I have been involved in the hobby of collecting and racing
muscle cars since 1988. I have enjoyed owning many great Muscle Cars; from
my 1966 Pontiac GTO 389 Tripower 4 Spd, Firebird 400 HO Convertible, Buick
Grand National, S/CRambler, Mustang, Capri 5.0... to my never ending love
of Chrysler Corporation vehicles. Like you, I am at home living my Muscle
Car dreams.
I started racing from the first weekend me and a couple
of my closest friends took my GTX out to the local cruizing spot, the Berlin
Tpke. On this road, I experienced many Saturday night cruiz-ins and
an occasional Light-to-Light exercise of Horsepower. Not knowing what type
of racing interested me the most, I searched for venues that I could call
home. I joined the SCCA/CART and competed in local autocross events. I
tried bracket racing and found that racing all out, just to nail the brakes
right before the finish line, was not for me. I stopped myself at the last
minute, many times, from buying a slick tire Duster, Cuda, Boss Mustang
or Chevelle to race on Sundays at E-Town or Lebanon Valley because I preferred
the original factory look over an all out racer. I was hooked on racing,
but, at this point, had not found the right venue for me.
Having collected all make Muclecars for many years, I
tried the Cragers, Centerlines and many other mags but was always going
back to the Factory Appearing look of the stock wheels and Polyglas tires.
In 2002 I met up with a group of show car enthusiasts at the Mopar Nationals.
I thought that they, like me, had towed their Mopars to the Nat's to show
them. But, to my surprise, they raced their cars with the PolyGlas tires!
Intrigued by this, I asked many questions of the two racers, Dave Dudek
and Jack Iron, who at the time both owned Hemi powered 4 Spd. Mopars. They
proceeded to get me hooked on what has now become my obsession to racing
Factory Appearing Street Tire Musclecars.
Through the years I have gone to every style car show
in the USA and have enjoyed meeting and making friends with many car enthusiasts
like myself. For many years I would go to shows, set up the car, show it
all day or all weekend, and then be discouraged because the car I worked
so hard on did not place because an unqualified judge awarded his pick
to his friend that weekend.
In 2004 I felt it was time to put away the lawn chair
and buy a new helmet. This was the year that a new Musclecar magazine called
Hemmings Muscle Machines had their first ever Muscle Palooza. Armed with
a 1970 Challenger SE 383 Four Barrel, I was off to the first ever Muscle
Palooza. I had visions of the old Muscle Car Review magazine's drag racing
video tapes my friends and I wore out playing. I thought for sure I would
line up with a brand X and match race to a victory, but instead I was placed
in a bracket class and was put up against a 5.0 Mustang with only a drivers
seat for an interior. Discouraged with the results of this event, I kept
asking myself, there has to be something out there for me. Then I remembered
those two guys at the Nat's running FAST cars. With my keyboard and many
years of old car magazines, I searched for their names. I found out through
another friend, Tom Cannon, that they would be running at that year's Mopar
Nat's, and that if I wanted to race with them, I would be welcome to run
in the class.
The 2004 Mopar Nat's was one of my best ever Mopar events.
I had a great time racing against other cars like mine- I was hooked! I
had finally found the racing venue that was a perfect match.
It was at this race that I purchased Mike Wowk's (one
of the Founding members of FAST) 1970 RoadRunner.
Events I have organized and promoted include: the FAST
Class at Muscle Palooza 2,3,4,5,6&7, Island Dragway 2007 FAST Ice Breaker,
2006-07 Mopars @ E-Town FAST Class, 2007 Mopar Nat's FAST Class, 2008 SuperCar
ShootOut Ice Breaker, and the 2008 Mopar SuperCar ShootOut Challenge Series
at Mopars at E-Town, Chryslers @ Carlisle, Mopar Nationals and Mopars at
the Valley.