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Condensed version- Jr is a legend among fast-Ford guys. He bought a Pantera when he retired from pro-racing 3-wheeled ATVs on TT dirt tracks for money, and NO ONE ever got bigger air off the jumps than Jr. Anyway, he started running the SS just after Gottleib set his suspect 199.8mph avg in the '80s with his dads NASCAR Camaro. Jr desperately wanted to avg 200. So he bought a Cleavor engine and bored/stroked it to 426 with SVO heads, regeared his ZF for 240mph and went racing. With this combination, he avgd 174, 178 and 179. He decided he needed more power so he bought a Pro-Stock Boss 429 engine, bored & stroked it to 528 cubes. The Pantera by now had the steel body cut off and bolted to a full tube frame. The dyno sheet showed just under 900 horses. He blew at least 6 rear tires at speeds well over 200, with little body damage & no injuries. He lost a piston at the start line one event but kept his foot buried; sucked a 37 gallon fuel cell of 106-octane dry in 79 miles and coasted the remaining 12 miles, averaging 161. He began modifying the car into what ultimately looked like a GTP roadracer. Jr said it was what a Pantera would look like if you spent $10K a month on it for five years. He tested the monster on the Interstate outside Las Vegas very early one morning. 'It pulled redline at 6500 rpm, good for 265 mph, and I only passed two cars....' The next SS, he blew a rear tire at something approaching 250mph; it threw the car off the road, then launched it. When the dust settled, there was no engine or trans, no wheels or body -Jr was strapped in a tangle of tubes with multiple broken bones. He and his understanding wife decided that NO tire would live behind 900 horses on blacktop attached to a 3900 lb car, so he's now looking at Bonneville where the damp salt is very easy on tires. All this time, his cars ran stock Pantera brakes & suspension. He built a new car from another wrecked Pantera, using the big engine; car will be on display at Monterey in 2 weeks, and also at the Nor-Cal dinner. C'mon down- Jr is easy to talk to but of course totally insane...
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