2011-07-28 10:49:36
The weekend at the Portland Historics couldn’t have gone much better. Entered in the Historic Stock Car class, my 1982 Oldsmobile Bandit held her own against the mid-90s Winston Cup cars. What a blast it was to drive! It had been 7 years since I'd raced the Bandit, and this was its stock-car debut after its second restoration. Comeback King, yes.
The Bandit was clearly a crowd-pleaser, as fans came up all weekend to say how cool it was to see the big beast out there mixing it up with the aerodynamic later-model stock cars. It’s got a distinctive sound, thanks to its boombox exhaust and the headers on its 1983-spec engine; at 7200 rpm down the backstraight, its howl rises above the roar of the others. “It sounds incredible! Keep it goin’, because we love listening to it!” one fan told me.
Spotting most of the other cars 100 horsepower, 1000 rpm, and 10 years of chassis and suspension development, the Bandit makes it up in heart and soul. I ran 4th in the qualifying race—just like a NASCAR finish, with the cars in a row—and was headed for 5th in the main event, but got black-flagged for a silly thing not worth explaining. No matter, it’s all good. “You got great air time,” a fan said. “The track announcer kept expressing amazement at how you were catching back up to the leaders!”
From my own perspective behind the wheel it was fantastic to be running against these NASCAR stock cars, once driven by Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott, Davey Allison, Mark Martin and others. As the Bandit’s handout “hero card” says, “Having been a motorsports writer from the mid ‘70s to late ‘90s, Moses intimately knows the fantastic machines in the Historic Stock Car class, and feels privileged to be racing against cars that were once driven by legends he’s been lucky enough to know and write about.”
(GEORGE OLSON PHOTO)
Sam Moses
Previous Blogs:
Bandit Photo Gallery Portland Historics
2011-07-16 09:53:13
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Bandit Smokes the Rose Cup
2011-07-13 05:06:55
The rich history of the 1982 Oldsmobile Bandit that starred in the book "Fast Guys, Rich Guys, and Idiots" resumes, with a dominating comeback win at the Portland Rose Cup last weekend, driven by local hotshoe Ronnie Swyers....
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Hero Card
2011-07-12 21:52:07
1982 Skoal Bandit Oldsmobile Cutlass
Star of the book "Fast Guys, Rich Guys and Idiots," named one of the 5 Best motorsports books ever written.
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Rose Cup Gallery
2011-06-22 08:32:44
Photos by Doug Berger, Jeff...
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Rose Cup Day One
2011-06-22 08:09:13
It was a great day of practice for the Portland Rose Cup. The Bandit hadn't been on the track since it won its class and finished 10th overall in the 3-hour Historic race at Sebring in 2005. But it's sitting on the front row for the vintage race on...
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Return of the Return of the Bandit
2011-06-15 22:42:51
For the last three years the Bandit has been licking its wounds after blowing a head gasket in practice for the Portland Rose Cup. A lot of good work has been done since then, and the car is better than ever--even faster...
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Shakedown Run
2010-09-21 04:11:52
Lots happening with the Bandit. Videos coming soon.
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Concours de Maryhill
2008-06-17 07:48:56
Over the weekend, in less than 24 hours, the Bandit shot from show car to contender, and I soared from resignation to rejuvenation.
Because this blog is episodic, the back-story is in the previous posting. But...
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Lightning Strikes Bandit at Rose Cup
2008-06-16 10:27:00
So much has happened since my last blog entry that I haven’t had time to do this update. Nor much enthusiasm, because mostly what happened is I blew a head gasket at the Rose Cup at Portland International Raceway on June 1.
Sometimes...
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1958
2008-05-17 07:30:30
I couldn't believe it when I got my copy of Vintage Motorsport magazine and read my father's name, from a race he ran in 1958. I had to write the editor, Randy Riggs (whom I've known since 1972, when he was an editor at Cycle World magazine and I...
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