Question for Pontiac folks

[old5.0]

I have a question that's been nagging me for quite some time, and maybe someone here can give some insight. In the 80's, GM was basically alone in attempting to maintain some semblance of midsize performance. Ford had the T-Bird Turbo Coupe which, while it was a good road car/grand touring rig, was definitely not a musclecar (although, to be fair, it never pretended to be one, either). Olds did the H/O's in 83-84 and offered a G-body 442 throughout the 80's, as well as being continuously involved in NHRA Stock during this period (I've heard they even delivered a handful of special "lightweight" G-body Cutlasses to certain loyal Olds drivers back in the mid-80's, but I don't know the details). Chevy had the Monte SS, which wasn't a barnstormer in stock form, although I think the 305 HO had more potential than most people give it credit for. Of course the Turbo Regals speak for themselves.


My question is, where was Pontiac? It still sold itself as the Enthusiast division of GM, so why no hot rod Grand Prix? The 2+2 was interesting, but was saddled with a boat anchor of a 305. Did the powers that be at Pontiac feel the Firebird was sufficient for attracting the straightline crowd? Was there interference from on high at GM headquarters? Were any hot GP's ever discussed or planned? There were plenty of performance-oriented GP's to come, seemingly almost as soon as the front-drive GM-10 hit the scene in 88, so why were the last of the rear-drivers abandoned right in the middle of a massive resurgence in factory performance?