L to R:  Norm Ringler, Carl Porter, Rob Freeman, Kyle Kruszewski, Matt Planning, Jeanette DeVogelaere in front of Rob’s ’26 Pontiac Coupe and the RediRad booth.

 

 

   My first pilgrimage to the Ames Performance Pontiac Nationals was back in 2007.  I had just bought a 1970 LeMans Hardtop, and my coworker Rob Freeman enthusiastically talked me into this must-attend event.  I knew it would be fun, but little did I know that it would become one of my annual highlights.  A rendezvous point was chosen, and I met up with Rob in his flame-throwing ’66 Catalina (dubbed “Flaming Moe”).  I quickly discovered that the journey is the destination.  In late 2015, I found my dream car (a ’70 Tempest Coupe, just like my Dad’s first car). Personal commitments prevented my attendance in 2016, so this year was a special opportunity to get some windshield time with my new Pontiac main-squeeze. 

 

   A lot of the fun of Norwalk is camping at Summit Raceway Park and letting the roar of Pontiac engines be your alarm clock as they start time trials early in the morning.  So in addition to your personal supplies, there’s the basic camp gear (tent, cooler, sleeping bag, etc.).  And if you’re driving your classic Pontiac, there’s your tool bag, cleaning supplies, and spare parts.  And also very important is any maintenance required to ensure a safe and reliable trip in your Pontiac freedom machine* (* term courtesy of Matt Planning, inventor of the RediRad).

 

   Around 9:30 in the morning, I headed south on Rt. 59 to meet up with Rob Freeman and his sister Jeanette in his 2001 Dodge 2500 Diesel, with 28′ foot trailer containing his 1926 Pontiac Coupe in tow.  The rendezvous point was Mega Sports gun shop in Plainfield, IL along the historic Lincoln Highway.  Just before heading southwest on the Lincoln Highway, there’s a portion of Rt. 59 that is simultaneously an alignment of Rt. 66 and the Lincoln Highway!  Continuing along the Lincoln Highway into Joliet had us intersecting yet another alignment of Rt. 66!  As we got into Indiana, the proud Tempest was getting a good amount of “thumbs up”.  One guy shouted to me at a redlight, “Hey, you’re too young to be driving that!”  I responded with, “I came home from the hospital in one of these cars!”  “Oh, okay!,” was the response.

   Our route was Rt. 30 (which is for the most part the Lincoln Highway) into Indiana, then Rt. 421 north in Wanatah to Rt. 6 (if you’re taking a trip in your classic Pontiac, how can you not take 421?!).  Unfortunately, 421 was closed for construction before 6, so we had to make our own detour.  That’s when it started raining.  The unfortunate thing about driving east (in addition to the fact that the day is getting shorter the further east you go) is that if it’s raining, that storm is probably going to stay right over you and seemingly never end.  And that’s what happened…  120 miles of rain with tons of road construction.  Just as the rain cleared, so did the road construction.  Luckily I had just installed new wiper blades before the trip, but the wiped motor is either slow or fast; no intermittent.  I often found myself reaching around the wheel to perform a manual intermittent mode or the blades would skid across the windshield during periods of lighter rain.

   With nighttime upon us and somewhere near Bellevue, Ohio (about 13 miles to Norwalk), it started raining again.  I forgot to mention that my heater core in the Tempest is bypassed; I didn’t get around to replacing it over winter and I found myself wanting it very badly to keep the windshield defrosted.  Luckily the Tempest being a Post Coupe has vent windows which were a life saver for keeping window fog under control in the rain without getting water in the car.  I was really getting frustrated that the drive I look forward to all year was so unpleasant, then I saw a car on the opposite side of Rt. 18 changing a flat tire at night in a down pour.  I was quickly reminded that my situation wasn’t so bad after all.  Summit Raceway Park isn’t open to car show campers on Thursday night, so we rolled into Linder’s Lot across the street to setup camp for the night.  And by “setup camp,” I mean lay down air mattresses inside Rob’s trailer.  With a ’26 Pontiac in a 28′ trailer, there’s a lot of extra room!  Jeanette brought plenty of sandwiches as snacks for a late dinner.

 

   We pulled out of Linder’s Lot and got in line at the front gate to pay for weekend show car passes.  There was more rain on and off the whole day which really cramped the style of all the racers trying to dial-in for the competition the next day.  I donned my Poncho Perfection T-Shirt and Rob and I wandered the swap field.  Almost right away, a ’70 GTO Endura bumper caught my eye.  It was rough, but better than the one on my 455/M-21 project car.  The price on the tag said “$225” and before I even asked about it, the seller said “$150; I don’t want to take it home!”  Moments later, I was carrying an Endura bumper back to Rob’s truck.  Then it was time for a quick visit with Don Keefe to buy some koozies at the Poncho Perfection booth.

   Because of the rain, time trials continued rather late into the night.  One of the hallmarks of Norwalk is meeting up with Pontiac friends that we sometimes only see once per year; but in reality, they’re our Pontiac family.  So to a sonic backdrop of Pontiacs  screaming down the race track, we gathered around a campfire, shared some brews, and commenced our Pontiac family reunion.  Plans were made to drive the Tempest over to the Star Diner on Cleveland Road in Norwalk for breakfast the following morning, bright and early at 6:00 AM. 

 

 

   I woke up at 5:45, got dressed, and hopped in the Tempest just outside the trailer.  Apparently 6:00 AM didn’t seem like such a good idea to some of those whom were on-board the night before.  It ended up being just me and ’63 Tempest/LeMans enthusiast Carl Porter of Pennsylvania.  I often describe Carl as “The World’s Most Interesting Man,” as he seemed to be everywhere in the ’60s, with Max Yasgur (yes, that Max Yasgur) as his milk man growing up, to being in Greenwich Village for casual coffee shop performances by Bob Dylan, to a chance meeting of Janis Joplin, attending Woodstock, and being in a military intelligence role during the Vietnam war.  We shared a great conversation over a classic American breakfast at the Star Diner.

   Upon our return to Summit Raceway Park, I pulled right into the line for show car class inspection and drove over to the Tempest/LeMans/GTO section.  A show official guided me into a spot next to a RA V ’69 Judge, then came around to the window to say, “Hey, Kyle!”  I had never seen him before but he recognized the car from our many exchanges on the Max Performance (formerly Performance Years) forum.  It was Dennis Jensen, one of the organizers of Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags, and fellow ’70 A-Body enthusiast (among many other things). After getting the car cleaned up and presentable (as much as any car driven 340 miles could be), I went over to chat with Dennis.  I think we may have talked for 90 minutes.  That is the remarkable thing about this Pontiac family; you can find yourself deep in conversation about the “inside baseball” of whatever cars that it is you’re into, with people you’ve never met before.  It’s a truly amazing phenomenon, and there’s always something new to learn!

   I was afraid that the weather of Thursday and Friday was going to scare people away on Saturday, but that did not seem to be the case.  The show field was quite full, and the guest parking was bigger than I had ever seen.  I did not get an official show car count, but I took pictures of 443 different cars on Saturday afternoon between the official show entries, and the Poncho Perfection Display class.  There were at least 37 cars for sale in Car Corral.  Ralph Moyer of R.E.M. Automotive Parts, Inc. took home the White ’65 GTO Hardtop.  While the weather was a major improvement from the past two days, it still managed to sprinkle a little bit in the afternoon.

   A great annual tradition is the Ames Dinner hosted on Saturday night.  All Racers, Swap Vendors, and Show Car participants receive entry for themselves and a guest to one of three dinner time slots hosted by Kevin Beals of Ames Retail and Steve Ames, founder of Ames Performance Engineering.  In addition to a raffle for prizes ranging from a choice of Ames catalog items to VIP passes to the Ames Hospitality Suite to watch the races, Ames gives you a 1-in-5 chance of winning back your entry fee for the weekend!  Finally, there’s a T-Shirt slingshot where they launch half a dozen or so Ames T-shirts into the crowd after dinner.  I was not one of the lucky individuals to win my entry fee back, but I did manage to grab myself a flying T-Shirt!

 

 

   The forecast was showing spotty rain for most of the day.  After the epic journey on the way to Ohio, I was not thrilled with the prospect of going through that again.  So after packing up the camp site, loading up, and finally remembering to take a group photo, we embarked for our return home with a slightly modified route that had us taking Rt. 20 to Rt. 6, to Indiana 331 south to connect us to Rt. 30 for the rest of the way home.  This route was a major improvement to the trip out.  331 proved to be a beautiful wide 2-lane, taking us through the lovely and solidly-built town of Bremen, Indiana.

   Somehow we didn’t encounter any rain.  As we got into Valparaiso, I was starting to feel like we were almost home.  While waiting at a red light at 30 and Sturdy Rd., the Tempest shutoff with warning.  After the initial panic of a breakdown in traffic, I started cranking the engine, but it wouldn’t fire.  I threw on my hazard lights and Rob hopped out of his truck and met me at my driver’s window.  By this time the light had turned green and traffic was flowing around us.  I immediately thought how if I were in Chicago, I’d probably be getting honked and yelled at.  In Valparaiso however, a bunch of folks got out of their cars, and along with Rob, helped push me through the intersection into the parking lot of the Broadway Cafe.  I am very grateful for their help!  As I got out of the car to assess the situation, a B-17 flew overhead.  Moments later, a B-24 and a P-51D.  Well, that was a bit of a bright side I suppose.  Back to the Car, I found that I was getting strong spark, so Rob helped reason that I had either experienced vapor lock or a failed mechanical fuel pump.  I had not experienced vapor lock prior in worse traffic and heat conditions, so I was skeptical about that, so then we started considering a road-side fuel pump replacement.  Since I didn’t know for sure that was the problem, I instead pulled out an invaluable tool, my AAA membership card.  My AAA plan provides towing up to 100 miles; I was 98 miles from home!

 

   The car got me to Norwalk, and within 100 miles from home on the return trip.  It got a piggyback ride home safe and sound.  Later that week, I put in a new fuel pump which seemed to do the trick.

   So other than that minor inconvenience with the breakdown, the trip was, as always, incredible!  Again, the trip is the destination!  As soon as you get yourself behind the wheel of your favorite car, you have arrived.  These cars are our freedom machines.  They’ll take you anywhere you’d like to go, and if you take care of them, they’ll take car of you.  The memories and friendships you’ll form are pure magic.  So enjoy your experience at the next big show you choose to attend, but while you’re at it, go see our country by getting off the interstates.  If anything, it’s a great way for folks to get to see our vintage machines out on the road, and inspire the next generation to continue the spirit of American motoring.