Musclecar Heaven

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."