The first car I built, '71 Satellite. Picked it up for a hundred bucks. It had t-boned a tree and the owner couldn't get the hood open. It was slant six that that becoup miles on it. I ran it the first night out and put a rod through the block. Only way I knew it happened was the sudden and drastic power loss, but the sucker still ran. It was swapped for a 318. I never knew they actually paid racers. I thought you raced for the fun of it and the benefit was the trophies. Imagine my surprise the third week in when I signed in at the gate and they handed me a check. I don't recall much about my finishes, some night were good, some weren't. It was loads of fun though. By the end of the year, the car was trashed and was scrapped.
This one I picked up the next year. I decided the 71-72 models made the best oval track cars because of the extremely large bumpers, that is how abundant these cars were at the time. Because of class rules, A and E bodies were not options, so it was limited to B and C bodies. This was a Satellite Sebring with a 383. Found it at a tow comapnies impound lot. $300 later it was m ine. Learned a lot more about them from the previous year so this one I started experimenting with t-bars, brakes and geometry. Won a most improved driver award, made more money, had more fun, had more frustration. Didn't know it would be my last year driving for a long time. Ended up selling the car at the end of the season. Was in much better condition that the previous car.
It was 8 years before I got back in it again. Couple guys I worked with knew I used to drive, so I was asked to team up with them. By this time, mopar prices were in the range of stupid, so a home built car was out of the question. Sparks Bros Racing in Long island was reproducing the kit car, so we investigated that as an option, but it was still 3x what it would cost to run a chevy. So we decided to forgo brand allegiance and went with the cheap and easy GM solution. We initially shared driving duties until my partner put it in to the wall and his wife freaked. She bought him a new sports car to walk away, so after a month, I was the sole driver. Jumping in to the GM camp was a whole new experience. Won rookie of the year award with this car.
The next year we updated the chassis from a Pontiac to a Chevy. Continued to refine the geometry and continued to improve standings, right up until the middle of the season when I got spun while leading the main and got hit head on by seven other cars. Needless to say, that ended the useful life of this chassis. We had a back up in the garage that we were prepping but we decided to forgo returning to the carnage of street stock and step up to sportsman. We never made because a promotion at work killed the time I had to dedicate to the car. I spent the next couple of years as a hired driver for a team. I mostly drove Ford products for them, first in the mini stock class, then in the IMCA modifieds. Talk about a power to weight change, but they were a gas. They never had the funds to run a full season so things kind of petered out after a couple of years. Then I went back to drag racing. But that's in another topic.
