Race Stories

After I had the infamous flaming finish at Silver State ORR in '99, Larry Stock was gracious enough to tow my Pantera back to Vegas at no charge. At the time I had no intention of ever rebuilding the Pantera again and we flatbeded it to a bone yard in Vegas.

Guys in the yard asked me if we were coming back and I said NO! The guy in the bone yard said he'd make sure it didn't get parted out in case I changed my mind.

And finally a guy in the salvage yard picked the Pantera up with a fork lift and drove off to some unknown point in the salvage yard. I went home and 'took to bed' (think of Bill Murray in Stripes after he lost his girlfriend and his job)....it was heart breaking all right...

Then Gary Patterson in Vegas called me. Gary still works for Shelby at the Shelby facility in Vegas and was at the time also the Race Director at Silver State ORR events and he called to say Mr. Shelby had been told about my 'infamous finish at the Silver State' a couple 3-4 weeks earlier and paid the bone yard the storage costs for that 3 or 4 weeks or what ever period that was and brought the Pantera to Shelby's facility and told Gary to keep it there until I was shamed into retrieving it!!! I told Gary I still didn't want it. He didn't care to hear that either.

Gary knew how much that damned car meant to me and wasn't going to take no for an answer either so he called a couple mutual friends that we raced with and one of them who knew Jeff Maxwell told Jeff about it and Jeff decided on his own to just drive to Vegas and load it up on a trailer and bring it back to California for me whether I wanted it or not!

And the story gets better. First off Jeff calls me in Huntington Beach while he is headed back to California to tell me he will be in Huntington Beach at my house in a 6 hours and 'where' do I want him to put the Pantera!!!

I was like, "ohhh Jeff you guys are killing me here...I definately do NOT want to see the Pantera again and that means I don't want the Pantera to rebuild either. So in response he hangs up.

True to his word a few hours later he shows up with the burned out Pantera and that was all most as bad as going to my dads funeral...maybe worse (grin) but we dragged it off the trailer and dumped it on the driveway which IMMEDIATELY got all the neighbors attention including my NEXT door neighbor who was a L.A. cop who asked me with a smile if I was going to leave it there....he turned out to be a great neighbor and a great friend in the ensuing months that followed!

In any case Jeff left soon after he arrived with the Pantera with this look of "I-did-my-job-now-you-do-yours" and then he just drove off before I could even thank him!......Then Scott Black and a couple other guys started a "Rebuild the Dawgs Pantera" on the internet and one day I get this check and a note from someone I have never heard of and soon other checks arrived and good wishes and parts and offers for parts ...others came forward with offers of help from PCNC and TPOC and around the country...and actually so many people came forward that I'd be afraid to name them all here for fear that I'd forget even one name but many many people helped get that car back on the road...Bobby and Don Byers did the majority of the reconstruction and Larry Stock and Gary Hall and others donated parts as well,...Checks continued to come in, and less then a year later the car was totally rebuilt!

It was media blasted, painted, totally rebuilt better then it ever was before and BACK on the road and raced exactly one year later at the next Silver State!!! It shocked as many people as it shocked me.

How to Spin a Pantera
by Dave Bell

Let me count the ways.

First time at the track, first session, TWS Turn #8 - too hot into the corner, reflexes say lift to slow down. Oops, unload the rear tires, 1.5 times around.

Second track event, third session, TWS Turn #12 - drift sideways through corner, catch it then over-correct. Oops, snap overstear the other way, .75 times around.

Third track event, TWS Turn #15 - finally learn not to lift if too hot into the corner, power through instead. Oops, too much power on exit, 1.0 times around.

Fourth track event, MSR Turn #4 - drop right rear tire 6" off pavement while in a full-on power drift coming out of the corner exit. Oops, not enough traction with only 3 tires touching pavement, 2.5 times around in the dirt with Todd Reid as passenger.

Fifth track event, TWS Turn #6 - try to maneuver around a water puddle at the corner apex on a wet track and hydroplane. Oops, .5 times around.

Sixth track event, TWS Turn #5 - hit a puddle of goop at 80 mph left behind another vehicle that barfed all its oil and coolant. Oops, 3.5 times around in the dirt.

Seventh track event, TWS Turn #2 - down off the front straight banking at 145 mph, too much speed, too late braking, locked front tires. Oops, straight off the track at over 100 mph. No spin but scarry.

Eighth track event, TWS Turn #2 - down off the front straight banking at 145 mph, still too much speed but no locked front tires this time. Run wide at exit, drop right rear tire off pavement. Oops, 1.0 times around with Todd Reid as a passenger. Not so scarry but Todd doesn't ride with me anymore.

Ninth track event, TWS Turn #4 - drop left rear tire 6" off pavement. Steer straight-ahead off the pavement, keep the car pointed the way it's going. Slow down, then re-enter the track. Cool.

Kids, don't try this at home.

Your mileage may vary.