2011 Ames Performance Tri-Power Pontiac Nationals - The Pontiac Nationals Turns 20

Jim Semon’s ’86 and David Stidd’s ’85 Fieros lead off this contingent of Pontiac’s sporty two-seater.

Legendary Pontiac racer Arnie “The Farmer” Beswick gives a pint-size show-goer an autograph to remember.

A pair of ’73 Grand Ams lead off this show-field row. Check out the NACA hood on the one in the foreground, which is owned by Tim Workman. The brown one is owned by Jamey Gladden.

Keith Collier and his ’61 527,000-mile Tempest were the lucky recipients of the HPP Editor’s Choice Award and featured in “It’s a Driver” in the May ’12 issue.

Keith Collier and his ’61 527,000-mile Tempest were the lucky recipients of the HPP Editor’s Choice Award and featured in “It’s a Driver” in the May ’12 issue.

Irvin Arter’s “Safari Sport” is a one-of-none tribute to the Pontiac prototype sport hauler, which was developed in ’78. It features an ’81 front end, and an ’82 Grand Prix dash and running gear.

Ames Performance Best in Class winners pose for a group photo. From left, Jim Crawford (Full Size), Jerry Brushaber (Firebird/Trans Am), Rod Boyer (Pontiac Open), John Elliott (Grand Prix), and Lee Barnes (GTO/Judge).

The Knafel Pontiac display presented by Merle and Mike Green’s 1A-Auto featured some of the rarest Pontiac race cars of the ’60s to come out of Akron, Ohio, as well as meet-and-greets with race-car drivers Arlen Vanke and Larry “Doc” Dixon.

The National Automotive and Truck Museum in Auburn, Indiana, displayed its ’38 GM Futurliner No. 10, which is 1 of only 12 made. These behemoth-sized buses were showcased at GM’s Parade of Progress public events in the late ’30s and again at GM Motoramas in the early ’50s.

Weighing in at over 30,000 pounds, powered by a 145hp GMC “302” Straight-6 engine, and limited to a top speed of 45 mph didn’t deter the Futurliner from making exhibition quarter-mile passes on the Summit Motorsports dragstrip.

It wasn’t quite a strip scorcher, but it’s 41.19 second e.t. at 28.94 mph brought the crowd up for a standing ovation. According to John Webb, admissions director at the museum, “As far as I know, it’s the only time any Futurliner has ever made a quarter-mile pass in their 74-year history.”