Hey I know you guys had one h3!! of a time at Salem and I will be their next year with my GS 455 (Stage1?). I was shearching for some other pictures when I ran across these cars. I was wondering anybody now ?o No:
I'm sure that "Thumper" was owned by Gary Paine and was wrecked in a trailer accident several years ago. I'm wondering if the other car is also Gary's that eventually became "Blew-By-You" and was sold to the Zeruchas and is the car they currently race?
No,The second picture is a car that belonged to guy by the name of Mike Cunningham I believe,Not sure what became of it. I remember seeing it in magazines..... Thumpers fiberglass doors were there.......On a green 72 Skylark. The guy bought them off one of the people that bought my old green car. Love them old pictures....
Ol 'cars Good catch Doug,yeah thats ol' "Thumper",brings tears to my eyes seein 'er again .She was destroyed in a trailer accident in '91 on our way to the Norwalk event.Luckily the lady that ran the stop sign had good insurance and they more than covered the monitary loss.The personal loss however can't be replaced. I purchaced Blew-by -u the following year and raced it for 2 years,just was'nt the same.Then a friend of mine asked me if I'd like to get Great Scat back(I sold it to him 12 years before).I could'nt get the check book out fast enough.I raced both cars for a season and decided Scat was more fun,less maintenance and I won more with it.So off blew by u went,the Zerucas have it now and are very successful with it. I put Thumpers motor in Scat,complete with the iron stage 2 heads and have been racin it ever since.That ol motor has over 900 passes on it now and continues to amaze me.Its 11.5 compression with an old KB mark 4 hydraulic in it,will run 10.3's without the throttle stop and what ever with the stop on.Ran a best of 10.4 at Quaker,which was'nt good enough for Q16,so we stopped it back to 10.6's for the super pro class. Your right about the other pic,its not blew-by-u and is cunninghams. Thanks for the pic of "Thumper",it was a real well known car for years at the buick events and GSCA nats. gary
BLEW BY YOU Doug, John Zeruchas car (blew by you) was built here in B.C Canada back in the late 80's early 90's by Armin Lipmin then sold to someone south of the border where I think someone stuck a cheby in it and then John Z rescued it and stuck a real stove back in it. Correct me if I'm wrong John. It was nice to see something good other then weed end in the US :laugh: sorry guys but I had to.......Chris
Chris Thats the accurate story,thanks. As a point of info,the guy who put the Rat in it only ran high 9's with a 468 roller motor????I told him to put a Buick back in to go faster but he was pi##ed so he decided to sell it sans motor.I tuned John into it when he wanted to put his buick motor that was in the nice poncho he was running into a light buick,and now you know the rest of the story. John and stan have done a hell of a job getting the car running as strong as it is. gary
Re: BLEW BY YOU The same Armin that is into off-roading now in BC?? I see his name on a 4x4 board I visit.
This is the site. http://www.bc4x4.com/ I'm not sure if he is on the board or not. Lars, the guy who runs the board, is Armin's buddy though. Here's a trip report with Armin's picture. http://www.bc4x4.com/tr/2001/rubicon/ Corey
Re: Ol 'cars Hello Gary, Thumper was a great looking race car and we all consider it a loss. The 900 passes is unreal! What a testament to Buick engineering, your driving, and your maintenance of the engine. That must be some sort of record although I do recall a turbo guy claiming something like that once. Tell me Gary, approximately how many passes do you think are on you? What a lucky number that is! The "X" looked great [it got my vote anyway] and looked to be running well. What did it turn?
Thanks Brian,we go back a long way,If I remember right you and I were charter members of the Penn-Ohio chapter when you were in PA? Sandy drove the "X"well,ran a best of 13.16,it ran 12.98 at Norwalk this past May.she won the Ladies charity race. I don't even want to guess how many runs are on mep But "Scats" motor is keep it simple philosophy,under 12 compression,hyd cam,revs 6000rpm,light weight reciprocating assembly,HP under 600.keeps going and going. gary
I put over 2000 passes on a factory built and NEVER rebuilt 70 455 motor (out of a rusty $500 70 LeSabre 455, 34K miles) running 11.40-12.20 in my SunCoupe then in my 71 GS455. It was pulled out running perfect about 8 yrs ago and has been sitting in the corner of the garage. Hate to take it apart. That thing won me over 12K bracket racing! Bruce
