AUGUST 2019 CARCRAFT.COM 55destroyed at a race in St. Louis. NHRA Pro Stock rules at the
time awarded the season championship to the winner of the
World Finals, no matter their performance at the six previous
races. Jack Roush offered an interesting 1973 World Finals
story to us when we discussed the Pinto with him recently.
“We ended up running Bill Jenkins in the final, and ‘Grumpy’
had been running about half a tenth faster than us all week-
end. I’d been doing some evaluation of parasitic losses due
to lubricating oils and figured we could pick up a bit if we ran
less oil. I put the Pinto on jackstands and got under the car
with a 5-gallon bucket. We were pitted next to Jenkins, and
he just stood there and watched. I drained a third of the
engine oil, half the dif oil, and all of the transmission oil out
of the car. In the final, Wayne picked up one- to two-tenths,
and we won the race.” And with that, Gapp and Roush had
secured the 1973 Pro Stock Championship. As an aside, Gapp
won two races and was runner-up in two more, a combina-
tion that no other Pro Stock driver achieved in 1973.
G&R debuted their famous Tijuana Taxi four-door Maverick
during 1974, at which point the Pinto wasn’t the team’s fea-
tured vehicle moving forward. However, it did continue to race
through the 1975 season and was then sold in Spring 1976
to privateer Tim Goodner of Minnesota. In an interview with
Pro Stock photographer Dan Williams, Goodner explained thatWe can date^ this^ photo^ to^1974 ;^ the^1 Pro^ stickers^ on^ the^ window
indicate^ the^ prior^ year’s^ championship.^ Here,^ Wayne^ Gapp^ is^ his^ typical
wheels-up^ while^ Jack^ Roush^ observes^ from^ behind.