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If your not on the edge, you're taking up space

If your not on the edge, you're taking up space

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NEWSFLASH

2018 TPR Sponsoship

katch environmental logo

We wish to thank Katch Environmental for sponsoring Team Pantera Racing in this year's Sandhills Open Road Challenge and Silver State Classic Challenge.  This marks their fourth year of sponsorship.

2017 SSCC Prep Stymied by Murphy PDF Print E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Monday, 04 September 2017 14:47

With less than two weeks to the final showdown of 2017 on Nevada Highway 318, Team Pantera Racing is up against the clock as Murphy leaves his calling cards amongst the determined racers.  Dennis "Mad Dog" Antenucci, John "JB" Bentley, Mark "The Professor" Skwarek, and POCA President Gerry Romack are all running out of time.  Never before in the history of Team Pantera Racing have all committed drivers been swapping, rebuilding or refreshing their Pantera engines within weeks of competition.

Mad Dog has seven plus races on the last rebuild from Russ Fulps and decided it was time to tear it down and refresh it.  Nearly done and Murphy hit him with a slight detour that should be fixed on time.  JB is replacing the engine that went south on him two years ago and Murphy hit him during final hookups, causing him the need to replace starter studs.  Mark needed more horsepower, so out his came too, Murphy has been somewhat kind to Mark.  Gerry, planning to make his SSCC debut ran into difficulties with his present engine and decided it should be replaced; Murhpy struck hard.

Each driver hails from a different part of the country, though Mad Dog and JB are nearly within spitting distance, both living in Calfornia.  Gerry comes from the Great Lakes region, while Mark drives to Neveda by starting out on the Northeast coast.  With that much disparity between the team members, it can be difficult getting the right kind of help, but each one is managing through it.  Help isn't as far as away as you may think.

Last word from all drivers is that they at least have engines in cars, with perhaps the exception of Gerry.  However, Gerry hails from the same region as a veteran TPR member, Dave Doddek, who single-handedly came to his first SSCC with parts in-hand and finished his build and tune at the event.  With Dave's help, there is high confidence that Gerry will be finished in time and on the way shortly.  Meanwhile, Mark's engine is in and he's looking to re-jet his carb in the hopes of pulling into the 150 MPH and higher classes.  Both Mad Dog and JB are running neck-and-neck in their final prep.  It's really a race now, to see who will make the September 30th Anniversary running of the Silver State Classic Challenge.

If anyone can do it, these men can.  The pressure is on, the men are working nights and weekends to get it all done.  Will they?  Stay tuned.

JB engine done

JB Engine in
JB's Engine ready to install JB's Engine installed, ready for final hookups

Mad Dog Engine MD engine in
Mad Dog's Engine ready to install Mad Dog's Engine getting final tune

Last Updated on Monday, 04 September 2017 15:21
 
2017 Pantera Homecoming PDF Print E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Saturday, 05 August 2017 10:52

Pantera Homecoming

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.

Last Updated on Saturday, 05 August 2017 11:12
 
2017 Season Prelude PDF Print E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Saturday, 20 May 2017 08:45

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.

 
2016 SSCC Recap PDF Print E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Tuesday, 20 September 2016 09:21

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.

Dennis, Mark, Paul

 

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.

Mark's finish

Paul's finish

Dennis' finish

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.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 20 September 2016 10:07
 
SORC 2016 Wins PDF Print E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Sunday, 11 September 2016 09:36

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.

Bud's Win

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.

award

 

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.

team

 

More images are in the gallery here.

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

Last Updated on Sunday, 11 September 2016 10:16
 
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