1978 Pontiac Catalina Budget Race Car - Bargain Bin Brawler

Ernie employed the factory column-mounted headlight dimmer switch to supply power to the nitrous fuel pump and all the other nitrous switches. It is wired to the "Fasten Safety Belts" light to show when its engaged. A second headlight dimmer switch was added to the floor to arm the gas-pedal mounted nitrous activation switch, which gets the juice flowing at full throttle. Keppler also added yet another switch on a stretch-cord that bypasses the activation switch to enable him to toggle the nitrous on and off regardless of throttle position during a pass. This feature is needed when running the whitewall radials because traction is sometimes at a premium.

Sleeper Tips
Bodywork: Choose a body style that doesn't look like a race car. The Catalina certainly fits that bill.

Don't Chrome It: Chrome or highly-polished parts don't make you go faster, but they do tip off others that your Pontiac may be more radical than you let on, so stay away from them. Ernie's Cat does go against this tip a bit with a chrome air cleaner lid and coated Doug's headers.

Hide It: Anything that can be a tip-off to your sleeper's true intentions should be hidden as best as possible. For example, the Catalina's gauges are hidden behind a slide-out panel in the middle of the dash (radio/heater controls face plate).

Hide Your Nitrous Where Possible Part I: A stretch cord switch for togglin the nitrous activation is stored under the dash in the Catalina.

Hide Your Nitrous Where Possible Part II: The headlight dimmer switch on the floor of the Catalina activates the gas-pedal-mounted NOS switch.

Stick It Where It Counts: Rubber on the quarters is a sure sleeper giveaway. The Catalina gets sticky-backed shelf paper on its lower rear quarters to protect them from molten rubber when racing. They can be easily peeled off and discarded after the races.

Nut Science: Since an external power cut-off switch mounted at the rear of the car is required by track safety rules, an old chrome air cleaner nut is used for this purpose on the Cat. This way, the assembly can be easily removed to disguise its track prowess while on the street.

Magnetism: Anything track-required that is not needed on the street should be made hideable or removable to maintain sleeper status. A magnetic sticker is used to identify the safety electric "on/off" switch on the Catalina. It was hand-lettered with a Sharpie and is easily removed after track-duty.

Rolling Stock Situation: Bright and shiny aftermarket wheels with drag radials out back look great, but will surely hurt sleeper status. Ernie makes do with Pontiac steel Rally II wheels and a set of Wal-Mart-sourced whitewall tires that he says hooks great. (However, to run mid to low 10s, Keppler did go with shiny lightweight Weld wheels and slicks at the rear.) Thomas A. DeMauro

Grandma, didn't I tell you I added a rollbar to your Catalina to keep the eggs safe on the way home from the supermarket? Not exactly a sleeper item, but it is required at the track.

Low-Buck Tips
Use Cheap Wal-Mart Tires: The whitewalls look great and they really hook well.

Chain It Down: A chain from the front of the engine to the frame serves two purposes. One, it limits engine twist on rubber engine mounts, which wastes energy that is better used traveling through the driveline to the ground. Two, it allows rubber engine mounts to be retained (which are much more palatable on the street than solid mounts). The chance of the rubber mount failing is greatly reduced thanks to the retaining chain.

Jack It Yourself: Homemade rear spring jacks are cheap and effective.

Proper Pattern: Switching to a 5x4.75 bolt-pattern when running a Big-Car like the Cat, which normally has a 5x5 pattern offers many more wheel choices.

A gauge console is hidden behind this flip-down center dash panel...

...voila, when the inner dash is revealed, we find an engine fuel pump switch, water temperature, oil pressure and nitrous pressure gauges.