UNLIMITED 

PONY CAR

(Team Yahoo)

Monroe has been around performance venues since childhood. “I bought my first vehicle in 1965. It was a 1957 Harley Davidson 165cc Bushmaster (I didn’t appreciate the name back then.)”.  He graduated to flat tracking by buying an old Bultaco and learned that sliding is the same as braking. Moving further up, he bought a Czech CZ Motocross bike. “Motocross taught me that you could leverage your corner exit speed by grabbing your opponent’s elbow and pulling him backwards.” 

After retiring from the AF, he met a group of guys in Dallas. They had Mustangs and called themselves YAHOO RACING, LTD. They had Fast Mustangs. They raced their Mustangs for more than 1320 ft. They didn’t wear their hats backwards and Yo was not part of their vocabulary. Passion re-ignited, he set about making every single mistake possible in converting his 97 Cobra into an OT car. “The best lessons cost money or are painful. I’ve learned well from the cost and if the wife ever finds the secret spreadsheet I’ll have the lessons reinforced with pain.” The Cobra will be put out to R&D pasture and replaced with an old used car more suited for track use.

Racing karts in the Southwest under WKA rules was Wayne’s first serious waste of money for adrenalin thrills.  Four years later he was one of the few kart drivers who had not broken any bones. After a mechanical brake failure that caused his kart to leave the track at 90+ MPH and weave through a heavily wooded area, he came to his senses.  Before his luck ran out, all of the karts and equipment was sold. 

A couple of Street Rod cars later, some kind of low cost racing activity using his ‘90 Mustang was needed.  SCCA autocrossing (ESP Class) at the local and divisional levels became the next venue for several years.  

Wayne was later introduced to a Shelby Club open track event with timed competition.  Immediately he dominated the event for years.  Soon after, he learned about SCCA vintage racing that had an “exhibition” class for non-vintage cars at Texas World Speedway.  His open track experience was well underway. 

Wayne has been attending open track events under many club banners for about 8 years now mostly in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.  He has run Charlotte (now known as Lowes) and Road America.  Most of the time Wayne is in a supercharged fox mustang that has evolved into a track only car.  He also drives his 2000 FRC Corvette on the track from time to time too.  The opportunity to drive at some well-known tracks in the West sounds like fun ”even if the travel schedule wears me out.” 

At that event Mark and his friend David Fincik met Bud Sharp, one of the founders of Yahoo Racing Ltd., a small informal group of hardcore Ford track guys. From then on the goal was to hit any and all tracks within range as often as possible. The first YRL long-range event was to drive from Dallas to Mid-Ohio (1400 miles) for a single day of open track with the local Ford/Shelby club. They walked into registration looking a little beat, and the person behind the table said "You must be the crazy guys from Texas".

Since then it's been countless trips to many tracks across the Midwest and Texas, including two trips to Road America from Dallas ("clearly the *best* track in the country"). Mark enjoys getting others addicted to open-tracking whenever possible, and occasionally helps out the local Porsche Club regions with driving instructor duties.

The '89 has progressed over the years from a daily driver to a dedicated track car, with a full interior cage, complete Griggs suspension, Kuntz stroker motor, Brembo brakes, and all the other things needed to make it stand up to dual-driver abuse. And abuse it gets, it's been punched through a tire wall at Hallett, and bounced off a concrete wall at Road America. The daily driver cars have changed over the years, with '97 Dakar Yellow M3 being the favorite. Tow vehicle duties go to a 2000 F-150 Lightning ("it's the wife's car, I have to borrow it when needed"). Since working on performance cars is a large part of the open-track experience for Mark, the current "weekend" project car is an outstanding Canary Yellow '95 Mustang converted over to Cobra R specs, with an added bonus of a Vortech supercharger bolted to the purpose-built Sportsman 351W under the hood.

Never having been over the mountains with a car in tow, the Open Track Challenge is the perfect opportunity to hit a bunch of tracks he couldn't justify the time for to go to on an individual basis. "This is an outstanding deal from a track time/cost basis. I can't wait for this event!"

by BP

God spoke to me in a moment of non-clarity. Actually, I think it was Brock Yates. Anyway, he said I was a pussy if I didn't take advantage of this opportunity. I have just enough testosterone left that comments like that make me do things like OTC. Actually, I'm just the designated beer bearer. Wayne and Mark are the hot shoes.

Tell us a little bit about the car you are bringing to unleash pain on the Unlimited Division.

This will be a circuitous story, so bear with me. My original plan was to finish modifying my 97 Cobra. The handicap is the modular engine and if that isn't enough you have Ford's overly complex programming to deal with. Anyway, it ate another engine with two hours on it. I was bummed. I was also determined to simplify my hobby. I started shopping for a different car so I could retire the Cobra to some R&D things I have in mind for it. Looking at the cost of Mustang aftermarket suspension upgrades, chassis upgrades, powertrain upgrades, it occurred to me that a retired race car might be a better choice. I looked at the cost of a good set of lower control arms for a Mustang and they were over four hundred bones. Taking a similar look at control arms from places like Coleman's revealed they were about ten percent the cost. That clenched the decision.

I contacted Lou Gigliotti. I knew he had an old WC chassis rusting behind the shop. After some cagey negotiating (on his part) I bought it. We have a ways to go with it. Once we get it dialed in, I'm confident we have the rest of the UPC field by the short & curlies.

Remind our Californian friends how much state income tax we pay in Texas.

Zero, but the freakin property tax makes up for it.

Who was the fifth President of the United States, negotiator in the Louisiana Purchase, and the architect of the Missouri Compromise?

Monroe. Communist - "The earth was given to mankind to support the greatest number of which it is capable, and no tribe or people have a right to withhold from the wants of others more than is necessary for their own support and comfort." Left the White House in poverty. No relation.

So what are the preparation and training regimens like over at Team Yahoo for OTC? I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that a lot of beer is involved.

Labatt Blue is the favored beer of Team Yahoo. The regimen is comprised primarily of recreational profanity and garage decorating. We are both fond of Ford's for decorating purposes, but drive whatever is zippy. Wayne has a new C5, I have a Lightning as a work truck, Mark has the nuclear bannana (badass 95 GT with SC 351).

What are the biggest lessons that you have learned over the last few years about tracking a car?

Horsepower don't mean squat. Late is great. Scrubbing IS braking.

Maybe you can help me with this. What is the deal with NASCAR?

I very simply can not understand the allure NASCAR holds over the average adult male. At one time, they raced cars. They had real men that raced real cars. Now it is a revolving commercial populated by boys prettier than anything in the WNBA.

As the Official Awards Vendor for OTC, can you hook me up with a genuine-looking Heisman Trophy for my desk?

Absolutely! Further, Wayne could hook you up with the ex-spouse of a Heisman winner for some ducats of the right denomination.

You often speak of the mythical "kitchen pass". Please explain the concept to your fans.

I have the most wonderful, understanding, kind, sweet, generous wife on the planet. Your honor, she will no doubt see this and because of that I refuse to answer the question on the grounds....

We're done here. Shake yourself off and take a few seconds to thank those who will support you.

I'd like to thank all the folks that are still going to show up in UPC.