By now, most of you know about the trials and tribulations that HPP staffers go through to get our shootouts off. We were extremely fortunate to finish three entire sessions with the Almost Heaven POCI chapter at wet-but-scenic Kanawha Valley Dragway in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and this last one was a real barn burner. Our five contestants, who had stayed around after the POCI convention in Charleston to do a little racing, would put on an impressive show. Yep, on the morning of July 14, 2002, these folks had their game faces on, and we would soon learn just how lethal their weapons of choice were: Kenneth Simpson's tempting '63 Tempest used 462 inches of Pontiac power stuffed in a lightweight body to get the job done. Ted Robb's 'glass '62 Catalina had a nose-up attitude all day, and he put the mighty 401 to good use that Sunday. Roger Keeling's 355-fed 2002 Firebird sent us reeling with his lightning-quick 60-foots and mondo wheelstands. Bill Hoy's E Stock Automatic, 403-powered '68 Firebird would be tripping the beams with driver Jack Treola crackin' the whip. And AJ White used barely more than a high-stall converter to get the high-tech LS1 in his quicksilver 2002 WS6 to scream. It was as good as a day with a bunch of Pontiac lovers could get, so once Kanawha Valley's 1/8-mile surface was prepped, we got it on.