See more about the Silver State Classic Challenge here.

What a way to come out of the funk that was the year 2020!  A memorable event was had by all at this year's Silver State Classic Challenge event for Team Pantera Racing.  Despite the sad news of Bob Radefeld passing some weeks prior, the team came to the race with happiness to be together, have fun and race some cars.

Two Panteras started, two Panteras finished.

Dennis "Mad Dog" Antenucci and his Crew Chief Asa Jay (AJ) Laughton were the first to arrive Wednesday, September 15, with Dennis' beautiful black Pantera.  Asa had spent much of the summer doing catch-up maintenance on Dennis' car to include many parts replacements for safety as well as fuel supply and ignition.  With some help from his tuner Richard Clewett, the car was running better than it has been in three years.  After some road testing, Dennis was comfortable enough to enter the 140 class.

Dennis "Mad Dog" Antenucci

Meanwhile Lee Pedersen arrived in his 2021 wide-body Dodge Challenger the same evening.  Lee's Pantera is currently waiting an engine rebuild that was not done in time for the event.  Better to run a non-Pantera than push to have everything done so close to the race.  Lee brought along his lovely wife Mali who we all chipped in to welcome.

Paul Katchadourian again brought his Viper and coming off the Sandhills Open Road Challenge, Mark Skwarek arrived Thursday evening with his orange Pantera.

Gerry Romack also came in though he flew to Las Vegas and rented a car to be with the team.  It's always a pleasure to have Gerry bring his Pantera wisdom.  And again, we had Peter Menyhart arrive, this year in his Mercedes, to help do parts runs or this year... drink and candy runs. 

From left-to-right:  Gerry Romack, Dennis Antenucci, Paul Katchadourian, Peter Menyhart, Mark Skwarek

There were multiple highlights of the event this year.  The first was that no Pantera, no car, no trailer or tow rig broke down or needed work.  The entire team was free to visit, tour the town, take a train ride and generally relax for three days prior to the race. 

Mark decided to take it down a notch this year and enter the 145 class, while Paul kept at it in the 160. Our Rookie, Lee, entered the 105 class which gave him a much better chance of taking home a trophy against only five other cars instead of 20.  Each car passed tech inspection without trouble and was kept clean, dry, and servicable the entire weekend up to race day on Sunday.  After what turned out to be a relatively short driver's meeting, the team gathered for their final Ely dinner at Mr. G's Italian restuarant.

Clockwise around the table:  Lee Pedersen, Peter Menyhart, Mark Skwarek, Paul Katchadourian, Dennis Antenucci, Gerry Romack, Asa Jay Laughton
Photo credit, Mali Pedersen

Sunday was a great day for racing.  The weather was cool and comfortable all through the end of the race.  The race itself was mostly non-eventful with only one breakdown on course due to a blown tire. The driver and car were both okay after a bit of talented recovery.  As far as Panteras?  We know they both started, and finished.

First in was Paul in the 155 class, again making the distinction of fastest in his class (which doesn't net you a trophy).  Next was Mark in his orange Pantera.  In the finish pits, Mark figured he was off time by about three or four seconds.  That much can make the difference between first place, and last.  Things didn't look good.  Next was Dennis in his Black Pantera, coming in a bit early, one car ahead of lineup. In fact, Dennis took fastest in class again this year, but not by much.  Last in were Lee and Mali in the Challenger.  They had a difficult time getting their timing coordinated until the last five to ten miles of the course.  For their first time, never having done this before, they didn't end up too badly at all.

Once the race was over, everyone headed to Las Vegas for the awards banquet.  Good food and good company greeted us there.  We even had the chance to say hi to Owen Green, a Team Pantera Racing enthusiast and supporter, someone we welcome to chat with during the event.

When it came down to awards, it was smiles and bonuses all around.

Did we mention the event t-shirt this year had Mark's orange Pantera in the foreground?  A yellow Pantera sat in the background and Mark's took center stage.  Because of this, Team Pantera Racing probably purchased near $500 in t-shirts for friends and family and a few folks on the Detomaso email forum.  I think it safe to say the event had awesome t-shirt sales this year.

To cap off the fact Mark's Pantera was all over the event, Mark actually took third place and really was off by four seconds.  First and second place were off by less than a half a second, but the fourth entry in the class ended up 13 seconds off.  It does pay to be in a class with fewer entries.  It turns out Mark's timing was where he thought it was.  Next time, he'll do even better.  Mark's Speed Trap top speed came out to be 156.7 MPH.

No one else in the team took home a trophy, but we all had a great time.

Mad Dog averaged 143 MPH (in the 140 class) and was off time by 51 seconds.  His Speed Trap result was 152.3.

Paul Katchadourian averaged 156 in the 155 class and was off time by only 22 seconds.  His Speed Trap result was 165.8

Lee Pedersen and Mali averaged 104.8 and were off time by only 4.3 seconds which put them into fifth place out of six entries.  Third place this year was off by 2.1 seconds and change.  In their first year, it was hard for Lee and Mali to recognize the Speed Trap, so they ended up with a 101.4 top speed; still in triple digits and they bumped it to make the final average of 104.

A fantastic time was has by everyone this year.  It's awesome to have a year when nothing really goes wrong, some of the team get trophies and everyone goes home with a smile.  2021, was all that and more.

Which brings us to Awards for 2021

The Iron Man Award goes to Mark Skwarek for completing both the SORC (along with good friend Jim Wallace) and SSCC, winning third Place at SSCC in 2021

The Gary Hall Memorial goes to Major Roy (Bullet) Laughton for being himself despite not being able to make it to Ely this year, -and- for sponsoring the Team Pantera Racing dinner for 2021

The SOBill Award goes to Crew Chief Asa Jay Laughton for continuously coming to the Silver State Classic Challenge even after selling his own Pantera in 2016; always providing help or advice as needed (even if unrequested).

Congratulations to this year's winners, you all deserve the accolades.

Morning My Peeps,

Here is the Spring 2020 TPR update. 

This last Sunday had Randy Grubb running his Pantera at Oregon Raceway Park (ORP) in Grass Valley, Oregon. The first Pantera on the track in the Pacific Northwest that I know of.

Lee ‘Rookie‘ Peterson from Salem and I drove out to hang with and cheer Randy on and as usual Randy and the weather did not disappoint. He and his built 351-C ran hard all day long. 

The beauty of this private 2.3 mile course is that it's not heavily booked. On that Sunday there were fewer then a dozen cars running and yet there was an ambulance standing by and great course workers to ensure safety was maintained at all times.  But it was Randy and the drivers and not outside organizers who led the event by example...meaning safety first but with no draconian club rules, much more track time and more fun.

Like all the open track and road events, it isn’t racing; drivers were well spaced on the OPR course just having a good time all day. Randy is waiting for summer/fall schedules but we’re tentatively planning a TPR Club BBQ before the year is out.

Chance for more of us to get together under no stress, no pressure to have a good time. Randy will also be returning again this year to Silver State.

In other news, JB finished his engine build and looking at a June install back in his ‘Ol Yella’.  With the help of Asa Jay Laughton my Pantera is running the roads and hills again. Need to fix a charging and suspension issue which will be done well before the next open track or road challenge but happy she is running so well, thanks Asa! 

Hearing news that former POCA president and TPR veteran Gerry Romack may be bringing an original 1991 Pantera 90 Si this year to Silver State which would be a first ever.
Veteran Mark Skwark and the Owner of the latest and fastest ORR Pantera is making very few modifications to his Pantera. And of course the SSCC Event shirts this year feature Marks brilliant orange and black Pantera. 

Others wrenching as I write this report are Rookie Lee Pedersen who also has a yellow Pantera (Who doesn’t have yellow?) and will be joining us for the first time in Ely Nevada. Lee is a veteran of many open track and drag races in both his Pantera as well Shelby and other Ford powered muscle. 

Other California veterans like Paul Katchadourian, Laurie “Ferrari” Basile, Peter Menyhart and early Silver State veterans Pete Beckham and Charlie Puckett are also planning to return this year. When you add in John Bentley this is more California veterans attending then I have seen in years.

Thinking about joining us in September?
Be sure to get reservations ASAP in Ely at the Hotel Nevada or one of the other many down town motels. Also go to the Silver State Classic web site for event rules and lodging information. 

In spite of a heart wrenching pandemic and civil unrest this Spring, I am happy to welcome all of you back this year. If you have any questions please reach out to Asa or myself soon.

Let the rest of the year be filled with love and healing.

Mad Dawg Antenucci
Team Pantera Racing 

Morning My Peeps,

Got home last evening and wanted to share how we did this last week in Ely Nevada.

Asa and Paul and the Dawg all arrived in Ely early this year with our cars... followed by Gerry hauling from home in Illinois and Mark from Connecticut. And Randy from Oregon.

Randy, Paul and I had an easy week because we didn't have to repair anything. LOL

But Gerry rolled in trailer hub brakes making noise. And Asa (Master Chief mechanic immediately put on his work clothes and proceeded to repair all 4 trailer hubs and get some spare 10-ply trailer tires from Lance at the Goodyear shop which was a two day exercise but he was able to get all the parts he needed thereby saving GERRY hundreds of dollars. By the way Asa has been nominated for this year's Iron Man Award....yea We are changing the rules again.

During Tech Inspection one of the tech inspectors asked us to check our front wheel bearings on Gerry and Dawg's Panteras which Asa verified as being safe to go after pulling wheels and inspecting.

Mark had to replace a fuel pump and reJet a new custom race carburetor. But Mark got all of that done and then we had a good time hanging with "Rookie Randy" who was a good sport even when we forced him to go to the Green Lantern with us. partying with the Brazilian Girls since Laurie didn't make it to Ely.

All four Pantera's and Paul's Viper all passed tech and Made it to the start line.
Mark after a few miles into the course noticed water temp going high so he wisely shut the Pantera down.

But Gerry, Randy and The Dawg all had good runs. None of us came close to nailing our goal speeds but Paul and the Dawg were fastest in their selected Division Speed classes.

My 11 year old throttle body butterfly's are rattling like a snake and have to be rebuilt so IR-EFI wasn't running as well as I had liked but happy with completing the run and as Asa always says "Dawg was fastest in his class again"

Okay here is the formal results

PAUL averaged 157.13837 MPH with a time variance of 31.6600...again fastest in his division class. Mumbled something about all most dropping his cigar and beer in the Viper trying to turn AC off and radio on.

DAWG's Pantera C8 averaged 131.1217 MPH with a time variance of 21.3209...again like a Paul being fastest in his division class. Received counseling from Race director but threw my arms up saying me no understand.

GERRYS Pantera averaged 124.4691 MPH with a tune variance of 11.0553. In fairness to GERRY he came closest to his goal speed average but as it turned out at the start line the race organizers got cars out of the wrong order and Gerry found himself behind a SLOW Car he thought better of passing but finding out later that driver was not in GERRY's 125 Class but the slower 120 Class Group. Otherwise he could won, placed or shown.

RANDY's beautiful Orange Pantera running the WEBER carburetors and then all aluminum deck lid and front spoilers that Randy fabricated by hand averaged 107.4874 MPH In the 110 class with a time variance of 68.8520 there by winning the time variance Award in fairness to Randy he was hobbled by rookie speed limits otherwise he would have been faster then all of us.

So slackers JB, Peter, Tim, Laurie, and Lee didn't have Pantera's there this year but I Always felt their spirit animal near all the time.

And wait a minute Peter (aka The German) was there with the TPR support vehicle doing beer, water and parts runs. And he gets a ferry award for all most being ready LOL.

That is about it. Laurie did join us at the Banquet dinner in Vegas where MARK won the “Hard Luck Award” this year. But I know Mark will be back bigger and badder then ever before to break my 166 MPH average record to get his hands on the $10,000 dollars in prize money Asa holds in the TPR vault but forgot to bring this year.

PS to JB - the Ford Dealership is still for sale!

Here’s some photos...I know Peter and Asa have more.

After an interesting 2018 with several trailer flat tires, a blown trailer hub, fuel problems and other hard luck, Team Pantera Racing is returning to the Silver State Classic Challenge (SSCC) with a larger and even more prepared crew.  The trailers have been checked, the cars have been prepped, and they even have enough participants to enter the SSCC Team Challenge.

Dennis "Mad Dawg" Antenucci has managed to round up a new group of Pantera enthusiasts from hitherto unknown parts of the country.  Each member will be taking a seperate and secret route to the race, all converging in Ely Neveda.   In addition, we have some returning members who will again challenge the 90 miles of open road at new speeds.  This may be the year we have a winner of the $10,000 prize purse for the Pantera driver who goes faster than Mad Dawg's 160 mph*.

It's sure to be a fun time.  Some team members will be arriving earlier in the week and making sure the TPR headquarters is set up, clean and ready to go. Stay tuned for more.

*qualifications for winning the $10,000 prize is subject to the whims of Mad Dawg