It was 25 years in the making and it all came off without a hitch.  2012 was the 25th Anniversary running of the Silver State Classic Challenge open road race.  Team Pantera racing had a strong attendance at this year's event, with five members either driving or supporting.  Two TPR veterans and one rookie successfully entered and completed the race, each in their own speed class.

For Dennis "Mad Dog" Antenucci, this years event was one to remember.  If not for the valiant attempt to repeat the most Panteras ever entered, but for the team spirit of everyone present who managed to come and put forth an effort.  Rich Hoppe returned this year sporting a different Pantera; the original Round Table Pizza race car, re-imagined and re-engineered into a formidable powerhouse of a Pantera.  John Bentley returned for a stab at the silver plate as well.  New this year was Asa Jay Laughton, who had been trying for the last four years to make the race.

John trailered his Pantera behind Team Pantera Racing Cafe' Finito, a large motorhome that served as TPR headquarters in the back lot of Hotel Nevada for the duration of the event.  In addition, Peter Menyhart came to support the team while his Pantera is being reconstructed at home.  Peter's help was welcome when John discovered he needed a new alternator and regulator in order to keep the Pantera running.  In an unfortunate turn of events during tech inspection however, John was disqualified due to over-age tires.  The unfortunate turn was that he had purchased the tires only two years prior but hadn't noticed the date codes were already six years old.  There's a lesson in there about requiring the vendor to check dates codes before they ship them to you.

Dennis decided to enter a slower class in order to take time and enjoy the scenery.  Even in the 135 MPH class though, he couldn't resist pushing the envelope, finishing at just over 140 and feeling comfortable in doing so.  Meanwhile Rich Hoppe and the Round Table Pizza Pantera entered the 140 MPH class and finished just over 136 MPH, proving once again, Dennis was top Dog.

The rookie, Asa Laughton, was limited to the Touring class, and chose 105 MPH with fewer entrants.  He was tentative about driving the 90 mile course flat out at 105 and was receptive to all the advice from all the Veterans who really looked out for him on his first time out.  After months of preparation and only a couple days of final checks and sage advice, Asa finished with an average just over 108 MPH.  He said later he was just so excited about how well the car was running at high speed, he forgot all about the plan to keep it down to just around 106.

With all smiles after the race, the team made their way to Las Vegas for the banquet.  Being the 25th Anniversary running of the race, Silver State Classic Challenge Inc. pulled out all the stops.  They held the banquet in the large showroom at Sam's Town.  There was video playing, slide-shows, various speakers and of course, the awards.  It was a great celebration of both the event and the racers who run it.

Check out the Gallery for photos of the event.

Finish Results:

*note:  Time Variance is in seconds

To All,

TPR was again successful at running & completing another ORR with no problems & having FUN while doing it! Both Frank (The Godfather) Cirrincione - go ahead & try to pronounce his last name right :>)) -  Bob (Rowdy) Radefeld finished both legs of the race with ease. Got to admit my second running in an ORR was much less stressful & more enjoyable than that of last year & I'm sure next year will feel even better. Even though I haven't run in Texas or Nevada I'm convinced that the SORC race is one of the most challenging courses in Open Road Racing. Add up all the the elements - chip & seal road surface, elevation changes, roller coaster whoop-d-do's, 90 degree turns both tight & sweeping, several 3-5 mile straights and you have one heck of a course that demands your constant attention. Just TO MUCH FUN!

This year I took a fellow Pantera owner who lives about 40 miles from me along as a passenger so he could get a feel for what was involved in this event. TPR now has another racer to join us in next years' race. Eldon (Bud- the bottomless pit) Hower now has a year to ready his car for the 2010 race and can't wait to get back to Arnold & race with Frank & I. In the meanwhile, Bud snapped numerous pictures of us on course from a hilltop vantage point about 5 miles from the South starting line. These pixs as well as those taken by Frank & I will soon be sent to Asa Jay for inclusion on the TPR website - stay tuned.

The Silver State Classic Challenge has been completed for 2008. Nobody was able to claim the $5,000,000 purse from Mad Dog by finishing the race. However, Dan Courtney gave it a great try in his full race prepared Pantera. Both Panteras started the race this year, being the first 150 class to grid. Mad Dog was first off the line, with Dan leaving 60 seconds later. Mad Dog's Pantera ran beautifully the entire race and he ended up averaging just over 150 mph and point three seconds over time. That however wasn't good enough as the wining times were in the point one second range. Even so, it was a great finish to a season plagued with a bad clutch and a blown off deck lid.

An honorable mention goes to Scott Couchman for putting in a great effort but failing tire tech at the last minute. Although Scott was not able to race, he is committed to coming back next year and giving it another go. We look forward to both him and Dan, as well as many others at next years Nevada Open Road Challenge.

2007 Silver State Classic Challenge (SSCC) Report from Mad Dawg Antenucci:

Check out the photo gallery

Check out a special 20th Anniversary report.

Check out the Blog by Jason Eaton

Happy to say I am home.

The Pantera ran great (averaged 149.16 MPH), and like in May I got the honor to be the1st car off the starting line.

Jason Eaton's '71 yellow Pantera powered by the Cleveland 408ci stroker nailed his goal speed average of 140.40 MPH for the 90 mile run down the 318. So much for those skeptics who said he would grenade ;-]> Navigating for Jason was his bro' Nick Morland...who is an awesome guy who I've become good buds with. They brought Jason's monster RV plus the wives and all the kids and they were totally into the event weekend.

In Jason & Nicks division class there were 13 cars (mostly Corvette Z06's or Vipers but one Lamborghini Gallardo to make it interesting (but NONE were vintage cars!)......There were 23 cars in my division class and again most of those were all Z06's and Vipers, but I also had one nice '05 Ford GT. We were both close to our goal speed averages but thats not close enough these days to win, place or finish in the top 3.

To give you an idea, the winner in Jason's 140 MPH Grand Sport division class ran a 139.999 MPH Average! And the winner in the 150 MPH group ran an average of 149.985 MPH. Our consolation prize if you can call it that was winning the "Most Exotic Car Award" at the car show on Saturday! ;-]>

The "Hard Luck Award" goes to my buds "JB Bentley" and Chuck Brown who drove from Santa Clara. Chuck is a veteran of many ORR's and he had previously won 1st Class in JB's Pantera driving solo with no navigator which is no easy feat.

This time out he Chuck wanted to run his '89 C4 Vette in its maiden ORR voyage....Must have been upsetting to the Pantera Gods because 25 miles from the finish line their Corvette tranny grenaded ;-]> They got the usual ring side seat next to the course after the Vette broke and the communal with nature until the road re-opened. Then they headed back to Ely for dinner and back to Santa Clara late Sunday night.

Down at the finish line Jason and Nick noticed two of their trailer tires were starting to de-laminate (DOH!). We decided to try and convoy into Vegas to the awards banquet and half way there one of the tires came apart. My spare trailer tire wasn't a lug fit so we pulled the wheel and what was left of the tire and Jason pulled the Pantera and trailer on 3 wheels the last 25 miles into Vegas and the hotel/casino with no problems.

At the Awards dinner there were 51 NORWEGIAN VIKINGS showed up to support their team which Paal-Arvid Blytt and Gunnar Skjerve drove a '86 Pontiac Firebird in the Unlimited Division.

They came in 2nd place (there were only 2 cars!) but they averaged a respectable 181.64 MPH and won the TOP SPEED award with a 226 MPH in their ROOKIE run!!!!!! All those guys were awesome and I wish we had had more time to spend with them....as we were leaving the hotel this morning their RV and generator were dead so I jump started them on their way back across the country. It truly as an honor to meet them and I'm looking forward to them coming back....No doubt our brothers from Sweden will not take this challenge lying down! ;-]

In the One Mile Shoot Out Jeff Schwartz driving I think (?) a 2002 Ultima GTR with 40 pounds of boost ran 212 MPH.....Yea, thats not a typo....He ran 40 pounds of boost on his turbo....its like pulling the pin on a grenaded and waiting for it to go off in your hand. And when his did at the end of the course it blew hot oil over his windshield which then made seeing anything other then the oil on the windshield impossible he spun out but otherwise did not get hurt.

Bottom line:
135 Cars - 3 DNF's
1 Crazy Norwegian Race Team + 1 Crazy Pantera Race Team = FUN!!!

P.S. After the ignition, carburetor and starter and electrical shot 'challenges that I had I figured wot more could go wrong? Well as JB said we got up, close and personal with the 2 deer and then towing the Pan tea hoe I got side swiped by an 18-wheeler that damaged the trailer but left the Pan tea harm free....must be the positive Pantera-force-field....anyway, gonna need some trailer fender and turn signal repairs.

I also want to thank Donny & Bobby Byers (Precision Pro-Formance), Russ Fulps (Russ Fulps Race Engines) and Ken Green for being Ken Green who stepped up to support the team with the spare ignition. After a week of fixing last minute glitches and just when we thought Dick realized about 10PM we also had an electrical short that also caused the starter problem. Dick doesn't work well with no ambient light or sleep so we knocked off early and loaded the Pantera with the winch and the next morning I towed the Pantera to Donny and Bobby's shop where Donny able to find and fix the short and replace the starter. So my sincere thank you to all these guys + Jason, Nick, and their families for going and for JB for DAWGING me everyday to go....it was the BEST ORR ever. And it was the 20th Silver State Anniversary...

PPS - May was the 20th Anniversary for the Nevada Open. There was a nice tribute 20 minute video that was shown at the Awards Banquet that had Junior's early Pantera in the film as well as I believe Dave Griego' or possibly Dan Miller's stock Pantera's in the film....Nicely done....The fact is WE have had a Pantera at EVERY single Silver State event EVERY YEAR for the last 20 years (except 2005 for safety reasons, ed.). We should all be proud of that.

Mad Dawg Antenucci
Team Pantera Racing
"Its good to have friends"