It's a great thing when an event survives its first year and comes back for a repeat performance. All too often, the troubles that can arise for even a promising inaugural event end up being the end of the road. The problems can be exacerbated by inexperienced promoters, facility management impatient with the process of growth, and the endless setbacks that can happen behind the scenes.
The show field was stuffed...
The show field was stuffed with a variety of restored and modified Pontiacs vying for accolades.
Mike Williams and Jeff Raff...
Mike Williams and Jeff Raff provided wheelstands for the crowd in their respective '66 and '64 GTOs.
About 50 trophies were to...
About 50 trophies were to be handed out on the show side to popular vote winners, courtesy of the GTO of Richmond car club.
Nevertheless, Jim Zeek of Chief Pontiac Productions was able to weather the storms of a successful new event to return in 2005 with the Second Annual PY Pontiacs in the Park, at Virginia Motorsports Park, near Richmond. This time around, Zeek said, the event grew by an impressive 35 percent, with more than 150 race cars and 60 show cars. "There's a good deal of growth so far and the potential for more is certainly there," Zeek says. "Many people who were not able to make it in 2004 made it a point to be here this time around."
Event promoter Jim Zeek's...
Event promoter Jim Zeek's brother competed in the drag race with his '76 Trans Am.
Virginia Motorsports Park...
Virginia Motorsports Park is a first-class facility and very supportive of the Pontiac hobby. Its Marketing Director Ron Henaghan is actually a Pontiac guy, who is in the process of restoring an early Trans Am.
A pair of Larry Cooper's Fabulous...
A pair of Larry Cooper's Fabulous Firebirds competed at the event as well. One a flip-top Funny and the other a nine-second doorslammer.
Indeed, with the first-year jitters past them, sponsors and personalities-such as AllPontiac.com, Pypes Division of Performance Years, and of course, Arnie "The Farmer" Beswick, who was displaying his nearly finished "Tameless Tiger II" '64 GTO race car-were attracted to the sophomore edition of the event. Swap meet and midway spaces quickly filled up, and an impressive level of activity was seen there.
Haley Pontiac displayed the...
Haley Pontiac displayed the latest offerings from the division next to the grandstands.
Truman Fields in his "Hard...
Truman Fields in his "Hard Times" '68 Ram Air 400 Firebird squares off against teammate Walt Holyfield in Truman's other '68 "Hard Times" Firebird.
Though the weather threatened,...
Though the weather threatened, there was still enough time to check out the show cars.
Another interesting addition was the Outlaw Pontiac Racers Association program that was held at VMP on Saturday in lieu of the Gamblers Race. OPRA's races are normally held at Mason-Dixon Raceway, though this time around they scheduled a floating race to help boost the Pontiacs in the Park race program.
Big, smokey burnouts are a...
Big, smokey burnouts are a calling card of this young event.
The staging lanes contained...
The staging lanes contained a who's who of Pontiac racers. Among them were Scott Rex and his '98 Trans Am (white with blue stripe) and John Welter and his '02 Trans Am (wild Indian head graphic on purple). Welter posted a 6.82 at 204 mph in his twin-turbo doorslammer, and Scot Rex ran 7.68 at 179.06 in his normally aspirated doorslammer.
Arnie Beswick was on hand...
Arnie Beswick was on hand to greet fans and to watch the Bag Boys make a pass in the replicar of his "Grocery Getter" '63 wagon. The crowd was pleased to see how well Arnie has recovered from last year's accident.
Of course, the Outlaws' program wasn't the only race going on that weekend. In addition to the Butler Performance Fast Four was the Ken's Speed & Machine Quick 16, the Allpontiac.com Top ET, Kauffman Racing Equipment Modified, Tin Indian Performance Street, and the Intense Racing FWD classes, ensuring there was a place for anyone who wanted to race their Pontiac.