Word from Gerry Romack, the current president of the Pantera Owners Club of America (POCA), tells us that Ford has just donated a 5.0 Coyote engine to raffle off at the Pantera Homecoming, Summer Fling event August 10-12, 2017.

THAT'S NEXT WEEKEND!

The event consists of a tour of the coyote 5.0 engine plant, dinner with Raj Nair, a car show, an open tour of the Edsel Ford mansion with lunch provided and a group/individual picture at Ford HQ

It would seem the Pantera is beginning to get the recognition from Ford that it deserves.

We're well into the 2017 Open Road Race season with the Big Bend Open Road Race having already run, and the Nevada Open Road Challenge happening this weekend.  Katch Environmental returns again this year as the primary sponsor for Team Pantera Racing.  Getting ready for this year's season are the boys from TPR Central heading to the Sandhills Open Road Challenge. 

Bob, Frank and Bud have been the lucky recipients of an entry to this year's SORC.  This is not an easy thing to do and TPR member Mark Skwarek just missed out and is now on the waiting list.  Meanwhile, Mark has been busy getting some new go-fast goodies ready for the big one in September at the Silver State Classic Challenge.

Also getting ready for SSCC are Dennis and JB.  Dennis is planning on sporting new/refreshed paint and a refreshed engine this year.  We imagine this will again put him fastest in his class.  JB has been working on a new 351C original 4-bolt main engine.  These are getting extremely hard to find, and in fact JB's ended up with at least one cylinder sleeve, maybe two.  Even so, the parts are coming together and it should all be ready by September.  Peter is also working on his Pantera for a long awaited return to SSCC.  Restorations can be slow, and we're all doing what we can to help him get ready for this year or the next.

Up in Washington, where Asa sold his Pantera last year, he's working to resurrect a 1971 Mach I Mustang and get it ready to run.  That probably won't happen this year.  However, we might have another couple of new entries this year.  One might be the new owner of Asa's Pantera, Steve Lisa, who has been working diligently on converting it to a spec Group 3 race car.  We've also heard rumblings that the new President of the Pantera Owners Club of America (POCA)  Gerry Romack may be making an appearance as well.

And lastly, TPR member Michael Frazier recently took a first place in the 120 MPH class at the Big Bend Open Road Challenge.  Michael's been dabbling in newer Mustangs and apparently been having some good success.  Go Michael!

Anyone interested in more information can click the links to the various races in the left sidebar, or click on the Contact menu item to get in touch with us.

Another Open Road Race season comes to a close with the successful finish of two Panteras  at the Silver State Classic Challenge.  Travelling along as part of the team again this year was Paul Katchadourian from Katch Environmental (the team's major sponsor) in his 2013 Dodge Viper.  All three cars started and all three finished the 90 mile course at triple digit speeds.  The story began shortly after Sandhills Open Road Challenge.

Mark Skwarek returned to his home in Connecticut with his race-prepared Orange Pantera to clean up some details and perform more work to get ready for the SSCC race.  Mark leaves for Ely, Nevada just a few days prior to the start of the event and arrives on Wednesday.  Meanwhile, Asa Jay Laughton travelled to Fresno, California to hook up with Dennis (Mad Dog) Antenucci and Paul Katchadourian.  By Thursday night, all were assembled in Ely.

A great car show in the park gave the boys a chance to relax and unwind prior the final driver's meeting.  Then it was off to dinner and a final check of the cars before getting a good night's sleep.

Sunday morning comes early for both the race drivers and their support teams driving trucks and trailers to the finish line.  The driver's gather at Lane's truck stop while support teams head out on the longer two and a half hour journey down highway 93 in order to get to the finish side of highway 318.  Dennis, Paul and Mark stage for the race with Mark leading the pack in the 150 MPH group, Paul trying his first time at 110 and Dennis taking a leisurely drive at 100.  Paul had a near-heartstopping even when the final tire inspection found a nail in one of his new tires; however, after Paul agrees to have the nail pulled, they find it's nothing more than a small stub and liquid check of the spot indicates there is no air leak.  While Paul races down the course he continues to monitor his trie pressures with the built-in technology of the modern Viper and ends up finishing the race without any problems.  Before noon, all three racers have finished.

Although each had a great time and enjoyed the race, there were no trophies handed out to Team Pantera racing during the awards banquet.  Still, that's not something that will stop this team from coming back next year.  When it comes to it, the people of the event, like the Sandhills event just before, it's the people that make the difference.  The friendships that develop last a long time and are what bring folks back again and again, even if it's to drive slower, or just hang out with the crowd, and maybe drive a trailer to finish line.

2016 was a good year for Team Pantera Racing, with four Panteras starting in the SORC and two in SSCC.

More photos of the team at the Silver State Classic Challenge can be found in the photo gallery here.

Team Pantera Racing - Central Division took home a First Place finish in the Loup to Loup challenge.  Bud Hower, in a surprise to all, but mostly to him, managed to pull off an amazing win and nearly couldn't get up at the banquet to accept his award.

The entire team is very proud of Bud's win.

While in Arnold this year, the team also presented an certificate of appreciation to Janet Larreau who is the editor of the Arnold Sentinel newspaper.  She wrote and published an excellent article on theTPR (Central Division) team @ SORC in 2015. The article was also published in it's entirety in POCA Profiles #4. The Team really appreciats the publicity gained from her article not only in Nebraska but internationally & decided she deserved to be recognized as a friend of TPR.

Mark Skwarek, who has been making both the SORC and the SSCC races for the past few years, is still working on a stronger Pantera every year.  This year at SORC in the mile shootout Street Division, there were only 2 cars faster than Mark out of a field of 27 cars.  That's pretty impressive for a 43 year old classic Italian-American muscle car.

Congratulations to the Central Division for an awesome race.

More images are in the gallery here.

Next up, Mark Skwarek takes on the Silver State Classic Challenge, -again-.