2004 Pontiac Southern Nationals

The Pontiac Southern Nationals hosted by the Dallas Area Pontiac Association has grown and evolved over the last 11 seasons. For years, the familiar routine has been a Friday registration and Saturday show at the Richardson-Renaissance Hotel and its parking garage, followed by a Sunday racing extravaganza at the renowned Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas. However, in 2004, as the adage goes, times brought on changes.

This year the entire event was held at the Texas Motorplex during the May 21-23 weekend. Some were skeptical regarding the venue change, fearing rain or extreme heat with no shade from the sun, but HPP is here to report that none of the above put a damper on the event. The weather featured an average 87-degree temperature, zero precipitation, and 16-mph winds. This change in agenda for 2004 meant that previously exclusive racers and car show participants were on-hand to check the grass out on the other side of the Pontiac hobbyist's fence.

Better still, with TWO days of racing and showing instead of one of each, show cars had the opportunity to race as well. Saturday's drag event was a Pontiac versus the U.S. Musclecars open challenge. Some Mopars, Fords, and Bow Ties came to get a bruising from the ready, willing, and able Pontiac muscle on the premises. Sunday would be a Pontiac-only race day with a lot of cash prizes for the winners.

What didn't change was the generous sponsorship from Ames Performance and the forever-Pontiac guys at Sewell Pontiac-GMC. Ames had the "Cool-Down Cart" riding around and even opened up its hospitality suite on Sunday.

Having a racetrack on-hand was convenient for those who opened their wallets to donate to the Sewell Pontiac-GMC 2004 GTO charity test drive for Promise House (214/941-8578, www.promisehouse.org), a non-profit organization that provides stability and hope to youth and families in crisis. The total funds raised from the donated-merchandise auction and test drives was $4,050. Jason Feuerberg of Sewell Pontiac-GMC brought a full line of Pontiac performance cars and GMC rigs to display. Jason also brought his personal black nitrous-injected '04 GTO to the party. Look for tech coverage on it in this issue.

Several clubs outside of the host club, the Dallas Area Pontiac Association (DAPA), were on-hand, including members from ClubGP.com. Of course, that meant a sizeable FWD GP presence plus a lot of racing thanks to the FWD racing class sponsored by PFYC.com. Also, the perennial GTO and Firebird aficionados were on-hand with pristine examples of each on the show and race sides, and there were some high-quality big cars in the show area. Speaking of the show side, rather than the traditional-points gold-silver-bronze structure of the past, 2004 brought about a simpler-points first-second-third structure.

John Welter had a wickedly painted alcohol-injected Firebird (Alky Indian) that was running low 8s on a Butler-built Pontiac 541 naturally aspirated IA block. This little number qualified in the event's Jim Butler Performance Top 4 on Sunday but didn't finish due to clutch problems. Ultimately, Mike Cooper took the win with his '63 LeMans running 7.36 at 190 mph to Bill Krech's 7.45 at 170 mph.

David Dudley and his company, Riba Foods, not only provided the awesome Saturday BBQ with his brand of absolutely delicious spicy, sweet, and down-right-inferno dipping and topping sauces, but also gave the visitors a chance to see two of his racing Arriba Salsa Firebirds.

The coveted High Performance Pontiac Editor's Choice award was presented to David DuSold for his absolutely stunning '78 T/A. As is tradition, the Editor's Choice and the multiple reasons it was deemed so can be seen as a feature in a future issue.

All in all, the event was enjoyable as it always is. Texas has great Pontiacs and great people who own, race, and show them. Though the change in venue did reduce overall show car numbers, we feel that once people get used to the idea, the attendance will grow as it has in past years.

As the 2005 PSN show schedule had not yet been finalized at our time of press, you will have to keep posted to www.PontiacSouthernNationals.com or e-mail showchairman@pontiacsouthernnationals.com. We'll see you there!