19th Annual Uprising All-Pontiac Race & Show

What did you do on your 19th birthday? If you were the Pontiac Uprising All-Pontiac Race and Show, sponsored by the GR-RRR 8-R Wichita GTO Club in Wichita, Kansas, you brought together Pontiac hobbyists from across the Midwest for a great weekend of drag racing, show cars, and camaraderie.

The event began on Friday, October 3, 2008, with a meet and greet featuring attendees, pizza, and beverages at the Best Western Atrium Gardens host hotel in Arkansas City, Kansas. A tech session followed, with speaker Steve "Mr. Goatwrench" Lucas, tech advisor from the GTOAA, answering questions posed to him from the attentive and inquisitive group.

Afterwards Marty Chance of Neil Chance Torque Converters in Cheney, Kansas, gave a seminar on torque converters, explaining the differences between OEM converters and aftermarket offerings. He discussed the heavy-duty mechanical sprag in torque converters, and dissected the pump, stater, sprag, and driven torus.

Following the sessions, giveaway drawings allowed attendees to win Pontiac race memorabilia, cases of motor oil, a car appraisal, among other great prizes.

On Saturday, a herd of loud and ready-to-race Pontiacs lined up at Mid America Dragway in Arkansas City in preparation for exciting competition. No doubt they had come for over $5,000 in cash and gift certificate payouts. The quarter-mile track was prepped to take on all comers, from a 7-second Pro Mod Firebird to a 17-second, mid-'60s, four-door Bonneville. Four racing classes were available to participants: Ram Air (13:50 or slower), Super Duty (12.00-13.50), AFX (7.50-11.99), and AFX Electronic (7.50-13:00). In addition, a Quick 16, a Quick 4, and a Second Chance race gave drag racers the chance to come back to the track for more payout action.

Coinciding with the drag-race activity was a Pontiac-only car show in a paved area west of the pits. A total of 75 show cars participated, with a '62 Grand Prix owned by Mary and Virgil Meints and a '65 GTO convertible owned by Tony Mirrione taking top honors. When the awards were presented, all the participants received Gold, Silver, or Bronze plaques, while the top winners received trophies. (See www.highperformacepontiac.com for a complete listing.) Afterwards the participants enjoyed a parade lap down the quieted track to show off their beautiful Pontiacs.

During the event, HPP contributor Julie Anderson had the opportunity to collect some personal stories of the attendees, as well as their impressions of the show. They are as follows:

New to the event this year was Steve Lucas, a chief technical advisor for the GTO Association of America (GTOAA), who, as mentioned in this story, was one of the speakers at the Friday evening banquet. "I'm supposed to be the guy who knows everything," he said, noting that this was a learning experience. "If someone calls and I don't know the answer, I look it up. A lot of it is troubleshooting."

Steve brought his '67 GTO to the Uprising. "I bought it in 1989 and it needed to be totally restored, but it had its original sheetmetal and motor," he said. For racing purposes, Steve campaigns his Goat with a 455. "I don't want to take a chance of cooking the original motor because it would lose its value," he explained. "I built this GTO for me, and I play with my toy. I do a lot of burnouts. The crowd loves it."

Jim Linenberger, meanwhile, is a return attendee to the event and brought his '63 Tempest wagon. He's owned the car about 13 years. "I was looking for a '63, and I heard of one for sale in Hutchinson, Kansas," he said. "On a whim we just took off. I didn't know where the car was or have any phone numbers, so we started going into these little bars asking about it. Everybody knew the car. It was just a red hunk of junk."