DeTomaso Mailing List: May 98, Message #267

YO My Peeps,
I'm Baaaack! :-]
Here's a update on the final times and speeds for all our guys at the
Nevada Open Road Challenge. . .Thanks Greg for posting the earlier
prelim results for the event. . .Here's how it broke down.

1.    Driver:        Dennis  "Mad Dog" Antenucci - 1ST PLACE in 160 MPH
CLASS
       Navigator:    D-Mann's Ghost!!!!!!!!!
169.6 Mph Trap Speed - 144.972 Mph Average - Run time:  37:14.920
Minutes
Lots of lessons learned here. . .We wrenched all day Saturday on car's
suspension (Lower A-arm bushing replacement and wheel bearing). But
thanks to everyone's help and Larry Stock of Pantera Parts Connection
who brought both a truck and trailer should anyone break (such
optimism!) we were able to get the car repaired, pass tech and complete
the run Sunday. I had no other cars in the 160 class (quess they heard
what happened to Crash Jim :-]) so all I had to do was finish with a
average speed of no less then 131 MPH to win the class. Soon as I
started down the course I knew we had screwed up the alignment because
the car darted and pulled and the alignment was waaaay off. Add to that
the gear/speedo problems and too much speed over a bad dip/hill  and I
realized I probably should have turned up Jimi Hendrix a little louder
during the run! :-]

2.    Driver:        Pete "Brown Water Navy" Beckham,  (150 Mph Class) -
7TH PLACE
        Navigator:    Joe Hizer
165.0 Mph Trap Speed - 149.085 Mph Average - Run Time: 36:13.254 Minutes

Pete & Joe made a flawless run down the hill. He had a hellva lot of
competition in his class. Lots of Corvettes, A Porsche, a Dodge Viper, a
Acura NSX and  a couple race prepared Mustangs - 12 cars total!!!.
His '73 White Pantera with the 404ci NASCAR SVO motor kicked ass and
just the sound of it's 600 hp created fear and respect among our
adversaries. To compare Pete's time to the competition the first place
Vette ran 150.023 Mph. . . so times were very competitive and very very
close in the 150 class. . .BTW, Pete wants to sell this flawless
Pantera.

3.    Driver:    Bob "Woody" Wood, (135 Mph Class) - 1ST PLACE IN 135
MPH CLASS!!!!!
        Navigator:    None
134.994 Mph Average - Run Time: 40:00.112 Minutes
Bob nailed it!!!!!!! Bob drove his beautifully prepared  '73 Blue/black
Pantera GTS from Newport Beach and back again!!. After having his share
of tire problems at previous events Bob drove his Pantera flawlessly
yesterday and did so with no timer/navigator. He had six cars in his
class, a late model Corvette, Camero, BMW, Mustang and race prepared
Chevy Monte Carlo.  The second place finisher was a Corvette who
finished the run at 135.136 Mph so competition was again very tough in
this class.

4.    Driver:    Dave "Stud" Lohrli, (130 Mph class) - 6TH PLACE
    Navigator:    Chase Lohrli
132 Mph Average - Run Time: 39:34.451 Minutes
This rookie also drove "one" of his beautifully prepared White '72
Pantera's and I say "one-of", because this knucklehead has a collection
of Pantera's and other exotic collectibles. While his run time was off
his Pantera was right on and he ran strongly all the way down the hill
with no problems. He had eight cars in his class including  three
Corvettes. The first place Corvette finished the event at 130.044 Mph so
at least Dave was faster! :-]

5.    Driver:    Erik "One shot-one kill" Belter, (125 Mph Class) - 4TH
PLACE
    Navigator:    None
124.407 Mph Average - Run Time: 43:24.361 Minutes
Erik,  has a very nicely prepared '71 Red Pantera and a competition
racing license!  He drove his Pantera to and from the event as well and
was sorting out some cooling problems as late as Friday but got
everything all sorted out and actually helped me quite a bit on my car
on Saturday. In his class he had 7 cars, the most interesting being a
'72 Dodge Charger and the guy who won his class finished the event at
125.031 Mph. As an interesting aside, it took Erik a half hour to unload
all the ammo and weapons from his car before he could run down the
mountain! :-]

6.    Driver :    Curt "Tazmanian Devil" Toumanian, (110 Mph Class) -
17th PLACE
    Navigator:    Charlie ????? (sorry Curt I forget his last name but I
love this guy!)
112.674 Mph Average -  Run Time: 47:28.972 Minutes
What can I say about Curt?!!!  He came, he conquered and he had fun!!!
:-] He was the first guy six months ago to step up and sign up for this
event and since that time he has been like a wild man supporting me, the
event and getting his car ready and entertaining us all with D-Mann!!!
:-]
His enthusiasm for the Pantera is unmatched and his beautiful '73 Yellow
Pantera ran flawlessly all weekend and he like most of the guys drove
his car to and from the event. I also think he and Charlie must of had
the most fun all week end and that's saying alot because we all had a
pretty wild time. Curt and Charlie did this incredible in-car video
which I hope he'll share with you all because everyone who saw it were
amazed and we did a little road racing back to California. :-] He also
took lots of photo's of the event and I'm sure he'll share those with
the site later in the week. Also ask him about "driving gloves" for the
race!!!
This class was won by a '99 Porsche that ran at 109.993 Mph and included
more cars then any other class (20 cars TOTAL !!!!!) including boucoup
Corvettes and his fellow wild man bro', Dan Courtney.

7.    Driver:    Dan "that's not film in there" Courtney,  (110 Mph
Class) - 19th PLACE
Navigator:    None
114.277 Mph Average - Run Time: 47:15.206 Minutes
A little story about Danny. . .Danny was one of the final sign-ups and
was waiting for new Yoko's for his beautiful '73 GT-5 conversion as late
as Thursday!
Dan must of talked to me on the phone and/or in person a dozen times but
once he committed he went all the way. His car which is painted Red and
black was a crowd favorite and his unmuffled car sounded like a snarlin
mean-as-a-junk-yard-dog. His car ran so well that on the way back to
Vegas after the race he and Grant Stockwell stopped their cars to show
them to a couple Nevada Highway Patrolman!!! :-] Dan was also a favorite
of the "ladies" both in Ely and Vegas! :-]

8.    Driver:     Grant "Gerital" Stockwell, (100 Mph Class) - 4th
PLACE
Navigator:    None
100.528 Mph Average - Run Time: 53:42.980 Minutes
Grant was one of two Team Pantera racing drivers in this class (the
other was Ellis Woumnm).  There was 7 cars in this class and the winning
Corvette won at 100.002 Mph. . . A couple words here about Grant. . .
Besides running a flawless race and driving his beautiful red '74
Pantera to and from the event he was also an inspiring influence on the
younger more immature guys (like me!) and proved (this will make Ted &
Jack happy) that "ol' guys" can still run with the big dogs.

9.    Driver:    Ellis "Iron Man" Woumnm (100 Mph Class) - 5th PLACE
Navigator:    None
101.359 Mph Average - Run Time: 53:16.550 Minutes
Ellis was a real inspiration to all of Team Pantera Racing. It's no
secret that Ellis has had some medical problems. In spite of all he's
been through in the last year he still prepared his '72 Black Pantera
and suited up and ran  the race and he and his car performed admirably.
He also drove his Pantera to and from the event. A while back I asked a
mutual friend of ours, (Tony Harvey) if Ellis would be up to the race. .
Tony looked at me and said, "the question is, will you guys be able to
keep up with him?" I am honored and humbled that this great man was
there because he inspired confidence in all who saw him.

10.    Driver:    Dave "How Many Corvette's Broke" Grego, (95 Mph Class)
- 3RD PLACE!!!!!!
Navigator:    Mike "Bear" Stanley
95.801 Mph Average - Run Time: 56:22.000 Minutes
Dave was another late sign-up putting his car together for the race in
record time. He also ran a flawless race and came in 3rd in his 95 Mph
class. His competition included 6 cars that included mostly Corvettes
and was won by a beautiful '59 Aston Martin that completed the race at
95.142 Mph.

At the Awards Banquet sunday night at the Show Boat Hotel & Casino Team
Pantera Racing won our marque trophy and it was great seeing Bob Wood,
Dave Grego walk up to thundering applause and whistles to pick up their
trophys. It was also great to look out at Ellis, Curt, and all our guys
with big shit eating grins on their faces. We did the impossible and
everyone knew it!

As was mentioned before a couple of us could not of fixed our Pantera's
without Larry Stock's (Pantera Parts connection)  support...... Larry
brought up his PPC parts truck, spare tires, a spare ZF and a ton of
spare parts and one of his Pantera's and a trailer should anyone break
down.  One of the Corvette guys came up to me at the Awards Dinner
Sunday night and said, "gees, you guys have factory support"!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not exactly a factory, Larry is just a great guy who supports Pantera
racing. I encourage you guys to give your biz to Larry in the future.

I want to also single out Larry Stock and Pantera Parts Connection for
all his support to all the racers including this guy.  In addition to
the usual family and friends that we had at the event we also had our
own San Francisco's finest, Officer Steve "Moon Man" Mooney at the event
who also got some great shots of the cars running the course. It was
great to have Steve there with us. . Also one of the San Diego Pantera
Club guys came up to be a course worker volunteer. I'm sorry I've
forgotten his last name but his first name is Bob and he drove his pick
up truck to the event and hauled a race tire back to the coast for me so
we'd have more room in my wifes car to haul things. Thanks Bob for being
there for us and also thanks for volunteering to be a course worker..:-]

On a sad note Gary Hall of Hall Pantera got ticketed for excessive speed
driving up from Vegas on Saturday morning.  He was running late and no
doubt he was in a hurry. One of the Silver State sponsor rules is "no
tickets on Hwy 318 before the race". . .If you get a ticket anytime
before the race on Hwy 318 you aren't allowed to compete. Gary knew that
and turned around and went home. That was truely unfortunate because we
all ended up missing him being there with us alot.

We were all pretty bummed out about that and I just want to thank Gary
Hall again for all his support to Team Pantera Racing and all our guys.
One of the reasons most of us still  can compete is because of Gary Hall
and I don't think there would be any racing with out Gary Hall. so I
also want to thank Gary for all his help and support.

Again, thanks to everyone else who helped with cars and repairs and
support. That also includes Steve Wilkinson of Pantera's By Wilkinson,
Dave and Linda Adler of Pantera International who sent our own Wally
Wyss up to Ely to do a story about the event and Mike Cook, Dick Drenske
and Dennis Quella who all helped make this all happen.

And what did they make happen? We put together and accomplished  what
most people considered an impossible mission. To take 10 Pantera's to
the oldest open road race in America and see them all complete the race!
Man, it doesn't get any better then this. . .Unless we do it again in
Sept! Hmmmm....

Okay, I'm pretty tired so I'll post this to the site.
I love you guys! :-]
Mad Dog