The Biggest Pontiac Event Ever - The 2006 Ames Performance Pontiac Nationals

On Sunday, Michaelangelo Campolucci bested runner-up Jimmy Jammel for the KRE Quick 16, while Mike Cooper and his blown '63 LeMans won the Butler Performance Frantic Four title over John Welter and his turbo'd '02 T/A.

As the last day wore on and more cars ended up on the trailer, the final elimination for the title of Chief of Pontiacs was down to the weekend's class winners. The competition was quite fierce, and as the field got smaller, people began to take notice of the road-worn '92 Grand Am that kept coming back for more. Round after round, Barb Spishak, of Collins, Ohio, with a stuffed "Pokey" doll in the back seat of her $250, high-18-second racecar, waded through all of the FWD racers, even beating Saturday's class winner, Chris Yates and his heavily modified '00 GTP, in the final.

Then, Spishak-"the soccer mom from hell," as she was referred to by at least one FWD racer-continued winning. Out of 524 racecars, she made it to the Chief of Pontiacs semifinals, where she finally lost to Cliff Ruggles driving his '73 Ventura. Barb ended up winning $500, double the cost of her ride-a stellar performance all around!

In turn, our Mr. Ruggles lost out to Dave Hillard, who took the '06 Chief of Pontiacs crown. It was a long but exciting process to watch, concluding at nearly 8 p.m. Sunday night. A cooler of water was dumped on Dave, photos were taken, and everyone was happy.

As in previous years, participants were served catered meals-as well as free coffee and doughnuts in the morning and iced tea and lemonade in the afternoon-courtesy of Steve Ames and Ames Performance Engineering. The hospitality tent was also the scene of the awards ceremony and prize drawings.

If you missed the '06 Ames Performance Pontiac Nationals, don't despair-dates were announced for the 2007 event. Mark your calendars for August 10-12, and check out the Web site (www.pontiacnationals.com) for more info. Be sure to attend the largest all-Pontiac event in the nation!