Over the past few years, we had been entering cars in the Los Angeles Street Race. The main event had always been the NASCAR SouthWest Tour Featherlights. I was always in awe of these cars as they would roar along the concrete circuit significantly faster than the PRO Production based Sportscars. Then in January while we were shaking down one of the RX7’s at an Alfa Club Event, I noticed the Chevy Lumina of Justin Sallows screaming through the pack at Willow Springs Raceway. The car was a very low slung stockcar and simply sounded like it was possessed by a demon. “That’s what we need to race!” I said to Tim. So at lunch, we sat down with Justin and began discussing stockcars and where to run them. He told us about a new semi-professional series that NASA was starting called the American Stockcar Challenge (ASC). Even though his car wasn’t ASC spec, a simple change of the engine would fix that.

THE AMERICAN STOCKCAR CHALLENGE (ASC) Miguel Crapparros, the originator of ASC promised a series based on identically prepared stockcars (engines, tires, weight, etc) with a $100,000 annual prize fund. The appeal of utilizing popular NASCAR type stockcars and making them run on Road Racing courses (and occassionally on ovals) was genius we felt. From a spectator point of view, they saw a pack of wild looking machines with powerful snarling engines charging around the track. From the competitor’s point of view, the cars are the biggest “bang for the buck”, easy to repair and maintain, and among the fastest cars in a typical weekend. Those who have driven an ASC car describe the forgiving nature of the car and the incredible power and grip. I haven’t driven one myself yet... any of the guys with completed cars offering?

CLEARING SPACE Tim and I discussed plans to get an ASC car in February and began our search immediately. But the first order of business was to make more space in the garage for this new car, so we put the RX2 and the 944na up for sale. After advertising for a month online, I got a telephone call from Paul Smith in Oregan. I sent him a build sheet and some pictures of the 944na and a few days later, he bought the car sight unseen. A few weeks later, Paul competed in his first SCCA Super School problem free. A few months following this, Tim sold the RX-2. With both of the cars out, we now had room to continue our project.
We spent a few weeks looking at ex-NASCAR Southwest Tour cars. Then one day, I got a call from Justin telling me about a car nearby. When Tim and I went to look at the car, it was a mess. The previous owner had bought it to run at local short tracks only to get a season sponsorship in a Sprint Car. So the car had been sitting outside for a while, tires flat and cobwebs everywhere. But the one thing that we liked about the car was that it had been set up as a Road Racer. We negotiated a price and by the following week, the car was ours.

For the next few weeks, Tim and I stared at the behemoth figuring what we were going to do. While he set out planning the buildup of the car, I began investigating the history of it. A few calls revealed that the car was previously owned by a local RV Dealership owner who campaigned it in a local road racing series called the International Road Racing Association (IRRA). With a well known local short track driver behind the wheel adapting to road racing, the car was a consistent Top Five car. A call to the chassis manufacturer in Florida put me in touch with a very nice gentleman named Woody. Having worked over twenty years at the shop, Woody asked me to send pictures of the car as he knew every single car that he had built at his custom chassis fabricating shop. A week later I got a call from him with some vague recollection of the car. With the shop building ASA oval cars predominantly, road racing cars are a rarity with a few American GT cars running in the GrandAm series (GARRA), and in my case, a few Pikes Peak cars built for Roger Mears in the late 80’s. To this day, we haven’t conclusively proven this but Woody recognizes many of the chassis traits that he used to build the Pikes Peak cars in the pictures I sent him. Meanwhile, Tim had designed a complete revamp of the engine mounting system in order to accomodate the ASC rules. We sent the car to Pablo of Mobius Motorsports where they began to cut and weld tubes in every direction. The previous setup was for a dry sump engine so the new wet sump engine’s mounts had to be raised and the steering rack system had to be redesigned. For Tim, this opened up a can of worms as one change would result in a complete redesign of another. For a few weekends, Tim, Pablo and JR redesigned and refabricated the entire front clip of the car at their shop. The ASC community was extremely helpful and we bought an ASC Spec engine from Robert Davis and a transmission for Doug Davis (not related). Then one day, the car came back complete with engine and steering system in place. I stood there with my jaw open... at this monster.

Chassis: Perimeter Tube Frame 107” wheelbase Manufacturer: Benco Powerplant: GM ZZ4 SB V8 (ASC Spec Sealed) Wet Sump Transmission: Jerico Non-Synchro 4spd, internal pump, external cooler Differential: Speedway Engineering Quick Change Brakes: Wilwood Engineering with adjustable bias Wheels: Steel 15” x12” with Goodyear (ASC Spec) Treadless Racing Tires Body: Fiberglass 1996-1999 style Chevrolet Monte Carlo Weight: 2,900lbs with Driver and Fluids Horsepower: 366HP Torque: 409 ft Lbs
Owners: RealRide Racing Engineer/Crew Chief: Timothy Spencer Additional Fabrication: Mobius Motorsports Series: American Stockcar Challenge (ASC) hosted by the National Autosport Association (NASA)

ASC TESTING
The first time I actually saw an ASC car was in February at Buttonwillow Raceway. We were running our Super Unlimited RX7’s and a few of the ASC cars were running. As I was helping Tim on one of our cars, the ground began to vibrate as Dave Brown, Mike Shanck, Ed Ochylski and Justin came thundering down the straightaway in their cars. The crowd was simply in awe as the four of them would snake through the field effortlessly. Even the exotic “Mega Bucks” sportscars were unable to keep up with this group as they simply ran away in their own race that weekend. A few weeks later, Ed Ochylski brought his ASC car to run at Las Vegas where he dominated the sprint race and the enduro. Then on August 24th this year, a few of the ASC drivers went to Buttonwillow for a test day. I went along to videotape the three cars that day and came away addicted to the sound and speed of those cars.

ASC: FIRST EVOLUTION
In September of 2001, Bob Coan took over as the ASC Series Director. With years of successful business entrepeneurship behind him, he seems a natural for the role. Knowing that one person cannot oversee every aspect of ASC, Bob enlisted the help of Robert Mott, Jim Coan, Robert Davis, and several others as ASC Officers. One of the first issues he addressed was a “loosening” of the spec rules. Using feedback from many of the competitors, a new rulebook is in the works with a more realisitic formula on the cars while maintaining the original spirit of ASC. There have been suggestions for a Regional and Bi-Coastal series, and following the lead of the Arizona Region, many of the races are offering cash payouts in smaller amounts of $1,800-$2,000. As of October 2001, twenty seven ASC engine packages have been sold and seventeen cars have been reported complete or near completion.

ASC RACES
October 6 & 7 saw the single largest field of ASC cars in one gathering to date. A total of eight cars attended the event and put on a spectacular show. Dave Brown won Saturday’s race while Ken Stinnett won Sunday’s race. But the field was tightly bunched throughout the races with Mike Tolman, Bob Coan, Ed Ochylski, Dave Ideco and Steve Hoke all giving a great chase. But it’s quite an amazing sight and sound to see a pack of ASC cars charging down the front straightaway barking flames and shaking the ground. The difference in speed between the ASC cars and the other cars on the track was remarkable as they lapped almost the entire field before the midway point of the race. I missed Sunday’s race but from what I heard, the crowd absolutely loved the cars.

THE REALRIDE RACING ASC CAR
While our ASC project has fallen behind schedule, we’re committed to running the series in 2002. Several incidences have contributed to the delay but in a nutshell, life hasn’t dealt us a fair hand lately. Work, finances, crashes, resources and such are all “minor” inconveniences when you’re passionate about racing. We hope to rectify this before the end of the year. In the meantime, look for our 30 second commercial available online soon.

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