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for
immediate release:
Seal
Beach, CA:
The
Griffith Racing shop is again buzzing with activity as the 2007 race
season draws near. Center
stage is a 2001 Dodge Viper Pro Mod that the team acquired as a rolling
chassis in late October of last year.
It all began innocently enough as I was surfing the internet for
old muscle cars to use as "mobile engine stands" for
Bob
’s recently purchased Ford Cammer motors. I
came across a Viper Pro Mod car built by Jerry Haas Race Cars (one
of the best in the racing business).
I emailed the
advertisement to
Bob
with a note that read, "I know we are done drag racing
but this would be an interesting ride".
He responded with a message that read "What do you mean we are
done" The next thing I
knew,
Bob's nephew Clark and I were driving the 3,200 mile round trip to
Calgary, Alberta
(Canada) to bring back Viper #7.
After
successfully racing the car in major Pro Mod competition throughout the
country, a local drag racing legend named Kirk Kuhns sold the car to a
guy named
Joe Delehay
from
Calgary
at the beginning of 2006. Frustrated
in waiting for the completion of a brand new race car that was suppose
to be ready for the 2006 season, Delehay purchased the Viper as a
temporary ride to get him points until his new car was completed.
As is often the case, the new car was delayed and Delehay ended
up racing the Viper for the entire season (in the process winning the
West Coast Pro Mod Association (WCPMA) 2006 Championship).
Kirk
Kuhns, who lives about 30 minutes from
Seal Beach
in
John
Force’s home town of
Yorba Linda
, CA, contacted us after learning that we purchased the car from
Joe Delehay. As the previous owner, he
offered to help put an engine program together and shake the car down at
the track. We took
Kirk up on that offer and now he is our new engine builder and
consultant. Having his
years of experience and hands-on expertise with this particular car has
tempered our leaning curve and allowed us to focus our efforts in the
right areas. To date,
Surge and I have disassembled and rebuilt the rolling chassis to like
new condition while Kirk has focused his efforts in putting together the
right engine combination for us to compete in the PSCA's top class,
Pro Street.
The
return to drag racing will be on a much more limited basis than in 2004
and 2005 when we won back-to-back PSCA Outlaw 10.5 championships.
As Bob says, "We are going out to have some fun and maybe
stir up the points chase when we show up to a race.
There are lots of things outside of racing that I want to do now,
but I sure did miss have a drag race car!!"
Attached
are some pictures of the progress on the new car.
We expect to test it over the next couple weeks in
preparation for the PSCA Winternationals in Las Vegas
on February 10th and 11th.
Hope to see everyone at the races this year.
Eric
Lenore
Griffith
Racing Enterprises
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