2007 GTOAA Nationals - Pontiacs At The DoubleTree/Hilton

This past June 26 through June 30, the GTO Association of Central Ohio (GTOACO) played host to 62 Concours and 182 Popular Vote Pontiacs at the 2007 GTOAA Nationals at the DoubleTree/Hilton in Worthington, Ohio. The 2007 event marked the sixth time since 1986 that the GTOACO has hosted the GTOAA annual shindig. This year's Nats was loaded with activities for the whole family, not to mention some of the finest GTOs in the country, plus a few rarities that probably weren't seen anywhere else during the show season.

While Tuesday was essentially a set-up day, Wednesday began with a bang with seminars from Mequiars, John Sawruk on proper engine oil and trans fluid usage, and Hillard Performance. If you wanted to put your newfound knowledge from the seminars to work, you could walk over to the swap meet area in the parking lot adjacent to the show field and purchase the parts and supplies you needed. The Horsepower Heaven-Pontiac and the chapter displays were ready for viewing, and the pace at registration was brisk. The day wrapped up with the Ames Performance reception and a cruise to Roosters, a local restaurant.

Thursday kicked off with Art Fitzpatrick's seminar "What happened to the Pizzazz" and the Jim Wangers/Paul Zazarine seminar. For the performance buffs in attendance, the day had finally arrived for autocross and drag racing at National Trail Raceway. Happily, the autocross went off without a hitch in the mid-afternoon Ohio sun, with participants pushing their Pontiac iron to the limit around the cones in a race against the clock. Some of them even punted a few cones, but fun was had by all.

The drag race wasn't so lucky. Though participants could enter a poker rally to the track the competition unfortunately ended there. When we arrived at the track, the sun was shining but dark clouds were on the horizon. As time shots got underway, a wall of dark gray was moving toward us. Soon thereafter, the skies opened and the rain fell-hard. The Jim Wangers Invitational Race and Burnout Contest was rained out.

Though the drag race was cancelled, there was still a way for participants to find out how much power their GTOs were putting to the rear wheels. Back Street Performance was on hand with a portable dyno and kept quite busy performing pulls for willing participants and entertaining the crowd that gathered.

By Friday, everybody was itching to see the concours GTOs strut their stuff. And strut they did, with a steady parade of priceless Ponchos making their way through concours judging in front of the hotel.

When the results were in, there was a spirited debate over the Best of Show car between Bruce Ling's '65 GTO convertible and Ambrose Claybar's '65 GTO convertible. These names may sound familiar as both of these cars were on the cover of the Jan. '08 issue. HPP planned to shoot these cars for a cover before concours judging ever took place, so it was funny that they were in hot competition for Best of Show. It was a win/win situation for restoration specialist Jim Mott, as he was responsible for building both of these gorgeous Tigers. We all waited patiently in the parking lot while the judges made their final decision. Though we didn't find out until the awards ceremony the following evening, Ambrose Claybar's GTO took the win.

Amid all this show field excitement, there were even more seminars to attend on Friday. Jon Schwenn provided a slide show regarding the '04-'05 GTO's engineering, there was a Pedders Suspension review for '04-'06 GTOs with Pete Basica, as well as a Harrop Performance seminar covering late-model GTOs. Traditionalists could check out Pete Serio's Hurst History seminar or one featuring GTO watches. For the small-scale enthusiast, there was a model car contest judging and a jewelry sale for everyone. A parking lot party and valve cover races allowed everyone to wind down after a very hectic day of activities.