Space
City Panteras' Texas World Speedway track event
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Space City
Panteras of Houston had their first ever track event on September 26-27 at
Texas World Speedway near College Station, TX. We had a total of 9 Panteras on
the track and 5 other Pantera Club members join us with other cars since their
Panteras were in various states of purchase, rebuild or restoration.
Some highlights:
Dennis Quella came down from Castle Rock, CO with his tube frame Pantera race
car. And here's the proof! Dennis Q. really did make it to TWS!
Dennis "Mad Dog" Antenucci joined us from California after running at
Silver State the weekend before.
Paul Timko drove all the way from Chicago with his Pantera.
Wayne Stevens and Cheryl Marshall flew in all the way from Maryland!
Silver cars outnumbered any other Pantera color present!!!
:-)))))))
The track event was hosted by
Space City Panteras of Houston and the TWS Motorsports Club. Several
instructors from the Houston Porsche Club also supported the event. Corner
workers, instructors, fuel, ambulance, wrecker, etc. were all available and
folks who had never been on a track before got the chance to see what they and
their cars could do.
Scott Black and TimePiece Public
Relations hosted the barbeque on Saturday night and afterwards, we lined up all
the Panteras present for a photoshoot.
Most people arrived early Saturday
morning, but some arrived Friday night and spent the night at the Cedar Creek
Inn in Navasota. Wayne Stevens thought it more apt to rename it to the 'Cripple
Creek Inn' though... :-))))
We'll see if we can do better with the accomodations next time.
John Taphorn and Bob Pitaro actually
camped out in front of the gates on Friday night! Braving the latest crop of
Texas mosquitos all night shows you just how serious some people were at
getting out on the track! As soon as the gates opened at 7:00AM, everyone lined
up on one entire side of a garage and started getting ready for the event.
There were four 'run groups' based
loosely on experience with the Green and Blue groups running with instructors.
Green group was for drivers who had no track experience, Blue group was for
those who had some experience, Yellow was for those who had more experience and
White was for the very experienced. Here's the Panteras in the Green Group
heading out onto the track. Don Franck leaving through the gate, Tom Upton in
the red car, Paul Timko next and William King in the green Pantera.
Check out pictures
of (I think) everyone on the track. I know I missed Keith Verges with his
Viper... He had a power steering fluid leak and retired early. Told him to
bring the Pantera! :-)))
While other run groups were out,
most folks took advantage of the time to do some bench racing and discuss cars,
modifications and life in general!
Doug Lockin, Bob Pitaro, Bill Borrello, John Haas and John Taphorn.
Ernie, Richard Greenblum, Dennis Quella, William King, Wayne Stevens and David
Auer talk over the merits of a 16:1 compression ratio.
Dorsey Comeau, Don Franck, Mad Dog and Gray Gregory expounding on the delights
of belonging to POCA.
Dennis Q. and John Taphorn both
ran in the White run group. Here's John Taphorn all suited up and strapped into
his Formula Continental heading out to the track.
John's 2.0L car was doing pretty good in the back corners, but Dennis' 650HP
Pantera left him behind on the straights. In one of the afternoon runs, as I
understand it, Dennis started to spin out with John right behind him and John
started to spin. The two cars hit and went off the track resulting in some
minor damage to the Pantera and suspension and rear wing damage to John's car.
Here's Dennis Q's pitcrew, Ernie,
giving Dennis a pep talk before heading back out in the White run group later. See
that scrape just above the left front tire? Courtesy of John Taphorn's rear
spoiler. There are also tire marks and a gouge out of the fiberglass down low
between the left front tire and the first 7 also.
John's left lower suspension arm got bent and a suspension bracket cracked.
After this little incident, my boss, one of the instructors, came over and
commented, "Leave it to the Pantera Club to add some excitement around
here!"
Don Franck did us
well and by the end of the day on Saturday, some of us got to witness Don
passing a Corvette on the straight! I'd vote Don in for most improved first
timer of the weekend. After that excitement, he got a ride with my boss in his
Camaro SS and experienced a 1:21 lap time. Later, as shown here with David
Auer, Don would relive both events to anybody who would listen!
William King from Austin had his car running well. John Haas had this big grin
on his face most of the weekend and finally left Sunday for home after pushing
his car so hard the taillight
lenses were melting!!!
Mad Dog also ran in the White group. As befitting his past record, he ran a
Camaro off the track before he'd finished his second lap on the first time out,
got blackflagged twice and spun out once mowing down some good ole' Texas grass
and cracking his front spoiler! Dawg... We're gonna' remember your visit!!!
Glad you could make it! Richard Greenblum, also from Austin, needs new brakes...
His instructor got him going so fast and so well that he smoked his brakes on
Saturday and swears he'll be back next time with a new Wilwood system.
Doug Lockin got to hammer his M3
around the track and from his comments, liked his second instructor _much_
better than the first! Paul Timko was running well and commented several times
that it was well worth the trip! Rob West had his NSX on the track for the
first time and we got him to commit to having his Pantera there the next
time... Bob Pitaro was pushing his Taurus so hard, he got it just a little
warm... Reckons he's ready to graduate now to a faster car! Tom Upton had some
problems with his new engine after he overrevved it to 7800... We're all hoping
it isn't too serious. He did drive it home though as far as I know after
finding a new rocker arm stud in an old, rusty head behind the NAPA parts
store! He says a rev limiter is his next purchase! Gray Gregory had improved
his times tremendously. Said he was doing a much improved 10mph faster at the
end of the straight this afternoon.
We had over 35 folks at the BBQ on
Saturday night. Mad Dog won the far West prize. William King supplied the very
nice looking genuine Texas cowboy hat! Paul Timko came through with the
farthest East car all the way from Chicago. His prize was a rack of ribs from
the County Line. That should be worth a party when he gets back to Chicago!
Lots of club members who couldn't
bring their cars came up to join us over the weekend. Bill Borrello came up
both days, David Auer came with his family on Saturday and drive his GT5
up on Sunday. In the picture, he's desperately trying to explain to Dennis Q.
why he doesn't have an A/C in his car!
Marilynn and Alan Brown arrived Saturday and stayed for the BBQ. Here they are
watching Bob Pitaro help John Taphorn get ready for his run.
Jack Tunnel came down from Dallas with his girlfriend Robin and his Pantera.
Wayne Stevens and Cheryl made it, but George Dausch had to be chained down in
order to stay home and work... Charlie Jacobs made it up on Saturday. Michael
Frazier and a friend came up from San Antonio. Alan and Marilynn Brown were up
on Saturday. Dennis Smith and his wife arrived Sunday afternoon and Rob
McMullen and three friends from Austin came on Saturday. I reckon there's a
least one Pantera convert there! Good luck on your engine, Rob!
After the BBQ Saturday night and a
good night's sleep (for some!), many of the Panteras came back for a second day
of fun on Sunday. Here they are getting ready again early Sunday morning.
Mad Dog getting pointers on how to take care of his new hat!
Mad Dog with Michael Frazier and friend, Paul Timko and his friend Ellen.
By Sunday afternoon, most everyone was getting tired and hot but still feeling
good and packing up started. Here's several folks joining in helping load up
John Taphorn's Formula Continental. Don't you reckon Mad Dog likes his new hat?
Don Franck on the left, not sure who with his back to us, Dorsey Comeau, John
Taphorn and Mad Dog.
John Haas and I crawled around
under Mad Dog's car for quite awhile until we finally got it strapped down.
After some farewells, here's Mad Dog hitting the road back to California after
a weekend at TWS!
Also, a big thanks to Vincent
Hache. Vincent took some of the pictures you see here.
Link to Texas World Speedway website