It was a beautiful Saturday in late September, the 22nd to be precise, and the Tigers Prowled.

The event was the 10th Annual South Central Tiger Prowl put on by the GTO Association of N. TX. This is an all Pontiac Car Show that once again brought out some of the best Pontiacs the area has to offer. The site was the Bass Pro Shop in Grapevine as it has been for the past several years, a good venue in a central location within the Metroplex.

As always, the GTO Assoc. of N. TX put on a great show with proceeds benefiting the MD Anderson Cancer Center. The show field consisted of about 65 cars, most of which are pictured below. DAPA Members that were in attendance included Don Fenton, Shawn Wheeler, Bob Cook, Brian Donahue, Mark Waterman, Larry Rawlings, Phil Madden, Randy Allen, John Darling, Colleen Darling, John Oliver, Deanne Wagner and Tony Ricci. Hope we didn’t forget anyone, but probably did.

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July 10-14, 2007
By Rob Bender

McKinney , TX to Tulsa . This caravan included Don and Stephanie Fenton, Larry Rawlings, Brian Donahue , his buddy Rick Theissen, Jim Kerbel, son, Jake Kerbel , James Morris, and yeah, I was there. On the way up we were joined by George Reaves en route, and later in Tulsa met up with Lee Green and daughter Jennifer, Shawn and E.J. Wheeler, Randy Allen, Bryan Liptoi and John and Dawn Wolf.

Already on the scene in Tulsa were Bob and Linda Cook, Mark and Lynn Waterman, Ross and Dorothy Clegg, Tommy and Judy Rivers, John and Colleen Darling, Robert Kern, Marty and Paul Parker and Shawn Patterson.

This event was well put together. POCI, in working with the Oklahoma Tourism Board, had blocked off several square blocks of downtown Tulsa for the convention. There were city parking lots reserved for in and out POCI member parking, the Swap Meet in another lot and a display by Pontiac that included the Solstice GXP and yet to be released G8. Trailer parking was available a few blocks away and POCI rented vans for shuttle service. Even a couple of hoses were set up in one of the trailer lots to hand wash your car.

The weather cooperated on the days that counted, including race day and show day. It rained part of Thursday, but there were a couple of seminars to choose from, as well as several vendor booths and displays to keep us occupied. The day at the track, Friday, the 13th was hampered by rain early on, but the track was dried and ready to go by late morning. The only affect Friday the 13th had on us was it hexed our times in the bracket racing – at least that’s the story we’re sticking to. By late afternoon, all of us “he men” were sitting around staring at each other while we watched Jennifer Green go round after bracket round making it all the way to the Finals. Shawn Patterson also hung in there and made it to the Finals in the “Dirty Bird”.

The Popular Vote Car Show day was Saturday, and it turned to be a perfect day with the weather sunny and warm. There was also a Points Judged Car Show on Friday. I understood there were 360 cars in the Saturday show field which stretched for several blocks. All cars were in specific classes and positioned accordingly. For example, not only the GTO’s would be lined up together, the 1965 GTO’s lined the better side of one street! You can’t forget the beautiful vintage Oaklands which were set under a row of trees. And it was the 30th Anniversary of the Can Am; they of course were grouped in a prestigious location.

POCI had indeed put on a great event. We were fortunate to have it held close to Dallas in 2007 allowing a fair contingent of DAPA members to participate.

By Rob Bender

We have a beautiful Saturday morning today, June 9, 2007 for our DAPA hosted; Sewell sponsored B-O-P Car Show. It’s warm, sunny, a bit muggy, but the cars are rolling in. Sewell Buick Pontiac GMC, our sponsor for this event, has cleared the entire upper lot facing Lemmon Avenue for this event. By 10:00am the cars are rolling in strong, Pontiacs , Oldsmobiles, Buicks, Cadillacs, GMCs and more Pontiacs . Even 2 or 3 Chevys showed up for this Buick, Olds, Pontiac, Cadillac, Hummer show. By the time registration closed we had 77 cars registered filling almost the entire upper lot.

It’s now 11:30am, the sun is high in the sky, the DJ is crankin’ out tunes and he announces “lunch is served”. Sewell once again provided free lunch for all, burgers, dogs, all the fixings, sides, drinks and dessert! Your $10.00 registration gets you lunch AND the $10.00 goes right to our charity benefactor – the American Cancer Society.

Raffles were sold and cool stuff was raffled off throughout the day. After a big lunch, you want to walk it off; ahh, the perfect time for participant judging. Pick up your judging sheet and walk the show field. As you will see in the photos below, we did have some great cars in the show, from the early years to modern muscle.

As the judging sheets were being tabulated, a cloud appeared in the sky, right over Sewell. It was a large, dark cloud. A few drops started to come down and we helped the DJ cover his equipment. The drops got larger, then more frequent, then the cloud tore open. We all scrambled under the Sewell portico for cover while the storm dumped several inches of rain, strong winds, ear splitting thunder and lightning down on us.

Tabulation is now complete; we are under cover and out of the rain so we began the awards presentation. We handed out trophies to the top 50 vehicles along with some Best in Show trophies. The storm finally subsided after 40 minutes at around 2:00pm and we began to wonder out from cover and back to our cars. Some wiped their cars down and waited for dryer roads, others chose to leave and opt for a car wash and detail at a later time.

As always the staff at Sewell did an outstanding job with this event. Sewell picked up the costs for the lunch, the trophies, provided the DJ entertainment and part of the raffle giveaways. All funds collected for registration and raffle tickets went directly to our charity and totaled approximately $1,400.00 for the American Cancer Society; many thanks to the generosity of Sewell and their staff.

All in all, it was a great day and a great show that we hope reflects the appreciation of both DAPA and Sewell for our members and customers.

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Race Report, by Harold Baker, DAPA Race Director
April 29, 2007

DAPA was out in force for quarter mile madness in Rusk Texas. We had 10 racers make the long trek to Rusk to kill some Mustangs, sink some Corvettes, and demoralize some Mopars.

Harold Baker went 5 rounds to take 1st place in Super Muscle with his 2000 Trans Am. Bob Davis took 3rd place in Pro Muscle with his 63 Tempest, and David Dudley captured 2nd place in the Race of Champions. Seven of 10 racers won 1st round eliminations. James Ash made a strong showing in Pro Muscle winning 2 eliminations with his 67 GTO. Marty “the machine” Parker won his first round with a .004 reaction time. Bob Cook won his Super Muscle first round elimination in his 2006 GTO. Randy Frazier twisted my arm to let him race his 2005 Mustang GT for DAPA in Super Muscle – No apologies, with a 69 Mustang in my garage, I sometimes get soft when it comes to Mustangs and as always I welcome Super Muscle participants. David Dudley won his King Muscle first round elimination with his ’62 Vette. Jessica Dudley, likewise won her King Muscle first round elimination in the 67 Firebird.

HR Dudley valiantly lost his 1st round elimination in Street Muscle piloting the 79 Trans Am. I was happy to see Art Birdwell take a quarter mile pass in Stock Muscle with a mostly stock, daily driver, 1963 Catalina undergoing restoration.

It was great to have the support of DAPA race fans Paul Parker, Carolyn Dudley, and Ryan Dillemuth

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Race Report, by Harold Baker, DAPA Race Director
March 25, 2007, Texas Motorplex, Ennis, Texas

What a wonderful day for racing we had. The temperature was about 72 degrees, a light wind and sunny all day. We had a decent turnout of 11 racers consisting of; Harold Baker, Bob Cook, Phillip Madden, Marty Parker, Floyd Hand, Jessica Dudley, David Dudley, George and Tom Reaves, Mike Miner, and Tom Cheatwood. Shawn Patterson was also hanging out with us, but raced for his Camaro Club.

DAPA racers ran into some bad luck as far as overall results go, but we did have a few bright spots. Jessica Dudley made her debut in King Muscle winning 3 rounds. Bob Cook also won 3 rounds in Super Muscle with his new GTO. Mike Miner won his first 2 rounds and Floyd Hand won his first round. Marty Parker made it to the semi-finals representing DAPA in the Race of Champions. I greatly appreciate all the support of DAPA race fans HR Dudley, Margie Hand, Paul Parker, and Joyce Baker.

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by Shawn Wheeler

I want to express my gratitude to all of you who attended the MS Car Show hosted by The Dallas Mopar Club. The show was a great success! We were represented by some of our clubs finest cars and members. We were all afraid the show would be a wash out as threatening weather of the night before almost did not subside. I was awake until 2:am Saturday morning wondering if the inclement weather would ever end, but it finally did. Although the day started off a little on the cool side it turned out to be perfect weather for the show.

We had all planned to meet at Hooters in Addison at 8:30 am but due to the wet roads we encountered on the trek from Lavon to Addison we had to stop by the car wash first. We made it there at 8:45 and evidently we weren’t the only ones facing this dilemma as a couple others got there after us. Finally it looked like most of the club members had arrived so we began the caravan to the show. As we drove towards the show we all passed the one sign with one arrow pointing straight ahead north on Quorum Road. I was leading (blind leading the blind) so not knowing exactly where I was going I was trying to wing it and I took everyone on a tour of the streets of Addison and finally ended up on the opposite side of the park from where the show was being held. We were all directed by some officials to go back past the big blue sculpture we had passed previously and continue back south on Quorum Rd to the other entrance of the park. The show hosts watched in amazement as they were taken over by our 9 PONTIACS as we all pulled into the parking lot. Upon our arrival there were 2 Mopars in the show and I’m sure at that point they had to call in reinforcements from their club.

We all ate our free lunches and then judged each other’s cars and the non-Pontiacs entered in the show. We all then gathered on a grassy area behind the cars and discussed doing a collective donation to the M/S charity. We raised $100.00 between all of us and we challenged Dallas Mopar Club to match it which they beat our challenge by raising $110.

Our cars and members in attendance were:

• Dennis Russell 1969 Firebird
• Phillip Madden & Family 1989 Turbo Trans Am
• Rob Bender 2000 Grand Prix GTP
• Tom DiSabatino 1974 GTO
• Shawn Wheeler & Family 1980 Turbo Trans Am
• Harold & Joyce Baker 2000 Trans Am WS6
• Steve Trim 1968 GTOBrian Donahue 1969 GTO
• Don Fenton 1968 GTO
• Richard Knox

We all went home with some kind of trophy and all had a great time. Together we can make the club functions and events fun and enjoyable for all. See ya at the next event.

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Autorama 2007

Race Report, by Harold Baker, DAPA Race Director
November 4, 2006

DAPA’s 2006 TMCCC race season ended in spectacular style. The weather was cool, and slightly overcast which made for some very quick ETs. DAPA racers took home 5 trophies. Lee Green won 1st place in Factory Muscle; Marty Parker won 1st place in the Big Dog race, Ted Fox won 1st place in the Race of Champions, David Allen won 1st place in Electronics and 2nd place in the Electronics Big Dog Race. Ed Cumming and Marty Parker went 3 rounds in their classes. Many other DAPA racers including Floyd Hand, David Dudley, Jessica Dudley, HR Dudley, Jennifer Green, Jeff Kmosko, and Harold Baker were on hand for tire melting competition. David and Harold went 2 rounds in their classes. Harold had a Dead on Dial win in the first round, but lost in the second round by breakout – his opponent ran Dead on Dial. Harold’s second round consolation was his best ever ET (13.13 seconds) and trap speed (105.38 mph). Once again DAPA had a good turnout for the last race of the season. The 2007 season begins March 11 at Texas Raceway in Kennedale, so get your cars ready and be prepared for another great race season! Click a picture to see a larger view.