{"id":76281,"date":"2020-10-29T16:02:06","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T23:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=76281"},"modified":"2020-11-09T07:43:08","modified_gmt":"2020-11-09T15:43:08","slug":"project-57-pontiac-joker-nostalgic-drag-racer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/project-57-pontiac-joker-nostalgic-drag-racer\/","title":{"rendered":"Project: \u201957 Pontiac \u201cJoker\u201d Nostalgic Drag Racer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"jetpack-slideshow-noscript robots-nocontent\">This slideshow requires JavaScript.<\/p><div id=\"gallery-76281-1-slideshow\" class=\"jetpack-slideshow-window jetpack-slideshow jetpack-slideshow-black\" data-trans=\"fade\" data-autostart=\"1\" data-gallery=\"[{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/RJ201-Project-Joker-Photo-15-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;76283&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Project: \\u201957 Pontiac \\u201cJoker\\u201d Nostalgic Drag Racer&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Project: \\u201957 Pontiac \\u201cJoker\\u201d Nostalgic Drag Racer&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Click Here to Begin Slideshow\\nA two-tone green \\u201957 Pontiac Star Chief two-door hardtop can be seen at Greg\\u2019s Speed Shop (www.gregsspeedshopllc.com) in Waupaca, Wis., if it\\u2019s not off racing in Ohio, Illinois or two dragstrips closer to home. Best known as \\u201cThe Joker,\\u201d the car is a project that got off to a dismal start, according to Leah Stelse, whose husband Greg owns it.\\n\\n\\u201dGreg purchased the Pontiac from a man who had it stored away in n old garage in Missouri,\\u201d Leah told Hot Rod Hotline. \\u201cIt had suffered in terms of rust and deterioration from all the years it was stored. In fact, the \\u201957 Pontiac body was just a shell back then.\\u201d\\n\\nPlucked from what Leah calls \\u201cthe depths of despair\\u201d in 2014, the car fit into a vision Greg had. \\u201cHe wanted to make The Joker a worthy vehicle once more,\\u201d Leah says. \\u201cAnd he wanted to be behind the steering wheel when it was racing down the track again.\\u201d\\n\\nGreg brought the car into his shop where he and his crew tore it apart and put it together as a straight-axle dragster designed to compete in nostalgia drag racing events. The initial Joker build was a success. The car was raced and it was also the featured vehicle at the 15th Annual Pardeeville Community Car \\u0026amp; Truck Show in September 2018.\\n\\nGreg also opened the Speed Shop in a modest steel building in 2018 and soon added two larger new shop buildings so his talented crew could do restorations and hot rod builds. In between these projects, Greg traveled coast-to-coast meeting hot rod celebrities such as Jo Coddington and Gene Winfield. At home, he worked seven days a week, except on those weekends he took the \\u201957 Pontiac race car to a drag strip such as Union Grove or Rock Falls in Wisconsin, Byron in Illinois or Drag 42 in W. Salem, Ohio.\\n\\nThe car\\u2019s best run was a 10.08-second pass at 135 mph. \\u201cThat was fast enough,\\u201d Greg told us, but \\u201cfast enough\\u201d isn\\u2019t the goal for Stelse. He started tearing The Joker apart again to make it even quicker. \\u201cThe car can actually run 9.5s all day and our real goal is an 8.5-second run,\\u201d he explained. \\u201cI plan to race against the Southeast Gassers.\\u201d\\n\\nAuthor\\u2019s note: Southeast Gassers (www.southeastgassers.com) is a group based in Columbus, N.C.\\u00a0 that is committed to bringing back authentic drag racing from the 1960s by putting on family-oriented shows featuring cars from the 1930s to the 1960s that are as close to period-correct as permitted under modern racing rules.\\n\\nDuring its latest rebuild, The Joker received an aluminum floor, an aluminum trunk and a specially-made plastic windshield and back glass that together shaved about 700 lbs. off the car. After wrecking three engines this past summer, Stelse had Butch Patterson of Competition Products build a bullet-proof 1,000-hp big-block Chevy V-8 that was attached to a G-Force four-speed transmission and a Moser 9-inch Ford rear axle.\\n\\n\\u201cWe keep dreaming up projects to make the car faster and faster,\\u201d Greg stressed. \\u201cI\\u2019m always trying to figure out how I can accomplish that. The car has a leaf spring front suspension, a straight axle set up, 10-inch wide tires and no computers. It\\u2019s all up to a driver\\u2019s skill when you go nostalgic drag racing in a period-correct old car.\\u201d\\n\\nStelse has a dream of making the rejuvenation of the Joker into a how-to-do-it cable television show. Also, when the car is finished\\u2014which won\\u2019t take a real long time since he wants to retain its overall old-time drag racer looks\\u2014he wants to enter The Joker in the Hot Wheels\\u2122 Legends Tour and hopefully win more than races with it. \\u00a0\\u201cI don\\u2019t think anyone ever made a \\u201957 Pontiac toy,\\u201d Greg complained. \\u201cMaybe someone should.\\u201d\\nClick Here to Begin Slideshow&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/RJ201-Project-Joker-Photo-02-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;76286&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Project: \\u201957 Pontiac \\u201cJoker\\u201d Nostalgic Drag Racer&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Project: \\u201957 Pontiac \\u201cJoker\\u201d Nostalgic Drag Racer&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/RJ201-Project-Joker-Photo-04-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;76288&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Project: \\u201957 Pontiac \\u201cJoker\\u201d Nostalgic Drag Racer&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Project: \\u201957 Pontiac \\u201cJoker\\u201d Nostalgic Drag Racer&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/RJ201-Project-Joker-Photo-05-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;76289&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Project: \\u201957 Pontiac \\u201cJoker\\u201d Nostalgic Drag Racer&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/RJ201-Project-Joker-Photo-06-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;76290&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Project: \\u201957 Pontiac \\u201cJoker\\u201d Nostalgic Drag Racer&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/RJ201-Project-Joker-Photo-07-min-e1604012487395.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;76291&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Project: \\u201957 Pontiac \\u201cJoker\\u201d Nostalgic Drag Racer&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/RJ201-Project-Joker-Photo-10-Gene-Winfield-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;76292&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Project: \\u201957 Pontiac \\u201cJoker\\u201d Nostalgic Drag Racer&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/RJ201-Photo-08-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;76284&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Project: \\u201957 Pontiac \\u201cJoker\\u201d Nostalgic Drag Racer&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/RJ201-Project-Joker-Photo-01-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;76285&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Project: \\u201957 Pontiac \\u201cJoker\\u201d Nostalgic Drag Racer&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/RJ201-Project-Joker-Photo-03-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;76287&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Project: \\u201957 Pontiac \\u201cJoker\\u201d Nostalgic Drag Racer&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/RJ201-Project-Joker-Photo-12-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;76293&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Project: \\u201957 Pontiac \\u201cJoker\\u201d Nostalgic Drag Racer&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}]\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageGallery\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>A two-tone green \u201957 Pontiac Star Chief two-door hardtop can be seen at Greg\u2019s Speed Shop.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":76291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5044,3697,17,3470,8035,4879],"tags":[2518,994,304,41,8036,8148,1468,4888,8139],"class_list":["post-76281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cool-cars","category-galleries","category-guest-column","category-news","category-no-shows-no-problem-virtual-trade-show","category-slideshow","tag-gasser","tag-gunner","tag-john-gunnell","tag-news","tag-no-shows-no-problem","tag-no-shows-no-problem-feature-builds","tag-pontiac","tag-slideshow","tag-star-chief"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/RJ201-Project-Joker-Photo-07-min-e1604012487395.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-jQl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76294,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76281\/revisions\/76294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}