I recently went to the PRI Show in Indianapolis, Ind. PRI stands for Performance Racing Industry. It is THE event of the year, I have gone for several years and plan my vacation time around their dates. Before we start talking about the 69 Camaro again, I'd like to show the "leaders" of 5 major companies that I have been using in my race cars for 10 to over 30 years. These people are the people I call when I have a question. When tires, gaskets, shifters, fasteners, or axles are your business, they will be a wealth of information when you call them.

In photo A we see John Spar from B & M Racing and Performance Products. John is posing with his new Pro Bandit Shifter. It is designed for Powerglides using standard or reverse valve bodies. The gate-type mechanism includes a reverse lock out and neutral safety switch. They make the best shifters.

In photo B we see Mr. Gaskets 2 people you will see at all major NHRA events and many other smaller events. On the left is Steve Tanzi and the right is Shawn Umpries. They were both very proud to show off the latest from Mallory. It was the new Hyfire VIIS Sportsman Ignition. It has two seperate RPM Limiters, a single stage retard, automatic start retard, top mounted digital control panel for easy data entry, dual microprocessors, no chips needed, rpm limiter, 550 volts to the coil and it can be upgraded.

In photo C we see Gred and Marianne Moser of Moser Engineering. Moser is a growing company. They featured many new items. Greg is holding his new 9" Ford rear end with the new thru-bolt design to give more strength and decreased ring gear deflection common in most alumnum case designs. I've learned one thing over the years and that is NO ONE CAN GET PARTS TO YOU FASTER. Moser Engineering is a great company. I just finished Greg's Book and it was worth reading. Plus all the proceeds of his book goes to charity.

In photo D we see the two leaders at Mickey Thompson Tires. On the left is Jerry Francis and the right is Brian Downard. They are holding their new M/T dragster front runner tire. They are a very aggressive tire company with all the latest products.

In the Final PRI Show Photo, Letter E, we see ARP's Pat Mintey holding the latest from his company. ARP is another company that continues to put out new products every year, that you wonder how you managed without them. Pat has the new Pro series Wav-Loc bolt. It is the "baddest" bolt in town. It has a tensile strength of about 220,000 psi and is capable of more than 12,000 lbs. clamping force. WOW.

Now down to business, in photo F we see future driver, Tony Goodman sanding the fender and in the background, another drag racer, Tom Tiltom helping out with the sanding process. I don't care for sanding, but it has to be done, and if there was any way of getting the car in and out of the SHARK'S Custom and Collision (Holland, Michigan) we would do it. Marty Hysen is the owner of Shark's and he has painted my last 4 race cars. And everyone of them has won some type of award at a car show or race.

Photo G shows the car all sanded and taped ready for paint.

Photo H show the line up of all the goodies we needed from PPG Paint. Thats the paint SHARKS Custom uses. I can tell you the finished product is beatiful. The paint we used was PPG-DELTRON. We used it because Marty said it was the best!

Photo I shows Shark's Custom's employee, Curt Kimber laying down a coat of primer on our 69.

Photo J shows our Classic Industries Stencil Kit. This is the kit that goes on every Z-28 or Indy Pace Car. It is part # 1050688 It came with complete instructions that the painter followed perfectly. Go to http://www.classicindustries.com
for all the items you need to restore any Camaro. In the top part of the photo you can see our OER rear spoiler we picked up from Classic Industries also. It is part number # K959 It bolted on perfectly. It came with a factory primer to allow easy painting.

Photo K shows the Camaro just out of the paint booth, just before a day of wet sanding. We are getting closer. We wanted the car out of the body shop before the snows hit the Western Michigan area, and all we had the day we took it home was a little light rain, so we were happy with that. After we hauled it away, we finally had a chance to park the trailer for the winter. Much more next month. Stay tuned.. any questions, please e-mail me at 455@i2k.com