Due to unforeseen circumstances, many of the regularly appearing Panteras that spectators so like to see were unable to make the event. Dennis Quella's fuel injectors failed to be delivered on time, so his engine didn't run. Greg Esakoff blew his ZF gearbox to bits two weeks earlier at Willow Springs. Gray Gregory's track car has been hibernating for two and a half years (it was supposed to be ready for Vegas 2003).

This meant the field for the race was thinned down dramatically, at least in terms of Panteras. The only cars left were the street-legal, open-road-race prepared '72 Pre-L of Larry Stock (complete with tall 5th gear AND 3.77 ring and pinion!) and the GT/4 clone of Jim Saxton.

Unfortunately, Larry got a bit excited about the new track layout (easy to understand, as it's really much better than before). He had Gary Patterson, Shelby's PR man (and a guy who knows his way around the track) riding shotgun and coaching him on the new track layout.

Gary told him that he could carry more speed through Turn 1 because it's not quite 90 degrees. Meanwhile, Larry thought that he could brake deeper into the corner. Unfortunately, you can have one or the other but not both. Larry tried to brake deeper into the corner AND maintain more cornering speed, and the result was a trip through the gravel on the exit of the corner. Unbeknownst to anybody, there was a small dip, about two inches deep, hidden in the gravel. When the tires fell into the dip, the nose of his car smacked into the ground, smashing the lower valance up and destroying the air dam and, more importantly, the aluminum radiator.

The car was up on jackstands and his new assistant Silas was pounding away at it. Although he had a nice, shiny new radiator on display which would have easily dropped into the car, that radiator belonged to a customer, and Larry wouldn't take it for his own use. So he was on the trailer.

(He ordered a replacement delivered to the hotel, and it was installed on Saturday in the parking lot).

But at least there was Jim's car, being driven by hotshoe Sammy Malouf (sp?). Jim had been bashing around in the car, then turned it over to Sammy. Coming into the back hairpin corner, the left rear stub axle suddenly and without warning snapped, sending the left rear wheel (complete with rotor, and caliper) flying. The suspension hit the ground, and Sammy did an excellent job of collecting the car, stopping a few feet short of a tire wall.

That put the two remaining fast Panteras out of the race. Dale Eriksen was left along to carry the De Tomaso flag. In light of this, Colin Haney elected to race his GT/4 replica although originally he had only intended to run in the "B" group.

The field was fairly thin in terms of Brand X cars as well. Normally, our event is supported by Checkered Flag Racing Association, a private track club which was formed by PCNC members ostensibly to create a venue for driving their Panteras on the track. One by one they succumbed and elected to purchase other, Brand X cars.

Where in years past we'd enjoyed 12-14 CFRA members in addition to our own Pantera racers, this year there was just one non-Pantera-owning CFRA member present. This, as you can imagine, not only thinned the field on the track, but also resulted in a dramatic downturn in the event's cash income.

The race was hotly contested by Erik (driving a turbocharged, flared and slick-shod Mazda Miata in lieu of his Pantera) and Paige Adler, driving a roundy-round stock car nominally converted for road course work. Although Erik was blindingly fast, the stock car eventually passed him, then proceeded to oil down the track and competitors windshields and thus stayed in front to the checkered flag.

The remaining drivers in all run groups enjoyed a fantastic experience, as the new 2.4 mile track was large enough to absorb three times as many cars. The track was open all day long, and everybody (except me) got all the track time they wanted.

Due to the high temperatures, and the fact that drivers were beginning to wither, the track was closed down way early on Friday, at 3:30. As the last trailer pulled out of the parking lot, event financial guy Bill Santos totaled up the receipts and compared them to our expenses, and the news was Not Good.

The cost to stage this event is much higher than you might imagine--in fact, it's over $19,000!!!!!! And remember, this is all money being paid to outside entities, because everybody who actually staffs the event, from registration, to tech, to the pit marshals, all work entirely for free.

In fact, many of us actually PAY for the privilege of working! Jim Kuehne was one of the pit marshals, and he donated $500 to the cause without ever even setting his behind in a car! He stood out there all day both days keeping the pit lane safe.

Larry Stock

PANTERA PARTS CONNECTION

300 Edison Way
Reno, NV 89502
1-800-DETOMASO
www.PanteraParts.com

Richard Plotkin

Hollywood, CA

Jim Kuehne

Kuehne Construction

933 Kifer Rd
Sunnyvale CA 94086

(408) 732-4057