[TPR] 2012 SSCC Update from the field

[bob Radefeld]

GREAT summary of the weekend & the race Dawgy....Thanks!!
Believe me dude, I think you missed your career opportunity earlier in your
life (at least since you started ORR'ing) by not becoming a writer for one
of the automobile magazines. You'd have made a good one. We're certainly
going to miss you when you head to Africa................ or where
ever?? :o))

Rowdy


On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 2:28 PM, Teampantera <teampantera at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Both your comments nailed the challenge of running a 40 year old car
> against a field that is 99% new production or purpose build race cars...
>
> I love them all but to continue running and be compeptive at open track
> and open road race events with a 40 year old car is a major challenge...all
> you guys know what I am talking about...even Frankie! ;-)
>
> Secondly, a few things about the guys who ran Panteras at Silver State
> this year and in the past.
>
> JB did and has continued to do much more then run his Pantera at 130-150
> mph for years at SS....he has also helped me and many others fix, repair,
> tow, install, rewire, motivate,kick me or do  what was needed to support
> the team...when he wasnt driving, he was navigating and when he wasnt doing
> either he was flying the 'chase plane' tracking entrys progress and DNF's
> and accidents for the race organizers....then this year he brought up "Cafe
> Finito"  for us to hang in all weekend...  JB brought fresh smoked sockeye
> salmon, chili, stroganoff, beer, booze, water and girls....okay kidding
> about the girls but you get the idea of how much he unselfishly gives back
> to all.....and also gives back to our adopted TPR MEMBERS who joined us.
> What typifies JB is his service to our team and the community where he
> serves as a police officer and to which he always humbly says
> "There is no I in team"
>
> Now X-Rookie Asa Jay blew us and me all away with his efforts and
> success...and yea you all know what an attention beotch I am...Once
>  described as the best promoter  in history second only to PT Barnum...okay
> yea, a legend in my own.mind ;-) but back to AJ who is now legend.
>
> AJ  R&R'd  and rebuild his engine all the while working full time and
> spending allot of energy and time with his son who I think all of you know
> also has Autism. Like Rowdy in 2009, Bud in 2010 and JB in 2011 AJ
> exemplfied everything that is above and beyound the call of duty and real
> 'leadership' to get to Ely, start and finish his Pantera and also do all
> the work himself....and drive all the way from Washington, run all most a
> 110 mph average on a 95F day with a basic stock Pantera is very
> commendable. And the the mature way he handled the woman nacking into his
> quarter panel at gas station was waaay beyound words.
>
> I have run all the ORR's and of course the challenge at SS is how
> dependable is your engine and cooling system on a long uninterupted run in
> heat..while 110 average doesnt seem that fast it is the fastest a rookie is
> allowed to run...the fact that AJ's engine ran perfectly is again credit to
> his proven mechanical  abilities and determination to get to the start and
> finish lines...
>
> Third, we had Rich Hoppe in  his full race  dry sump Pantera race car.
> This previously Round Table Pizza is now a thing of beauty.
>
> When Rich started the engine in Ely at tech everyone ran over to his
> pantera to see WTH was going on...that 700+ hp engine was/is wild. Rich had
> to completly rebuild the engine, chassis and suspension himself....he did
> the suspension and he made many mods (too many to list here) that are
> unique and gutted and redid the.cockpit all then wiring and plumbing
> etc...but where previous owner had cut panels or lightened the pantera
> frame he did not change anything except to strenghen and completly
> reinforced/welded and gusseted up the frame...again I'd deacribe Rich and
> his race Pantera as a Iron Man. Richie was last at SS 10 years ago and he
> won the Tpr IRON MAN AWARD then.
>
> Richie averaged all most 138 MPH in spite of KILLING the engine at the
> START line (sorry Richie;-) and then after restarting the engine realising
> soon as he got through the gears and settled into WOT that he had not
> turned on his GPS and/or could not g.et it to work.... otherwisw he
> easily should of run 150-160 or more mph and no doubt will next year..this
> was his first orr in this Pantera so he has some chassis/suspension changes
> coming this winter. Still an amazing effort and it was great seeing himand
> his sheeit eating grin at finish line. His buddy Bill and he towed the
> Pantera from Phoenix and Bill was allot of fun.too..a Pinks 3rd round
> finalyst at Thunderbird raceway with many drag records to his credit.
>
> Let me also thank our Bro's who came up and supported us...Peter-theGerman
> who came up and supported me and the team in every way on every day,
> running after parts when JB lost his regulator and alternator. Following me
> back to Vegas after the BOBO who drive my trailer down to finish line
> decided to RACE the truck and trailer down to finish line...then when that
> guy driving my tow rig got on a hill he then made matters wors by 'ridding'
> the brakes instead of slowing down and down shifting so because he was a
> dumb ass he cooked the brakes onthe Titan.
>
> Not sure who was the bigger dumb ass...him or me.Me for allowing someone I
> dont know to drive my rig or him for not following clear directions to go
> slow and pay attention.
>
>  But back to Peter - the German who is a retired master mechanic among
> many other skills who checked out my riga and got it and the driver cooled
> down and then followedme back  safely to Vegas.
>
> Then we had 3 non-pantera owning race friends who raised some eyebrows
> joining Team Pantera Racing and that was Brian Leary & Luanne Yoder in his
> Corvette Z06,
> Stan "Moonshine" Martin in his race Mustang who averaged 135 mph and
> George Suennen who averaged an amazing 170  mph in his '90 Porsche 928S4
> and Robert and Mary Armstrong in their cool 2011 Dodge Challenger...like
> Mark and Jim proved out in Nebraska with their well prepared Noble all our
> race friends are all great racers first and racers second.... And glad they
> were all there to be with us and hang together.
>
> Couple closing notes....
> 1.  Jim Perutto is still King of the SilverState road...his fast 217? Mph
>  record was untouched but in this run  in his race prepared Malibu his
> windshield/supports broke at 200+ mph and he had do deflect broken glasss
> pieces that wrapped around steering wheel and blew out side windows...in
> spite of that "challenge" he still got the cup car safely stopped...yeeeea,
> insane! ;-)
>
> 2.  Our friend John Tiemann once again ran his Ford GT to a 170 average
> humbly calling the run, just another Sunday drive!  ;-)
>
> 3.  As earlier mentioned our other great friend Charlie Friend running his
> tube frame chassied Corvair from Hell averaged 180 mph! Amazing until you
> remember how many.times Charlie has done.this.again.and again...who once
> flew F100 fighter bombers in Nam...a retired USAF col. Charlie has to be
> 70+ years old and has run and raced every orr event fro here to Mexico.
>
> 4.  Our buddy, Steve "Irish" Donegan FINALLY trophied at 2nd place in the
> sloooow 100 mph class in his 2011 Italian red Nissan 370Z.......;-)
> maybe now we will see him move up to a blistering fast 105...just kidding
> ya Irish..ya know I love ya.Bro.
>
> 5.  FINALLY yea my run...I dropped back in class to a 135-165 GS division
> class group...thinking.it wise to slow down as I am blind, deaf and
> dumb....but once I got on the horse I was breaking out of my class within 2
> minutes....by mile 45 I had caught up with and passed a slower Corvette on
> a.sweeper turn...soon as I saw him my foot buried the throttle into the
> floor pan until I blew by him...not sure how fast I was going but I am sure
> it was at legal speeds (yeeea) but he heard me before he saw me qhich was
> cool because we talked at lenght at awards dinner...on my run he saw me
> early and quickly signaled me to pass which I gladly did at 200 mph
> or....so it seemed like ;-)))).............then just outside narrows/canyon
> road on a blind hill I caught up to 2nd corvette by by then I was averaging
> closer to 145mph instead of the 135 mph bracket I had signed up for... so
> finally I un-glued my boot to the throttle pedal and backed off on speed
> the last 25-30 miles finishing with a 140 average which was ironic as that
> was my original starting and winning speed back in '97. The Pantera again
> ran perfectly...oil temp was up a bit to +/- 200 probably due to a later
> start and hotter ambiant temps...and water stayed at a cool 180 but it took
> 10 minutes at WOT to get it from 150 to 180F...those rumble (tractor)
> strips in center straights "at speed" apexing across then on sweepers and
> hills  is still a pucker factor experience I did mot enjoy at all but
> overall it is a great road and we had perfect race conditions meaning no
> rain or head or cross winds.
>
> THANKS to all of you including Rowdy and the Midwest and right coast
> racers for all your support this year. Soon as I get more feed back on
> award nominations I'll announce to all  before I had into DARKEST Africa
> end of October...okay its notAustralia but it is dark.
>
> LOVE YOU KNUCKLEHEADS
>
> Mad DAWG looking for a job in America
> TEAM PANTERA RACING
>
>
>
>
>
>
> bob Radefeld <bob at radefeld.com> wrote:
>
>
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