2008-02-16 17:36:59
In the final chapter of “Fast Guys, Rich Guys, and Idiots,” the Bandit blows two engines in one day at Daytona. One of them was a 550-horsepower motor that came out of the shop of the legendary Junior Johnson, Tom Wolfe’s “Last American Hero.”
After 25 years, I’ve just acquired the Bandit, fully and identically restored to its condition the last time I raced it, at Daytona. But minus the engine and transmission.
I’ve been talking to my crew chief about finding an appropriate engine in NASCAR country—Ether, North Carolina, where his Tex Racing is located. Mike Powell was fresh-faced and 19 when he was my crew chief for the races in the book. I haven’t seen him since then, but on the phone, at 45 today, he’s the same kid with upstanding old-school values, and the exact same voice. He said he would “up the wick” in the search for an engine like we ran back then.
Wanted: 366 cubic-inch Chevy racing engine built for mid-range rpm. Must use Holley 650cfm carburetor, dry sump system and aluminum heads. 550 horsepower would be good.
Anybody who has or can build and engine like this, email me at samo@gorge.net.
If they could build them like this in 1983, they sure oughtta be able to now.
Sam Moses
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