[TPR] TPR NOMINATIONS

[Asa Jay Laughton]

Um.... I averaged 109 (not 106)... I couldn't seem to keep my foot out 
of it.  :)


Asa Jay Laughton, MSgt, USAFR, Retired
&  Shelley Marie
Spokane, WA
******************************
http://www.racingagainstautism.com
http://www.teampanteraracing.com
http://facebook.com/racingagainstautism


On 9/23/2012 3:26 PM, Mad Dog Antenucci wrote:
> Hi Guys,
>
> We successfully completed another year of open road racing. Starting 
> and finishing two Pantera's at the Sand Hills ORR and starting and 
> finishing three at the Silver State.  Far as I know no other vintage 
> team ever fielded more old cars and old drivers <grin> then we have so 
> ou all can hold your heads high.
>
> I have nominations and seconds for each of the 3 awards so here they 
> are...Unfortunately I have not talked or got feedback from all of you 
> so keeping this transparent as possible here it is. The award 
> descriptions are explained in detail on the TPR site
>
>
> 1.For the ELLIS WOUMNM IRON MAN MEMORIAL AWARD - We had two 
> nominations (Richie Hoppe again (he won 10 years ago) in a  new but 
> old race pantera and AJ Laughton in his stock/driver pantera). You can 
> only pick ONE driver or one driver & Navigator for this and they other 
> awards. If we have a tie will award to both members.
>
> Richie completely rebuilt his race Pantera which orginally raced with 
> Round Table Pizza sponsorship.  Richie did all the work himself, 
> adding a new race engine, upgraded brakes, suspension, and 
> welding/gusseting up the entire monoque chassis frame, totally 
> rewiring the car, adding in a new race cockpit, etc. I wrote a little 
> bit about his Pantera on 17 Sept - see below) and Richie successfully 
> averaged 136 MPH in spite of NEVER having run 'this' race Pantera on 
> the SS road or any ORR in 10 years and overcame many obstacles or 
> challenges related to the usual issues of getting the Pantera ready to 
> run at close to WOT.  This Pantera and driver are pretty special. Its 
> the first time since 1997 we have had a race prepared Pantera start 
> and FINISH a ORR....I could be wrong but we can't count JB, my car or 
> Bob Benson's pantera's as they are all street modified Panteras.
>
> AJ also pulled his engine, ZF, and cooling system in the weeks prior 
> to the SS. Had many challenges with receiving the wrong parts or in 
> the case of the radiator 3 different radiator shipments before the 
> supplier got it right successfully rebuilding his engine.  I also 
> wrote  a little information about AJ on 17th but he did much more then 
> what I am descriping now or described previously plus he drove from 
> Spokane Washington down to Vegas to pass the Rookie/Qualification 
> school, then drove from Vegas to Ely, ran the only Pantera in the  Ely 
> parade, and then averaged 106 MPH on Sunday. And yes he was limited as 
> a Rookie to a 110 Average. He then had to endure the teams hazing and 
> a driver who 'never' saw him as she backed into his quarter panel in 
> Ash Springs at a gas station after his successful orr run.  Still 
> rather then head home feeling pissed off , he drove the pantera 250 
> miles on to Vegas for the Awards Banquet and kept a positive attitude 
> in spite of being tormented by the team most of the weekend. ;-)
>
> 2.For the GARY HALL MEMORIAL AWARD - We also have two nominations. 
> Richie Hoppe and Bud Hower.
>
> Besides Richie who is also nominated for the Iron Man Award, veteran 
> Bud Hower who 2 years ago in 2010 completed the SORC in April and then 
> drove all the way from Kansas to run the SS, ran at something close to 
> 100 MPH on 7 cylinders, then finished and then drove home and for the 
> 3rd year in a row he once again started and finished the SORC in a 
> stock driver's pantera. He also had his own list of engine challenges 
> to overcome this year before he could run at the sorc and he once 
> again met and overcame the challenges to finish with Rowdy and 
> averaged 90 Mph. As some of you know this is not an easy low speed 
> run. The road course is a 2-way run like Texas and unlike the BORR or 
> the SS/NORC offer very few shoulders to run off on. Those shoulders 
> that are there are also all  green and those green things  are grass 
> for you California and Texas boyz ;-)
>
> For the SOBill Award we also had two nominations. One for Bob "Rowdy" 
> Radefeld and one for John "JB" Bentley. As I think most of you know 
> this is a fairly new award and the first year award went to Sweet Old 
> Bill for all his efforts to catalog De Tomaso parts...the list is 
> endless of what Bill has done and continues to do but you can read 
> more about the award on the TPR web site.
>
> Rowdy like I noted earlier successfully drove to, finished the SORC 
> and then drove his Pantera home again at this year's SORC in 
> Nebraska....He's previously won multiple TPR awards and has been the 
> leading driving effort behind keeping veteran and NEW pantera owners 
> coming back to the SORC. He is an amazing man. And if I am correct 
> this is his 3rd or 4th year he has started and finished the SORC. 
> Rowdy's 'can-do' attitude towards everything associated with the SORC 
> and racing the pantera and reaching out to those Pantera owners who 
> are in the midwest or back east is commendable.
>
> JB earns in addition to a nomination for the SOBill Award a "Hard Luck 
> Award" for towing up to Ely only to find out the tires he bought 2 
> years ago were 6-8 years old...it was an additionally tough hit 
> because the day before Tech he had to replace a alternatator and 
> voltage regulator in the parking lot of the Hotel Nevada.  But this is 
> not why JB is being nominated. Nor was he nominated because he has 
> finished over 12 years both the Silver State and NORC orr's plus the 
> now defunct Pony Express Road Race and he did this multiple times or 
> more times then I can remember on 10 toes. No the reason he was 
> nominated is because year after year whether he was driving or NOT he 
> still flew or drove to Ely nevada from California and was always the 
> first person at home or in Ely before,during, or after the events to 
> either help wrench to fix someone's Pantera or give up his trailer 
> 'space' so someone who had broke could be towed 500 miles out of the 
> way of his home in Santa Clara to take that man to L.A. (yea okay me! 
> ;-). So when he hasn't been doing all of that he has either been a 
> course worker or flown his Cessna 207 officially as the 'chase plane' 
> to keep radio comms with race control and be able to report cars who 
> had went off course or broke.
>
> So there are the nominations. Let me know what you think. I'll try and 
> add up the votes and will annouce in october before national general 
> elections which aren't as important as this. ;-)
>
> Thanks to all of you and that includes our friends like Steve "Irish" 
> Donegan, Peter "the German" Menyhard and Mark and Jim who are all 
> veterans open road racers but did not bring Pantera's this year. 
>  Without the support of you guys and many others I don't think many of 
> us would keep going back.
>
> Dawg, who was nominated but no one seconded my nomination (yea I 
> nominated myself) so I don't wanna hear Rowdy remind everyone how he 
> THINKS he told me NOT to list him....yea sorry buddy this is not a 
> democracy.
> I am King! ;-)))
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Teampantera <teampantera at yahoo.com>
> *To:* Teampantera <teampantera at yahoo.com>; bob Radefeld 
> <bob at radefeld.com>; John Bentley <gndplne at yahoo.com>
> *Cc:* Asa Jay Laughton <asajay at asajay.com>; " 
> tpr at teampanteraracing.com" <tpr at teampanteraracing.com>
> *Sent:* Monday, September 17, 2012 12:39 PM
> *Subject:* [TPR] 2012 SSCC Update from the field
>
>
>
> Teampantera <teampantera at yahoo.com <mailto: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 <mailto:bob at radefeld.com>> wrote:
> >
> >_______________________________________________
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