Dr. Ron's 442 W30
A Dream Begins.
Title. Double click me.
The original owner, Paul Mayo, ordered the Olds new for the specific purpose of making it into a race car. The car was built on January 15, 1970 at the Oldsmobile Assembly Plant in Lansing, Michigan and was one of only 96 convertible, 4-speed, 442 W-30’s built in 1970. Paul received delivery on January 26, 1970 at Ruggieri’s General Sales of Westchester, PA. and soon turned it into a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) A/ or B/Stock Class drag racer. By the spring of 1970, Paul had the car fully prepped for NHRA “Stock Eliminator” racing and was a constant presence at Cecil County Dragway in Rising Sun, Maryland; Atco Dragway in Atco, New Jersey and at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey.
In Driveway At Home in Exton PA December 1971
October 1971 At Home in Exton PA Note visible W30 emblems
Above: Paul's Hand Written Notes For Ordering the Car (Side 1)
Paul's approximations for what NHRA Classes the car would run In. Here he estimated that the convertible Would fit either E, F, or G/ Stock. The actual shipping weight was 3,753 lbs.(not 4,064) and was the amount that horsepower was divided into to determine class, and the W-30 horsepower was 370-putting the car in A or B Stock with changing the intake, etc. for 365HP.
Below: Wheels up with the former Troxell "Vista Bruiser" and heading to the semi-finals at Indy
Paul Mayo-Smokey Burnout at Atco 1971
Spring 1971 at Cecil County
Below: In July, 1972, Paul won his first ever “Stock Eliminator” category at the NHRA Summernationals at Englishtown. However, a dispute over superseded parts being used on the intake manifold resulted in the car being disqualified. NHRA much later admitted their error but the win was never reinstated.
In June 1973 Paul offered the car for sale in National Dragster for $3,000 because of his own growing number of cars including one of the ‘factory sponsored’ cars – a Vista Cruiser he had bought from factory racer, John Troxell, which was given to John by Dale Smith of Oldsmobile and affectionately named the "Vista-Bruiser"-known for its "wheel-stands".
But why a convertible? The simple answer is twofold: (a) the convertibles have a boxed frame so what the car loses in rigidity with the convertible top, is more than compensated in the rigidity of the boxed chassis (b) the car could readily move between classes with 370HP vs 365HP falling in different classes with the ragtop.
Below: is the 71/72 Convertible that followed the Vista Bruiser, here shown as low qualifier Seattle 1976
