POCI And GTOAA Co-Vention

Part I: On The Show Field, At The Dragstrip, And More

The year 2009 marked a high-point in the history of the Pontiac hobby with the very first POCI/GTOAA Co-vention, held July 7-12, in Dayton, Ohio. From across the United States, Pontiacs from all generations gathered for the most gigantic event of its kind ever, coordinated between the two largest clubs in the Pontiac hobby.

Approximately 1,280 GTOs, Trans Ams, Grand Prixs, plus many other Pontiacs (and their owners) converged upon the Nutter Center, their new home for five fun-filled days, while passionate Poncho fans from across the United States and Canada came to share in the memories of Wide-Track excitement.

Due to the extreme size of the Co-vention, it was necessary to choreograph the displays, the classes, the vendors, and the event schedules with the precision of a Hollywood production. With more than 9,000 spectators, placement and coordination were the keys to this show's success.

The 28,676 square-foot arena floor was reserved for concours cars from POCI and GTOAA. Eighty-nine pristine Pontiacs, many of them within only a few points of perfection, were neatly arranged for everybody to see. Whether you were a club member, a judge, or a non-club-affiliated spectator, you could spend hours studying the characteristics of the Co-vention's cream of the crop, all without getting a sunburn, breaking a sweat, or getting rained on. It was the perfect environment for the most-perfect of Pontiacs and a please-all for the people in attendance.

The third floor's meeting rooms were reserved for seminars. Wednesday featured Cliff Ruggles on four-barrel carburetion and Mike Wasson on Tri-power carburetion. Thursday brought informative lectures from Jim Mattison, Milt Schornack, Jim Wangers, Don Keefe, and George DeLorean. Friday featured Barry Kives on auto paint, Tim Dye on Pontiac history, Jim Ewen on Pontiac styling, and HPP's own Rocky Rotella on the Pontiac V-8.

The next floor up, the mezzanine, was circled by Injuns , Pontiac Injuns to be precise, with 59 invitation-only cars, some of the rarest and most desirable models in musclecar history, including eight Super-Duty Catalinas (three of them were Swiss Cheese cars), the Barris Superteen Firebird, the '70 GTO pilot-line brochure catalog convertible, a righthand drive Australian Ram Air '68 Firebird, a Pontiac race car exhibit sponsored by Mecum Auction, and much, much, more.

Outside, the approximately 12 acres of parking lots were filled with even more Pontiacs. On the lower level, six long rows of concours cars lined up under three large, rectangular-shaped, circus tents, displaying millions of dollars of Pontiac-proud sheetmetal. Meanwhile, the upper parking lots (yes, there were several of them) filled to their limit with Pontiacs in the popular vote categories: hundreds of GTOs, Grand Prixs, Bonnevilles, Catalinas, Firebirds, Trans Ams, and even G8s.

On Friday, a private drag race invitational at Kil-kare Dragway was open to Pontiacs only and hosted by Jim Wangers. According to the show coordinator, Dave Anderson, "120 cars participated and nearly 1,000 spectators watched. The 'Quickest Pontiac' award went to Tod Filson for his 7-second Pontiac-powered dragster."

Throughout the event, special tours allowed participants to enjoy some of Dayton's most memorable attractions including the U.S.A.F Museum, Kings Island Amusement Park, Pack-ard Museum, and a Wright brothers historical tour. In addition, a Friday night keynote address, "Under The Wings" at the U.S.A.F. Museum, featured retired Pontiac General Manager John Middlebrook and a keynote address in which he discussed his involvement with Pontiac as its lead man in the 1990s.

"I've been to 20 POCI National Conventions since 1989," Jim Mattison, President of PHS Automotive Services, told us, "By far, this was absolutely the finest. Every time I thought I'd seen the best Pontiac possible, another one would come right along."

Dave Bennett, the President of POCI, agreed. "The show was spectacular. The vision to have a joint Co-vention was great and the efforts that it took from the original planning team to the boots on the ground should be greatly applauded. I look forward to it happening again some year, hopefully sooner rather than later. I think the hobby needs to come together more now that Pontiac is an orphan."

Steve Fleury of POCI, John Spiess of GTOAA, the hard-working club members of POCI's Grand Prix Specialty Chapter, Ohio Valley GTO Association, GTO Association of Central Ohio, and the non-affiliated Batesville Boys from Batesville, Indiana, worked day and night to keep the Co-vention running smoothly.

Next year's POCI National Convention will be held in Charleston, West Virginia, on Charleston's Kanawha Blvd., on July 6-10 and next year's GTOAA National Convention will be held in Wichita, Kansas, entirely indoors at the Century II Convention Center, on July 1-4. For a marquee that had died three months earlier, it was the strongest statement ever that Pontiac is indeed alive in the minds of Pontiac fans forever.

Next Month: We'll bring you back to the 2009 Co-vention and take a first-hand tour of the fourth-floor mezzanine, which featured 59 invitation-only Pontiacs, and more. You won't want to miss it!

GTOAA Concours Judged Popular Vote winners for GTOAA can be found on highperformancepontiac.com POCI Concours Judged results will be printed in Part II.