

 

[BLACK6PACK]

The whole reason for the Buick GN is to celebrate their success in NASCAR.

 

[madhat]

not the 3.8L
Don't forget about the 81 Pace Car either

 

[saywin]

Nascar

Morgan Shepherd - Career Statistics - NASCAR - Yahoo! Sports
BEFORE BLACK - Buicks in NASCAR 1981-1983

here are a few things I found that looked interesting. I also found some stuff saying Waltrip drove the buick's. I have to give up searching for a while because my 3 year old is requiring attention. I hope this is some of what your looking for.

 

[kh440]

The last year that the Regal was used in Nascar was 85. For whatever reason it was decided that the LeSabre body would be more competitive against the T-Bird and the "aerocoupe" Monte's. By then only 3 drivers were still in the Buick camp: Bobby Allison and Bobby Hillin driving for Stavola Brothers (Miller High Life) and Morgan Shepherd (Jack Beebe/Race Hill Farms). They were marginally successful, winning a total of about 4 maybe 5 races those 2 years. Kenny Bernstein started his team in 87 with Joe Ruttman and did not fare well either. Engines were the chebby (uhh "corporate" v-8's) But the Busch Grand National series used the Buick v-6 well into the 90's.

 

[turbofish38]

You want to go back to the years 1981-1985 for Buicks glory years. By 86 it was all over as far as the G-body goes. Lets see if I can get the years and drivers correct. Darrel Waltrip won the Winston cup in 81 and 82 driving a Regal.Main sponsor Mountain Dew. Bobby Allison won the Cup in 83 driving a Regal.Main sponsor Miller High Life. Buick won the manufacturers Cup in 82 and 83 breaking Chevys domination. Ford didn't win that prize until 1989. Richard Petty won his 199th race in 82 driving a Regal. All Regals were powered by the SBC. The 81-83 vintage Regal had the second lowest drag coefiencent out of the four GM G-bodies. The GP had the lowest. The Regal was regulated out of the running with the introduction of the some what sleeker Monte Carlo SS. With the introduction of the new for 1985 LeSabre Buick concentrated on using that body for Winston Cup. When the new for 88 Regal came out Buick switched over to that model. By 1991 Buick was out of Winston Cup.

 

[kh440]

Yep: Darrell Waltrip in the Junior Johnson owned Mountain Dew Buick won the Winston Cup in 81 and 82. Waltrip and Bobby Allison combined for something like 23 or 24 wins in 81 alone....

 

[Project TNX]

Wow, no wonder I don't know much about it. Switching to the Lesabre, we should have gotten an Aerocoupe GN instead, lol.

 

[kh440]

Wow, no wonder I don't know much about it. Switching to the Lesabre, we should have gotten an Aerocoupe GN instead, lol.

Yep, a sad by-product of all the internal politics within GM, but at least Buick figured out if we can't out-run 'em on the track, we'll smoke 'em on the street!

 

[SilverSleeper]

Yeah, what "kh440" said.

Think of it this way. Buick decided to concentrate efforts on making go fast cars for the streets instead of the circle track. Bye bye Regals in NASCAR, Voila, 86-87 Turbo Regals on the streets!
While the rest of GM was following "race on sunday, sell on monday" Buick decided..why not race all week long? Heh heh.

 

[xcessiv6]

Actually they did not switch to the Lesabre it was the front wheel grive regal in 1988 Bobby Allision drove the Miller High Life car.

 

[batmansbuick]

and how did the V-6 fare in the Busch Grand National races? I had read that the Indy V-6's would rip out of the pits faster than the other cars, but the V-6 wouldn't hold up over the entire race? Not sure if thats true.

 

[BLACK6PACK]

The buick v-6 held the lap record at indy for something like 10 years at around 236 mph. That's a little slower than what my car will do in the 1/4 mile, but still respectable!:biggrin:

 

[kh440]

Actually they did not switch to the Lesabre it was the front wheel grive regal in 1988 Bobby Allision drove the Miller High Life car.

In 86 and 87 they did use the Le Sabre until the new Regal debuted in 88.

It wasn't so much a power or durability factor as it was nascar wanting to close some of the differences between bgn and winston cup cars as to why the switch was made to the v-8's. Ron Hutte and Jim Ruggles built some of the most bulletproof v-6 engines on the circuit.

 

[turbofish38]

I believe the real reason Buick started to downsize its NASCAR program was to concentrate on Indy cars back around 1985 or so. If you have only so much in a budget to go racing than you go with what ever program suits your needs. Here's my reasoning. Okay NASCAR ran the Regal body with a SBC. Not all Busch Buicks ran the Buick V-6. Most ran the Chevy V-6 especially those that ran both a Cup and Busch team. Now what do you do when you have the most technolically advanced engine to ever be installed in a car? You go racing in the class that best supports that technology. Dont forget Buick dominated the 1987 Indy series too. I cant even remember some of the highlights but the reliabilty issues were worked out after the motor was destroked to a 3.3(3300). Buicks dominence ended when Chevy brought out its new Ilmor built 32V Indy V-8 in 1988. Buick continued well into the 90's with the Indy Lights series as those cars had to run a spec-engine. A 3.8 NA version of the Indy motor complete with S2 heads and mechanical FI.

Edit: If you're ever in Orange City,FL stop in for a bite at Applebee's on Enterprise Blvd. There is a poster of Bobby Allisons Miller High Life Regal hanging on the northeast corner wall. I'd like to find a copy of that poster for myself some day.

 

[kh440]

Defintely by 87 or so they were more concerned with open wheel racing. Kenny Bernstein had a two car team using Lola chasses sponsored by Mac Tools, have no recollection who the drivers were. Didn't Buick also dabble in IMSA or SCCA racing a bit as well? Seem to remember a car called the "Spice" that was Buick powered. Want to say Craig T Nelson drove one a few times....

 

[turbofish38]

I'll have to some digging through the archives. Two of the most famous names in racing used the Regal. Burt Reynolds teamed up with Hollywood director/producer Hal Needham and with Skoal Bandit as a primary sponsor ran the Regal and GP for a few years. Paul Newman also owned part of a NASCAR team. I dont recall who the sponsor or drivers were. Come to think of it maybe thats why he stuffed a turbo'd V-6 in a Volvo. PN drove his road race cars but also had interest in Indy and NASCAR too.

If you watch a rerun of Stroker Ace on CMT you can see half of the cars in the racing footage are Regals.

 

[kh440]

Newman-Haas racing was very successful at IndyCar. Both Mario and Michael Andretti and later Nigel Mansell drove for that team (Texaco-Havoline and Kmart were sponsors and powered by the Ford-Cosworth). I think they also tried Nascar around 1990 with Greg Sacks as the driver using Luminas and leftover Hendrick pieces. That program didn't last a whole year from what I recall and Haas later formed another program with Michael Kranefuss running the Little Ceaser's/Kmart Ford, which was bought out by Penske a few years later....

 

[UNGN]

I'll have to some digging through the archives. Two of the most famous names in racing used the Regal. Burt Reynolds teamed up with Hollywood director/producer Hal Needham and with Skoal Bandit as a primary sponsor ran the Regal and GP for a few years.

Harry Gant was their primary driver. I remember '83 Buick Regal painted in skoal bandit colors with number 33 on the doors. At least one was in Omaha in the 80's.

Gant was #2 in the Winston Cup points in 1984, but in a Chevy

 

[aminga]

Don't forget the greatest Daytona 500 ever. Bobby Allison leading his son to the line for the finish in 1988. I believe it was the last Buick win in nascar.