23rd annual Pontiac Heaven weekend Oct 30-Nov 1, 2020 Phoenix
 

Our annual gathering for fans of real Pontiac power ( no corporate power ) will be held October 30-November 1 at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Az ( Phoenix ).

Some of the event features-
*3 days and 1 night of drag racing with over $6,000 in cash payouts ( 8 car min )
*2 car shows- classic and Pontiac powered
* live music
* classic salvage yard tours ( including Pontiac Heaven location )
* swap meet with free spaces
*autocross/road course
* tech session
More to be announced.
Follow Pontiac Heaven on face book to keep current-
www.facebook.com/PontiacHeaven

Event proceeds will benefit the Pontiac Heaven Museum Project here in Arizona!

We are still planning on our 2020 dates. Some sponsors are already signed on. The dates will be Oct 30-Nov 1, 2020 at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park! This year, I paid over $5,000 in cash to racers over the weekend plus over 60 other arwards in the car shows and autocross. Pontiac Heaven is all about Pontiac Power and also great nostalgia racing to compete against other brands of the same era.
Make plans to attend and follow on face book- Pontiac Heaven to keep current.
Thank you , Merry Christmas and Best of New Years to all.
thank you

Looking forward to it Steve. Already on the calendar.

This years annual Pontiac Heaven weekend is still scheduled and offers the fan of real Pontiac power so much!

I ask for your support. I am spending 10s of thousands of dollars to run and rent a national event track for 3 days and it is the nicest time of year to visit the Phoenix area.
We need more Pontiac events and I need your support. IT is very expensive but, I do it from the heart because I want a Pontiac powered event annually here in the southwest.
We have so much to offer and need to attract more people to attend.

2 car shows- a classic for all 1981/older vehicles and one for real Pontiac power only

a real Pontiac powered autocross/road coarse! you can run your Poncho powered entry through a 1/2 mile road course- open headers if you want, run as hard or as soft as you want and have fun!
swap meet all weekend with free spaces
tour classic salage yards with thousands of old cars to look through and shop! hey this is Arizona
Drag racing? lots of it including Pontiac powered and nostalgia drag racing with some great classes! last year I paid out over $5000 in cash to winners. lots of opportunity for track time to test, play and race!
special displays not seen else where to be announced

and any proceeds benefit the Pontiac Heaven museum project right here in Arizona!
follow to the Pontiac Heaven facebook page to keep current and I do appreciate your support.
we are also always looking for any volunteers who may want to help me on staff run the event over the weekend, also need help prior to and afterwards.

this is for the Pontiac powered hobby! thank you and make plans to be here in the Phoenix area Oct 30-Nov1.

Steve I'm still planning on attending with the Firebird as the GTO will probably not be done with the upgrades and new paint( I will try). Will also bring a non Pontiac that can run Saturday. Looking forward to seeing you.

We are always happy to see you with us Bill. thanks for your support and please help spread the word.

October 30-November 1, 2020
Phoenix
23rd annual Pontiac Heaven weekend!

drag racing
autocross/ 1/2 mile road course
2 car shows
tours of collector salvage yards
swap meet
special displays
the area is geared to tourism- lots to do for the entire family
Make plans to attend.

I'll be there as always Steve, racing 2 Pontiacs on Sunday, and I may try to bring a Chevrolet down for some Saturday racing if I can make it happen.
I'm liking the flyer you posted but I'm a little bias :D

What new blocking?

It's not until the beginning of November, more than 3 months away. As of right now Wild Horse has a full schedule posted starting Aug 7th, and that is only due to the current Gila River Indian Community that has a stay in place order until August 2nd.

LOL

I think we'll be fine. Arizona the last few days has started to show a downward trend while other states are still struggling.

Matter of fact Goodguys has already cancelled events for next year as far forward as November 2021 for Colorado, California, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and a couple others, but they are still on schedule at this point for this November in Phoenix, which happens to be 3 weeks after the scheduled Pontiac Heaven event.

As long as things continue on the downward trend I don't see any reason why either of these would cancel, especially the Pontiac drag race since the crowd is much less and easily controlled with plenty of room.

Plus as I mentioned, the track is scheduled to open this coming weekend.

Here is the event weekend flier with schedules, features and registration form.

I wonder what's up with Wild Horse Pass's website schedule? I'm looking at their schedule and they have all the races listed through Oct-Nov except this one. For some reason the weekend of Pontiac Heaven and Nov-1st they skip right over that weekend with no mention of this race.

Not sure that's doing you any favors Steve. They aren't great about answering the phone, phone messages, or emails either if you have any questions. I've tried that with no success.

Steve just checking on this. Is it still on schedule for the days listed.
Just want to make sure so I can make plans to attend.

In case Steve doesn't chime in,


I talked to Mike who is friends with Brad (starting line guy works for Wildhorse) and he confirmed the event is still a go. Why it's not listed on Wildhorse's website is beyond me but not surprised as they haven't seemed to update that regularly or correctly in the past either.

I had actually planned to come your way for CamaroCon next month but they cancelled it. Not sure why since your track has a full list of events posted for next month. Oh well.

It is with regret that I need to announce that the Pontiac Heaven Weekend will have to be rescheduled for a later date. This is primarily due to covid issues. While the track has reopened, they are not allowing spectators in and I cannot run the event without them. Spectators include- car show entires, swap meet entries, etc. not just walk ins.
Pontiac Heaven weekend is marketed to people all over the US and beyond. It is not practical for people to take off work, resv hotel rooms, etc and not know if they can get in to enjoy the event, etc.
Those who know me,know I am not good at quitting or giving up but, have to be practical especially with the 10s of thousands of dollars involved to run the weekend.
As an alternative, I am trying to put together a Friday night ( Oct 30 ) drag/show program including 2 classes for Pontiac powered vehicles- trophy and money class. Plus other classes. I will keep you posted on the Pontiac Heaven face book page soon if that can happen. It will be geared to a more local crowd though, of course, all Pontiac powered fans could enter. Please check back.
I am sorry to have to make this announcement, it is hard to do but, the best thing. Thanks to all my sponsors, staff and friends who have helped out. We hope to do the weekend at a later date. SB
Also due to the virus

Sorry to hear this Steve.

So is the Nostalgia weekend (Saturday) also cancelled?

Has this been communicated to the track? Because I've just been told Brad (track personnel) just said it's still on.

I think you made the right decision, Steve--difficult as it is. We've all had our lives disrupted by Covid-19 and racing is no exception. I look forward to the rescheduled event.


Jim

thank you Jim

As stated earlier- I am trying to have a smaller alternative until we can reschedule the entire weekend.
Today, I had a meeting with Wild Horse Pass officials and we reached an agreement for me to run Friday night drags Oct 30th as long as spectators can get in.
So, I will be running two Pontiac powered classes- trophy and a money bracket. Trophy will require DOT tires.
In addition, we will also have a cruise in car show for Pontiac powered vehicles with awards!
In a way, this is a 'retro' Pontiac Heaven Drags similar to the very first event I hosted in 1998!
I may make a run of t shirts if there is interest too. contact me via facebook or email ( steve@pontiacheaven.org ).
A few people asked me if I would also offer a private tour of my original Pontiac Heaven location and will do that to for those interested and attending Friday night's event.
In addition to the Pontiac powered classes, there will be a gambler class with a payout, test and tune, 2 diesel truck classes and possibly more- something for most everyone. Keep current on the Pontiac Heaven facebook page.
If spectator restrictions are still in place for the 30th, I will reschedule this event as soon as they are lifted. Again, keep current on the Pontiac Heaven FB page.
Support Pontiac powered events- Support Pontiac Heaven!
Special thanks to all my sponsors who have stayed with me during this tough year of cancellations around the US.
I will do everything I can to run this event and then will look at when it is practical to bring back Pontiac Heaven weekend after the covid situation is resolved. thanks!

On their website they now have Friday night test and tune drags listed for Oct 23rd and Nov 6th and states a limited number of spectators will be allowed.

Oddly there is still nothing at all listed for the Oct 30th weekend and hasn't been for months. Nothing about the usual diesel drags held on that Friday (same weekend as Pontiac Heaven) and no mention of the Nostalgia races on that Saturday.

I planned to attend the Saturday Nostalgia event to run a Chevrolet, and Sunday a Pontiac. If you are going to have a Pontiac race that Friday night instead Steve, we can be there with a Pontiac on Friday. Always like supporting this event.

As far as I've been told Brad says the track is open and the weekend is still on though so that's a bit confusing. Looking forward to more info.

Am sorry there are issues with the tracks web site on my events. This has hurt me for years now and seems to be hard to remedy. It is frustrating. I will continue to bring it to their attention.
I am renting the track Friday eve the 30th. Officially- gates open at 6pm but, will be opening a few hours earlier for racers and participants.
Will be running several classes.
For Pontiac power-
1. trophy - DOT tires required .5 tree
2. money. .5 tree
Cruise in Pontiac powered car show with awards.
There have also been some inquires for swap spaces and I welcome this- bring your parts to sell.
Should the covid situation not improve by then, I will , again, be forced to reschedule it to as soon as spectators can be allowed. But, things seem positive that we will race and show Friday eve the 30th.
It is best to keep current on the Pontiac Heaven face book page.

Also running- 2 classes of street diesels, a gambler and test and tune open to everyone year, make , etc.
Thanks to all who support my events and Pontiac power promotions-
Premier Performance
Network Service centers
National Parts Depot
Kauffman Racing
AllPontiac.com
Butler Performance
Space Age auto paint store
Frederick and Sons a/c plumbing
Motorway Restorations
Arizona Differential
The Thompsons

Most of these sponsors have supported Pontiac Heaven events for many years, some for decades! I kindly ask you all to please support them! Let's keep this Pontiac powered hobby strong and support these businesses.

As for Pontiac Heaven weekend and The Phoenix Drag Reunion- it is on hold for now primarily due to covid. Running the 3 day weekend is a monster and it is best to put it off until the covid situation is behind us. More on that later. It is much simplier, easier to host a single day event on the 30th. Even that may have to be moved, let's hope not.
As of now- we are ON for Friday night, Oct 30! Hope to see you all there! Let's show, let's race and have some fun the Pontiac powered way!

thank you

Thanks for that update Steve.

No need to apologize for the tracks website, that's not your fault. It's something that has been an issue with Wildhorse for years it seems and is frustrating for me as well as other competitors that would like to do our part to support the track. What's worse is they never answer the phone or return messages.

I will plan to be there to support your event on the 30th, and looking forward to anything else you plan to do at the dragstrip. :beerchug:

Steve,

Wildhorse's website has the diesel drags postponed for Friday night the 30th. Not sure what that means for your event, they make no mention of it. :confused:

Well, No update from Wildhorse. I can't get a return call or message from them.

With Diesel drags postponed until further notice I'm going to assume the Pontiac races and test and tune are not happening tonight either. Not worth it to me to drive 200 miles only to find out something ain't happening.

If in fact you do have a race, hope you get a good turnout Steve. Best of luck

You're right. Nothing Pontiac-related happening at the track this weekend. Steve seems to have migrated totally to Facebook, so that leaves us non-Facebook types with less information.


Jim

Oh thanks for that Jim.

Yeah you're right, I'm not a social media fan so I don't facebook or twit or any of that. Neither do most of the car guys I hang with up here. So if that's the only way Steve is communicating updates, most of us up here will never know about it.

whats the problem?
to many people have the cooooof?

There is still no news to report on scheduling the next Pontiac Heaven weekend primarily due to covid :(
Am so grateful to all who attend and help out. Also, all the sponsors who support and help make Pontiac Heaven weekend a reality.
Wishing all here a super nice and Merry Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year for 2021!

My sponsors are so special to me and I endorse and believe it all of them-
in no particular order-


Kauffman Racing
Premier Performance & Restoration
Network Service Centers
National Parts Depot
Frederick and Sons A/C and heating, plumbing
Space Age Paint Store
Butler Performance
Motorway Restorations
Arizona Differential
AllPontiac.com

Not sure when will will run the next event. Who knows when covid sutuation will go away? Still too many restrictions at the host event track.
take care and follow Pontiac Heaven on face book to keep current.

thanks!

Just an FYI for those interested.

They had a private track rental last Friday at Wildhorse where about 40 guys showed up for some test and tune fun runs.

So the track is still operational and open, they just oddly don't have anything on the schedule for some reason. Bondurant still appears to be open at the track too.

Kind of strange when you think about it that the Gila Reservation is hammering the track with their own rules and restrictions but they have no problem keeping their casino open 24/7 right across the street. Really?
It's literally impossible to properly sanitize a casino, card tables, slot machines etc.. full of thousands of people... Where as a drag strip your about as isolated from people as you can be in your own vehicle 90% of the time.

Yep, so dumb, Dreamcruise happened. I went all day, no mask, we didn’t get sick.
Casinos, and Walmart’s are the safest places to be. Lol

I know we've had a lot of car events cancelled up here where I am, but I can say that the few we have had this year have all been more crowded this year than any year prior. Small car shows that normally attract 75-100 cars literally have been flooded this year with 300+ and spilled over into other adjacent parking lots like never before. I attended every single one of them that I could find to show my support.

It's pretty obvious that the car community up here and the people I know are starving for car events, and I've seen the same thing in Phoenix. I'd bet that if Steve decided to put on the event anyway regardless of spectator activity and advertised it well enough, he could have likely had the best car count at the event to date.

Hello all out there. There is still not updates on the covid situation but, I do have the first weekend in November reserved at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park should things get better. Am sure a new contract will have to be negotiated and agreed upon but, my relationship with the track and management is a good one and they want us back. So, hoping it will happen again. Am not on PY as much as the old days but, will try to check back at times. There is a link to my FB page on the home page of my web site as well as email,etc. these are best ways to contact me.
Wishing all to keep healthy and happy and enjoy Pontiac Power!
I am so grateful for all sponsors, staff and helpers to make Pontiac Heaven happen each year! AND we love to see all those who attend to be with us! Hoping to do it again but, will not be this spring.

take care,
SB pontiacheaven.org

Here's hoping it happens :beerchug:


Hopefully before the strip is turned into a water park or sports complex. That's what is circulating anyway.

thank you for your support ! "Pontiac Power Rules!"

As always Steve :thumbup:

I love these types of events. You could put 10 of these on a year and I'd be at every one of them.

I don't get it. They have had plenty of drift and drags events for the past months that host 3x the amount of people that show up for Pontiac heaven with no problems with covid (common cold)
Also know a few guys that rented the track and had 30-40 cars. Nothing seems to be stopping anyone else.

Mike Bramer writes- "nothing seems to be stopping anyone else". really? how about the NHRA national event? how about their divisional? Big money makers for the track- not there this year. you must not be aware of that. Also, the drift and drags have been shut down, people kicked out before due to not complying. police were called in, etc
Last Oct, when I tried to down size to just having the Friday night event, even through I had a signed contract, etc, etc. 2 weeks prior- My ADDITIONAL ADDED costs escalated over $4,000 if I had less than 1000 people or over $8,000 if it went over 1,000 people !! and I would be restricited on the number of people I can let through the gate! again to clarify- those were not the rental costs already signed and agreed on. No, those were additional/added costs 2 weeks prior to operate. this happened after they shut down and kicked out a crowd for drift and drags in oct.
And... now they are charging $10 for spectator parking on MY track rental! That is $10 to park your car and then they have to pay to get in the gate! Despite my track rental, they keep the $10 per car to park! that was a Rawhide decision. just the facts. you guy have no idea how expensive and how hard it is to do these each year. If I was not such a Pontiac nut, I would be long gone decades ago. If no passion, I do not see how anyone would put events on. and many beat me up for doing it.

Hang in there Steve. Most everybody appreciates your efforts. Brighter times will arrive.

Actually they have had a few drift and drags since that last police escapade a couple months ago. In fact there is another drift and drag scheduled for Feb 12th that I plan to attend.

Sad that the track is giving you such a hard time Steve, but I don't think it's entirely the tracks fault. The Gila Indian reservation the track sits on has imposed some really stringent restrictions, more so than Maricopa County or the city of Phoenix has. Makes life really difficult for the track. Just take a look at Tucson's schedule. It's booked every week all year for 2021. Wildhorse has nothing except the drift and drag Feb 12th I mentioned and some stupid drag queen show for cross dressers the week after. Why a dragstrip entertains that I'll never know, that certainly isn't helping any, but the rest of the calendar year for Wildhorse is blank.

As far as track management goes, they should embrace more events like yours Steve in my opinion if they want the support of the local muscle car crowd. We simply don't have enough events like this in Phoenix, and I feel that track does suffer for it. It's too bad Speedworld is gone, we wouldn't be going through this nonsense if that were still around.

What ever happens, I'll be there supporting any kind of muscle car event that Wildhorse is willing to entertain. When they don't, I'll be at Tucson and Vegas.

Anybody else aware that wildhorse is going to be shut down and re developed. Just like Atlanta and Atco.
All the drag strips are disappearing
Clock is ticking boys

I've heard those rumors too and it doesn't surprise me. When they are booking drag queen cross dressers instead of drag racing events it made me think right away their days are numbered.

It's been posted pretty much everywhere on social media from what I've been told, with several people coming forward, including racers in my area, that they are considering the possibility of turning this into a water park or a sports complex, and what a surprise, another casino. Like the one right across the street isn't enough. lol

Interesting how a little mom and pop track in Tucson can book an entire year but an NHRA sanctioned track is struggling. That gets back to my point of being on reservation land and restrictions that are way more stringent than the rest of the county.

Lets hope this doesn't happen but unless they get on the ball it doesn't look good.

Here are a couple of quick shots I took at the Feb 12th test and tune. This doesn't really capture the crazy amount of people that showed up for this event.

There were easily 300+ cars drag racing. The upper pits were completely full, it took me an hour just to get through tech. From there I had to wait 2 1/2 hours between each run. Staging lanes were 5 lanes wide and completely packed.

Gates opened at 3pm for racers and I didn't get back home until 2 am.

Spectators were just as many. It was as busy as I've seen the track since the last NHRA event.

I'd say the track has no problem bringing in racers when they are open. Despite what their website says (which is basically nothing) they did have a poster at the track of upcoming events and it looked like test and tune is to resume it's normal Friday nights and every weekend had some form of racing booked. My son took a picture of it I'll see if I can upload shortly.

Here's a picture my son took of a schedule they had.

Why they can't put this up on their website is beyond comprehension. They can print out a giant poster board and hang it up in the pits but they can't stroke a few keys on the computer and post it on their website??

And I'll say this again.....why are they not advertising your Pontiac Heaven event Steve that is supposed to happen Nov 1st??? It just kills me the tracks advertising is so lack luster.

What is a drift and drag?

They partition off part of the pits for drifters. The drags they hold along with this is just a test and tune session. Basically 2 events.

I saw maybe 25 cars participating in the drifting, most of the place was full of drag racers.

There are other nights, usually Friday nights, they just have drag racing test and tune.

Ahhh ok its been many years since I was out there but I was having a hard time envisioning how that would work. Sorry don't want to derail the thread so back to the discussion on Pontiac Heaven 2021, we all hope.

Possibly this is the problem?


Wildhorse


:(

Yep John, I think it's a conglomeration of issues.

Wildhorse's advertising needs some work.

The fact they are on reservation land poses issues, as they have had to follow super strict virus restrictions that the Indians put in place, unlike the rest of Maricopa County that has been a bit more relaxed. However the event I showed pictures up above wasn't affected like it had been previously. So I think that end of the issue is clearing up.

I think another issue is the track just doesn't cater to the muscle car crowd with events to draw in more nostalgia racing events. They have NHRA once a year, then some smaller sportsman races off and on and small points meets. So the only time us regulars get to race is on a test and tune night, that's it.

Steve has been the only person I'm aware of that has even bothered to try and put on a nostalgia event. Although just Pontiacs on Sunday, the Saturday before is all makes and models up through (I believe) 1981. So there is a bigger opportunity there to make it something special. We just need more of it.
Then again we get back to the advertising.

Maybe I'm just spoiled coming from Ohio because back East and throughout the mid West was/is filled with so much more of this stuff. Can't understand why the Western states can't seem to get with the program. There is no manual transmission racing out here, no UMTR, no gasser events, no nostalgia events with trophy classes that cater to "real" street cars, nothing in or around Arizona. It's a shame with the car culture being such a huge movement out here and weather year round to cater to it.