And the story about Pontiac having the dealers "option" the car for them is probably the work of scam artists looking to make a dishonest buck from folks who don't do their home work.

Some of that happened with "factory experimental" drag cars where games were played on the sanctioning organizations to qualify for various classes, but not for run of the mill cars. Also, such dealerships as Royal, with Pontiac, and Yenko with Chevs, created their own "specials" by taking production cars and adding performance and dress-up goodies. Kinda like what Saleen and Roush do with the Mustang today.