You guys are gonna have of full plate that weekend. It would be nice. If I see you out testing I'll chase you down. When are you guys planning on arriving in Marathon?
We will be there Thurs PM. Testing on Fri.

Just curious as to who rigged it?

A friend of mine who is a local mechanic. He did a good job and did it quickly, which was most important . it was in the dead of summer. Pretty tough to do when your at the peak of your season. ...he felt the drive height would be killer ok with the raised box. we still dont know if thats the problem yet. but it looks like we still may be too high.

If it is a 96 did you re-rig the boat or had it never been cut?

I find these sort of things interesting. Not trying to pry.

Brian

Its never been rigged , but the transom was cut for the drive

WOW,

Where did you find and ungigged 96? I love to hear the history of these boats. Cool stuff.

I dont really know the whole story...but its quite long. It was listed by an OSO member last year this time. Up in 1000 Islands , Cananda. Apparently in bounced around from one owner to another. It was originally built to be an A class boat. Why it never got rigged, Im not 100% sure. in June of last year, I crashed and was ejected from my 24' Baja in a race, here in NJ and needed another race boat.. A BIGGER RACE BOAT. So, in July, the Pantera came along and I stripped my 24' Baja of all its rigging and swapped it over to the Pantera. In four weeks, we were ready to race again. Thats it in a nut shell.

Great story Bruce! Thanks for sharing.

Man what a difference from a 24 baja to a 28 pantera. I bet that felt like fore than 4 feet.

Good luck in the upcoming season.

Its like ...off roading in a jeep as to cruising the parkway in a cadilac

Hey Bruce,

I originally built your 28 for a customer in Windsor, Canada just on the other side of Detroit, Michigan.The customers intention was to run in A-Class with a single 468 CI with 700 HP at the time with a Bravo 1 drive.I built the boat as a hull and deck with a 3 man bolster and fuel tanks and race dash.I did not rig the boat or cut out the drive.He had experience rigging boats and maintaining a few Panteras in the local area.

He got into some financial problems with a partner and the boat just sat for a few years.The A- class with APBA went away and I guess he ended up selling the boat.After that it got moved around one more time and I guess that is when you purchased the boat. I will see you in a few weeks.

Regards,

JO:D