All,
This note has marginal Triumph content, but I think that anyone interested
in vintage vs. new-car racing will be fascinated!
Dennis "Mad Dog" Antenucci is the very charismatic leader of Team Pantera
Racing (TPR). Team members cars consist of 1971-1974 Panteras. The
cars are not trailer queens, have been restored to some degree and are
both driven to and from all our events and enjoyed on a regular basis.
The Silver State Challenge road race, which you should pencil in on
your calendar for September 17-20, 1998 is a 90-mile
open road race that travels along a two lane road course (closed to
the public the day of the race on 9/20/98) from Lund to Hiko, Nevada.
The race includes five speed divisions and sixteen speed classes
that range from 95 Mph to Unlimited. This September Silver State
Challenge event is part of a three race series that includes the La
Carrera Road Race in New Mexico in July and the Nevada Open
Challenge in May. The race series is sanctioned by the American Indy
Car Series (AIS).
This challenging road course includes high desert rolling hills and
includes elevation changes from 5500-2500 feet, lots of long
straight aways and includes some radiused and off camber turns as
well. The Silver State event is the oldest open road race in
America and has been called the "fastest road in America".
After a very successful outing for 10 TPR cars in the May event, TPR
extended a challenge to the national Ferrari, Porsche, Corvette, Jaguar
and Shelby organizations.
The rules of this TPR Challenge are simple:
1. The club or chapter team is responsible for bringing ten (10)
or more cars to the event.
2. These (10) or more cars must of been manufactured between
1971-1974. TPR might waive this requirement for any older cars
if they can't come up with (10) 71-74 cars!
3. These (10) or more cars must also pass tech and complete the
race (no DNF or DQ).
4. These (10) or more cars must be licensed to drive on the
street and be driven to and from the event and driven back to Vegas
after the event. The event is based in Ely Nevada which is
approximately 250 miles north east of Las Vegas.
Winning is very simple! The winning team (regardless of the
number of cars over 10 that race) that has the largest percentage
(%) of cars that both finish the race and has the highest percentage
of class winners in win-place-show (1st, 2nd & 3rd) in the race wins!
The losers will buy the winning team beer or soda for the evening, and
endure winners bragging rights until the next race six months later.
Losers will also wash the winners cars :)
NONE of these national organizations could find 10 vintage cars
to compete. This is strange, given the number of Corvettes that were built.
So the rules were changed. TPR would take on ANY national club,
regardless of age. TPR is confident that the 25 year-old Pantera,
a car that received no factory support when it was introduced but
has since enjoyed considerable owner-support to sort out the bugs,
can take on the latest in automotive technology.
So far, Team ZR-1 (Corvette), Team Viper and Team Mustang have stated
that they will attend with 10 (or more) cars.
The national Ferrari, Porsche and Jaguar clubs have declined the challenge
because of conflicting wine and cheese nights :)
We are still waiting to hear from Shelby.
The following media coverage for the Sept 17-20 event have been confirmed:
1. BBC TV (UK)
2. ESPN SPORTS TV
3. Car & Driver Magazine
4. Hot Rod Magazine
5. Sports Car Magazine
6. Autoweek
Already the race has been billed in the press as a classic- (Pantera)
modern (Ford-Dodge-GM) war.
I guess we'll soon see how well a well-prepared and coordinated
team of classic cars does against the mega-buck computer-controlled
plastic-cars.
If anyone wants any more information, please don't hesitate to ask.
Oh, for Triumph content; no, I wont be driving the TR6 :)
Shane Ingate in San Diego
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