Spring ’93

Now that the demonic forces had been properly exorcised and destroyed, we set about finding a new shell to transplant all of the goodies into. We searched every junkyard in the central Texas area as well as any other location that was reported to us. We soon decided that there wasn’t much to choose from in this area so we broadened our search to just about anywhere in Texas. About 3 weeks after the accident, I got a call from my Best Man (Ward Marshall) who was up in the DFW area. He had been referred to "Jerry’s Miracle Motors". Jerry had a late model 74 260 that had been sitting in someone’s driveway for several years after blowing a head gasket. The engine was seized and the tranny was gone, but otherwise the car was complete, straight and virtually rust free. Jerry must have had a soft spot in his heart for desperate racers and let us have it for a mere $275.

The race was on. We had taken 3 1/2 weeks to get a new shell and were determined to miss as few races as possible since we were in a very competitive local points race. The next event was about a week away, so that one was a write off, but the following event was about 5 or 6 weeks out... We could probably do that!

As soon as we had the "new" car home, we started stripping it down. It didn’t take long to get it gutted. I seem to remember that this photo was after about two hour’s work.

We have no idea who left all of those beer bottles in my garage... must have been some CP drivers in training!

To transplant the cage we cut it into about 3 sections and slid them out the door and into the new shell. Here it is welded into place. Also the wheel wells had been cut for the flares.

Hey! It’s starting to look like a racecar again! Those aren’t more beer cans are they? I don’t know how they got there! Due to our short schedule we weren’t planning on painting exterior before racing it.

After five weeks of busting ass, concluding with an all night thrash, we got the beast rolling for our next event. It’s not pretty, but it’s running and we only missed one event. After the off course accident that totaled the old car, Heather earned the nickname "Ditch Witch". Here she is about to make the maiden voyage.

During the rebuild we did learn about the major difference between the older 240 bodies and the later 260/280 bodies the rear strut travel is about 2 longer. We tried using spacers to get it working, but we were dragging the exhaust and frame rails through every turn. We ordered new Ground Control stuff immediately after this event.

Do I look dejected? There was nothing that could be done to make the car work right at this first event, but all three drivers took one run and therefore got our points.