[DeTomaso] FINAL SILVERSTATE PARTY REPORT

Mon May 18 23:08:45 EDT 2009

Congrats on another great finish and showing everyone what a Pantera can do.
And as a side note Ralph Nader is still alive. LOLGreat Job!

Boyd

On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 10:41 PM, Mad Dog Antenucci
<teampantera at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Sorry we missed you Dan and everyone else (Jason, Laurie, Larry, Rich,
> Dave, Scott & other veterans) who didn't make it but wanted to go. We worked
> our best to ensure we made up for all you AWOL slackers...it wasn't easy but
> someone had to do it. ;-]>
>
> 116 Entries and 1 Pantera.  The best was having JB, Pete, Joe, John, and Ed
> all came up to Ely to play or  I mean support the team and prepare the
> Pantera to run Sunday and this weekend again reminded me why Ely is the best
> place to both hang and celebrate before and after the race on Sunday. It
> really is allot more about being in Ely and Vegas with your friends and
> fellow racers (even the one's with Vipers and Vettes) then it is running the
> course. Okay running the Pantera at 100 mph or even 150 to180 mph on a
> 2-lane road is also blast but its not why I keep going back. It is the
> people.
>
> We all ended up at the Four 7's Motel and there we found the the Vikings
> (Bjoern Flesland & Inger Johannssen) from Norway who were arm wresling
> Corvette and Viper owners in the parking lot....they also had the second
> fastest car and team in their 105 Mph Class in their big Mercedes 450 SEL
> 6.9 and they were as you would expect the most serious party animals in town
> once you got Bjoern to understand why our DMV licensing system is so simple.
>  ;-]> The Vikings are great and look like they all once again had a ball in
> Ely and Vegas including adding their 6.9 decal to the back of ItBWild. ;-]>
>
> I averaged 151.89 MPH. We started a little late after some cattle broke out
> of a gate and temps were up to 85-90 by the time I reached the finish line
> and over a 106F by the time the Unlimited drivers started....
>
> Through the straights before and after the road woop-de-do's  at miles 58
> thru 65 and after the Narrows at mile 71  I was running at  155-160 mph
> UNTIL I saw Steve Waldman's Viper in my rear view mirror.
>
> Steve and the Viper obviously was on the hunt.  When I saw him I punched it
> to 175-180 mph for about 5 minutes until he disappeared from view.  He
> obviously forgot he was following me and must have dreamed  he was chasing
> Dan in September!   ;-]>
>
> The 381ci Cleveland stroker ran great (thanks Russ Fulps) ....The engine
> temps at the finish line were 180F on water and 210F on oil in spite of the
> hot weather .  Not that it probably mattered I was running Valvaline VR1
> Race Oil.  A big thanks to Mike Trusty and Dick Drenske who made sure the
> IR-EFI also ran flawlessly again.  And to JB, AJ and the Pope and everyone
> else who continued to poke me with sticks  getting ready to go.
>
> It was Mike Borders who was driving the cup car that went off road at 200+
> mph. Luckly he did not roll over when he went off road. The other incident
> was Richard "Lucky" Hille in the Unlimited division Camaro who has to be the
> luckest man alive losing a tire at 220+ Mph.  A year ago his cockpit filled
> with steam after his mech oil gauge line blew or fell off (he forgot to
> tighten it) the back of the gauge and his cockpit was completely obscured by
> hot steam. He somehow stopped the Camaro on a sweeper turn completely blind
> in his cockpit. And again a year later he was once again able to safely stop
> the Camaro in what could have been a catastrophic accident.
>
> Veteran Tom Ciancitto running his '37 Ford F1 Pickup was running the
> fastest in the Unlimited group at 182 mph average UNTIL he broke...not sure
> what happened to Tom because he left early.  Charlie Friend running his wild
> Corvair from hell won the Unlimited group with a 163 mph average.
> Far from being the fastest speeds Charlie has run I think Ralph Nader would
> roll over in his grave if he saw how well Charlie 're-developed' the
> Corvair....it is a completely re-engineered race car on a tube frame
> chassis.
>
> A big thanks to the team and all of you who wrote or called this weekend. I
> couldn't pick up messages until today but still grinning from ear to ear
> from the 6 day road trip.  I hope a few will make it in September. The rumor
> about JB and I bidding on a TPR 4-door garage and shop with a small house is
> true....We will be able to report more about the TPR house in coming weeks.
>
>
> Mad Dawg Antenucci
> Team Pantera Racing
> The 1st & still the only vintage race team in open road racing
> www.teampanteraracing.com
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Dan Courtney <dfcex at pacbell.net>
> To: detomaso at realbig.com
> Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 12:40:08 PM
> Subject: [DeTomaso] Nevada Open Road Race Stealth Update
>
> We got the final adjustments made to The Winged Warrior and took it around
> the block, then loaded up and departed around 10 PM for a 500 mile maiden
> voyage to catch the Nevada Open Road Race Challenge / SS.
> I knew this would be about a 7 hour drive and that the road gets closed at
> 5:00 AM, so it was going to be tight. Not to mention this was the first time
> off the block in 1 1/2 years, with a new motor and allot of other new parts.
> The Winged Warrior ran great, until we got to Ash Springs, close to the
> finish line, then started running like crap.
> We got to the 316 just as they were putting up the Road Closed signs (had
> to swerve around one sawhorse) and looked for the spot on the course where
> The Beast ended it's run at last September's Silver State Challenge, around
> mile 85. The plan was to bring water, beer and snacks for the gate workers
> who sheltered me after The Beast blew up.
> This is a great site, atop a hill at the end of a five mile straight
> heading into the final turn in the middle of a silent desert with no human
> for miles and miles.
> We arrived around 5:15 AM and no gate workers, so we were alone. I checked
> the engine and found the problem immediately, it had lost the donut gasket
> from the header collector and had a 1/2" gap. Despite having no sleep I
> thought it was best to stay on it and do the repair before the sun (and
> heat) came up. Luckily, I had brought one spare donut.
> After the fix we set up on the hill and I proceeded to pass out on a
> bolder.
> I was in a deep dream when I heard music, a cross between symphony and
> AC/DC. I thought maybe this was a car? I jumped up just in time to see one
> purple Pantera flying down the straight at about 180 MPH. It was Mad Dog!
> They let him run first start again.
> I scrambled up, displaying my "bed" (DeTomaso fender cover with logo) and
> snapped off my first photo.
> About 10 seconds later came Steve Waldman in his red Viper. The race was
> on!
> We saw another 100 or so cars come flying by during the course of the next
> several scorching hours (100 degrees or so).
> The fastest was a NASCAR type Monte Carlo accompanied by a plane. Seems
> like he was doing about 220 MPH. After the turn we noticed a plume of smoke
> and found out later that he went off road and crashed 4 miles from the
> finish due to debris on the road. I'll send photos later.
> I hear he was OK, thankfully.
> We noticed the Camero before him (doing about 195) was trailing a rear
> valance, possibly this came off.
> It was a long, hot day, but allot of fun.
> Unfortunately I passed out at a hotel in Vegas and missed the awards
> banquet, and was unable to personally rag on the Dawg. Really, I had nothing
> negative to say, his car was the best sounding machine I heard all day and
> he was really flying, plus he must have finished. I didn't even have to use
> my fire extinguisher this time.
> I was disappointed to see not one other Pantera all day, something needs to
> be done about that.
> The Winged Warrior is still running like crap, so I'm going to see if I
> fouled the plugs. Hopefully I didn't warp any brand new valves.
> Your Team Pantera stealth reporter / supporter in the bush, DanTomaso
>
>
> Dan F. Courtney
>
> La Jolla, CA
>
> (858) 551-5455 Phone
> (858) 551-5456 Fax
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