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Musclecar Heaven

Horsepower party for goats, ponies, birds, and more

If you are a child of the '60s or '70s (or even an adult from that era), you likely have some great memories of a time when horsepower and passion ruled the roads. One such child is Steve Barcak. A man possessed with the heart-pounding, adrenaline-inducing horsepower of the musclecar era. Many of us lust after our favorite GTO, Chevelle, Cuda, or Mustang, but not many of us can brag about the hundreds of these cars that we have saved from the crusher. Steve Barcak made it his mission and passion to save as much of Detroit's grand sheetmetal as his postal worker's salary would allow.

Special Delivery

Steve is so passionate for Pontiacs that he started saving each one he'd found under the Arizona sun, so many cars that his neighbors "encouraged" him to open a "savage yard"—Pontiac Heaven. Steve's driveway still bubbles of some prized Pontiacs, but his heavenly collection of Arizona sheetmetal has moved down the road, reserved for collectors in need of a gem.

So crazed is Steve for Pontiacs and other musclecars, that for the last six years he has sponsored one heck of a weekend celebrating the very vehicles of Detroit's glory days, the American musclecar. Says Steve, "These events were created to unite all fans of fine, vintage American cars & trucks 1981 and older. Cars like the Camaro, Cuda, Fairlane, GTO, 442, GS Buick, Chevelle, Corvette, Tempest, Nova, Road Runner, GTX, Firebird, Catalina, Galaxie, Impala Torino, American pick ups...well, you get the idea."

Nostalgic Power

This year's event was no different. More than 250 cars (1981 and older) and a grandstand full of spectators passed through the gates of Speedworld Raceway (just outside of Phoenix) for a nostalgic weekend of drag racing, car showing, and parts swapping. Saturday's agenda was dedicated to Pontiacs only, with Sunday being open to all makes of muscle.

Also in attendance for the entire weekend was invited guest Jim Wangers, the Godfather of the GTO, and his 1966 GeeTO Tiger GTO, a reincarnated version of the cars so famously campaigned by Pontiac in 1966, and the "Mystery Tiger." Today the GeeTO Tiger is traveled to national events putting on the "Beat the Tiger" Show; a match racing contest where lucky local competitors are randomly selected from each day's race entries to compete against the Tiger. Six lucky racers were selected to race against the Tiger based upon a handicapped dial-in. Driven by "Big Injun" Dave Anderson (yours truly), the GeeTO Tiger put on quite a show all weekend long. In the end, four excited racers went home bragging that they "Beat the Tiger."

Forecasting Fun

On Friday it was highly questionable that the event would come off. The weather was not looking good, with thundershowers predicted for all weekend. Those who traveled from California drove most of the way through heavy rains. No doubt, the weather forecast would limit the number of attendees. Though there had been some road closures around the track due to flooding, it did open late Friday afternoon to allow many of those who'd traveled far to still enter and drop off their rigs.

Come Saturday morning, all awoke to a sky scattered with clouds, but not those dark clouds seen on Friday. If the weather would hold, we'd have a great day of racing and showing. More than 50 Pontiacs staged for some exciting racing action on Saturday. An equal number of Pontiac show cars were also on display. There was even a Mickey Thompson, Hemi-headed Pontiac ski boat on display. The weather held for a blissful day, which concluded with a barbeque and gigantic bonfire that roared into the night.

Sun Day

With word that the weather had given us all a break, the attendance for Sunday's all-comers action increased. In addition to the Pontiac crowd, numerous Mopars, Fords, Chevys, and even an AMC had rolled through the gates. The show field was not as large as it had been on Saturday, but there certainly were some fine examples of a bygone era. In the drag racing action the field really heated up.

Then it came, and those clouds overhead began to turn. No longer was there blue skies and light, puffy clouds. Things were getting dark. The call went out from the tower for the race winners to hurry back to the lanes after each win so that they could get through all the brackets. Conditions were getting worse and race times were failing off, an indication that the increase moisture in the air was affecting the air to fuel mixtures on these old runners.

Thankfully the weather was holding. Our prayers had been answered. We'd gotten through the brackets and everyone gathered to pick up their trophies and prizes. And just then, when things were finished for the weekend, the rain came down hard. At that moment we knew where we all were...heaven, musclecar heaven!