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

All of the key ingredients for a great Pontiac celebration came together at the same time in Norwalk, Ohio. The weather was great, the preparation was first rate, and the venue, of course, was really as good as it gets.

The 2006 Ames Performance Pontiac Nationals, held at Norwalk Raceway Park (now known as Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park), was the 15th anniversary edition, having evolved from the original "Tri-Power Sunday" format, which debuted in 1992. In recognition of this milestone, Super Duty Promotions pulled out all of the stops, featuring two legendary figures-drag-racing pioneer Don "Big Daddy" Garlits and veteran Pontiac racer Arnie "The Farmer" Beswick.

"We knew we were going to have a great event," says Super Duty Promotions official Pete Woodruff, "but the numbers surpassed even our expectations!" Indeed, a total of 1,044 cars were registered-524 racecars and 520 show cars. This is a substantial jump from the 957 cars registered in 2005, especially in light of the $3-plus-per-gallon fuel prices seen over the summer.

Similarly, 138 swap-meet vendors occupied 224 swap spaces, and the spectator gate was up 10 percent as nearly 11,000 people attended over the three days, a jump of about 1,000 people. Despite some formidable odds, the Pontiac hobby seems to be healthy and growing.

Pontiac-GMC Division was well represented with the large, traveling Pontiac Motorsports display rig positioned at the end of the midway, courtesy of GM Racing Marketing Director Fred Simmonds. Axelrod Pontiac in Parma, Ohio, the sponsoring automobile dealer for the event, brought several new vehicles out for display.

Interestingly, market research personnel were also on hand, collecting feedback and suggestions from event participants. It was refreshing to see Pontiac-GMC actively seeking opinions from enthusiasts. This is a trend we hope continues.

The show side of the event displayed some exceptional examples of Pontiac, Oakland, and GMC vehicles. Of particular note was Bill Bolin's incredible Pro Street '70 GTO (a recent HPP cover car), which sports a two-stage supercharged and intercooled Pontiac V-8 engine and a retina-piercing Orange Glow paint scheme. Even more incredible is the fact that the Goat was rebuilt following a trailering accident while heading to this event last year.

As well as Bolin's GTO, there were many other Pontiacs of note, including dozens of full-size machines, Firebirds, GTOs, both old and new, and one '66 Grand Parisienne-a Canadian version of the GP. Several flathead-powered machines were in attendance, as well as a variety of Oaklands, late-model machines, and some GMC trucks.

Ames Performance Pontiac Nationals' (APPN) midway area was the largest in the event's history, with displays as diverse as the Mallett Cars LS7 Solstice to Don Garlits' "Swamp Rat I" dragster. The midway also featured two tribute displays-a multi-car salute to Bill Knafel and Knafel Pontiac, featuring original racecars, replicas, and some Knafel personnel, including "Akron" Arlen Vanke, Norm Tanner, and Larry "Doc" Dixon.

The second was a memorial to Super-Duty collector Randy Williams and his original '63 Packer Pontiac "Swiss Cheese" Catalina. His wife, Jean; close friend, Scott Tiemann, who restored the Catalina; and Scott's family were on hand to meet and greet. On Sunday, Jean presented the second annual Randy Williams Memorial Award of Excellence to none other than Arnie Beswick himself.

Additionally, Awards of Appreciation were presented by Pete and Andrea Woodruff of Super Duty Promotions to a variety of people and organizations who have supported the Ames Performance Pontiac Nationals since the beginning, including Steve Ames; Jim and Barb Mattison of Pontiac Historic Services; Arnie Beswick; the Bader Family, who own Norwalk Raceway Park; and the Kauffman family, from Kauffman Racing Equipment (KRE). A birthday cake was also presented to Jim Wangers in celebration of his 80th birthday this past June.

With over 500 cars racing all weekend, there was as much racing as anyone could hope to see. Last year's Chief of Pontiacs, Lonnie Meade Jr., was driven by chauffeured limousine to the starting line to kick off the eliminations.

The winners and runners-up look like a virtual who's who of Pontiac drag racing, with Jerry Loan and his '68 Firebird taking the AllPontiac.com Top on Saturday over Jim Gnadt and his '70 GTO. Dave Hillard and his '67 GTO took the Indian Adventures Modified title the same day, beating out Roy Hess Jr. and his '66 GTO (a past HPP shootout participant).

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!