Jess Tyree's Firebird Funny...
Jess Tyree's Firebird Funny Car body is owned by Steve Barcak. Jess raced it in 1968, 1969, and 1970. It ran a blown 421 on nitromethane early on and according to Steve, is the last-known Pontiac Funny Car to still exist that ran a pure Pontiac engine. The paintwork is from 1969.
Captions by Thomas A. DeMauro
Pontiac Heaven is the Pontiac fans' annual reunion in the West. Its purpose is to expand our knowledge, to compete, to display, to make new friends, and see existing ones. The 10th Annual Pontiac Heaven was held the weekend of April 5 and 6 at Speedworld Dragstrip in Wittmann, Arizona. Saturday's annual event was unique as it celebrated vintage Pontiac power only and on Sunday, all '81-and-older cars were welcome to attend Musclecar Heaven.
Serious fans of the traditional Pontiac V-8 attended from all over the U.S. Some were from overseas, too. This year we had participants come from as far away as New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and Europe.
Each event day featured its own car show with both judged and popular vote classes, a parts swap meet, bracket racing, special exhibitions, and a car parade.
Special exhibitions included Frank Gostyla's 7-second, single four-barrel Grand Am tube-chassis car with IA-II/Tiger head power, which came all the way from Virginia. Glenn Gibbons, with his altered wheelbase injected '64 LeMans "Pouncin' Poncho," made exhibition wheelstanding passes down the track for the crowd.
Historian Jim Wangers was our special guest and was on hand answering questions, helping with awards, and talking Pontiacs all weekend. Jim brought along two Pontiacs from his collection-the '66 GeeTO Tiger and his 455 Super-Duty-powered "Ponte Carlo." The crowd was very pleased to see both of them running.
Those who were in to Pontiacs in the '70s will remember the name Craig Hendrickson, one of the founders of H-O Racing Specialties. Craig came down from Nevada and joined our car show with his '76 Firebird, equipped with his H-O Turbo Force package. I interviewed Craig over the PA system to get caught up on what was happening with him.
After the show and race on Saturday, I hosted a free barbeque with plenty of food and drink, which gave us all some time to bench race and get re-acquainted. The weather all weekend was outstanding and the event enjoyed its largest car show and parts swap yet.
It has been a great pleasure to host Pontiac Heaven for 10 years now. The opportunity to have a Pontiac-only event has really turned into a fun weekend worth attending with much to do, see, and learn. I would like to thank everyone who attended and my staff and sponsors for all their help and support to run this event, year after year here in the Southwest.
Next year's event is scheduled for April 4 and 5, 2009. Contact Steve Barcak at (480) 899-7873 or www.pontiacheaven.org for more information.
Special thanks to all of the volunteer staff, especially Steve Groce and Ron Coleman (show directors), Paul Miller, Keith Collier, Matt Webster (race director) and Eric Nau of Alpha Omega Surveying for his double sponsorship.
 Jim "Old Man" Taylor was victorious...  Jim "Old Man" Taylor was victorious in Bracket 1, driving his '64 Tempest. |  Al Goll's pristine '61 Ventura...  Al Goll's pristine '61 Ventura earned the "Best Restored '62-and-Older" award. |  There were plenty of unique...  There were plenty of unique Pontiacs in various body styles on the show field. |
 Remember the Grand Am CA concept...  Remember the Grand Am CA concept stories that were in Hot Rod and other magazines back in 1978? This is said to be one of the two CAs that were built. It needs restoration and is for sale, but the owner, Thom Sherwood, claims to have lots of paperwork to authenticate it. |  Frank Gostyla of AllPontiac.com...  Frank Gostyla of AllPontiac.com made some blistering 7-second exhibition passes in his Pro Stock Grand Am. |  John Harmon's Sundance Orange...  John Harmon's Sundance Orange '72 350 LeMans Sport has the T41 option that puts a GTO nose on it. It also has something a GTO couldn't have in 1972-a convertible top! |