Recently in Shows Category

All, rumors of my involvement in a reality TV show are true! I recently participated in the second season of Bullrun which is set to air on Speed TV Feb 19th at 10pm EST.

"The show, based on the international rally of the same name, follows 12 teams of diverse personalities, driving everything from Corvettes to Ferraris to a VW microbus across 3,500 miles of the southwestern United States in search of fame and fortune. They don't just drive from point A to point B - without benefit of GPS navigation or cell phones. The teams also must survive challenges, conflicts and car problems to try to win $200,000 in cash and prizes."

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/popular-bullrun-moves-to-speed-for-2009

http://www.bullrun.com/node/5

Each episode a "rally" leg is driven and a "challenge" is held with the two last place teams and a third team selected by the first place team. The team with the lowest combined time is sent home. It was an amazing experience being on the show but I cannot contest to the "reality" of the show, as the producers have many ways to "script" the reality into their vision. My participation was an experience of a lifetime.

Current commercial featuring the "smoking" Pantera is on YouTube;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JZrkBjbRIg

After the show airs I will be able to discuss in more details what happened.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.

This year I invited Nick my brother in law along who drove the Pantera in the C class while I drove it in the B class. We had the Hoosier slick tires on and boy did they make a difference! I was passing cars right and left and had a real blast. Before the event I added a new fuel system with an Aeromotive pump and regulator. This remedied my fuel issues from last years Rally.

I also added a front wing on the car which is made from 1/4" aluminum plate and angled about 30 degrees to create some downforce. Its shapped the same as the front of the car and painted to match. It looks really nice.

We had alot of fun this year in pahrump and will be back again next year.

We went as a family this year. Taking the Pantera down ahead of time and coming back with the truck the next day. A great show this year with a great burnout contest. We also participated in the historic races and hospitality of Pantera International.

A very good Rally this year. They had a car show at the hotel to take the
place of the Freemont Street display. The weather was nice and the track
event was well attended. We were at Pharump again this year. As always I
have some pictures and in car videos of this years event.

Laps at Pahrump

I showed up alone this year, Brigitte wasn't feeling well. It was a good trip and a nice drive. I still had some issues with the carb running too rich but wasn't a big deal. For some reason I cannot locate any pictures for the event. If I find any I will post them.

However I did win 3rd place trophy for Modified Class for the Pantera International awards!

Another Vegas Fun Rally goes down into history. We really appreciate the
hotel change this year. The new hotel is clean, has nice rooms, and decent
food. This year we trailer'd our car down to Vegas as we had our new son to
take and all the baby stuff to support him. This year I spent most of my
time at the track event. It was a very strong showing for the track event.
As always we had a really great time and already looking forward to next
year.

I had some fuel issues at the track event. My fuel pressure was only 3psi
and 6 or 8 other times. This caused a severe lean condition when
accelerating hard around the track. I think the problem is related to heat
on the fuel pump. I will probably have to move the fuel pump or replace it
and move it.

Laps at Pahrump

Drive by's at Pahrump

Pahrump Race Video

Well its Concorso time again. It's been a year since I showed up with a
half finished car with no trim and barely an interior. This year was
different. The car is pretty complete at this stage. Garth and Mark met up
with us for a cruz out to Black Horse. It was uneventful except I was
leaking quite abit of oil. I just replaced my valve covers last night and
either screwed up the gasket or knocked the dipstick tube loose.

Anyway the line into the event wasn't as bad this year. We had to idle in
traffic for a few miles. The food is better and the portable toilets are
the fanciest I have seen. There were at least 70 Panteras there. A good
turnout. Tom Jaarda was there as well and was kind enough to sign my dash
for me.

Another beautiful car is pictured here, the AMX. We forget other companies were competing for our dollars besides Ford. The car is a gorgeous piece of sculpture.

We did see some great cars and the weather was chilly but the sun came out
later in the day. PI handed out thier arwards and I was shocked to recieve
the "Best Interior" award and "Director's Choice" award". It was very nice
of Dave Alder to make the nice comments about my car, "if we had to drive
one of these cars home today, this would be the one." I thought that was
very flattering. As far as the interior award, I was shocked because it has
received less attention then other areas. However it is very different from
other Panteras with the suede, custom door panels, and carbon fiber
dash. I had a really great time.

I went to the Good Guys Hot Rod show on saturday with a good friend who
runs an Austin Healy 3000. Bob, Jim, and Curt also showed up to say hi. We
had a great time. The pantera ran fine but overheated a bit on the way
home. Looks like I have more cooling issues to sort out.

We made it! We just got back from the Pantera national convention. It's
about 600 miles each way. This year I towed my car there as I was not
comfortable with the reliability yet to commit to driving it. There was
quite a turn out this year. Several hundred owners and a few hundred cars.

Two of my days were spent at the race track. They have put together a very
nice facility there. It's an expanded course over two miles. Two corners
gave me trouble all weekend. The car handled beautifully and the brakes
were amzing. I do not have the facilities to drive this car to it's full
ptential, but it's sure a lot of fun trying. I popped a radiator hose on
the first day, which I was able to patch up quite easily. However getting
the system blead of all the trapped air was difficult and an overheating
car limited my track time.

I did manage to capture in car video of several laps. Links are below.

Las Vegas Speedway - Several Laps

Las Vegas Speedway - Fastest Lap

Pantera Rally - Track Fun Run