I WON ! I WON !! I WON !!! Still can't believe it.

The Performance Therapy online car show photo contest!!! With a picture taken by my friend John Hendrick at a NASA HPDE road course event I attended at Sebring in June of this year. It was taken during one of the first sessions of the day and was the first time I'd ever run the famous 3.7 mile track used for the 12 hour races.

Details of the contest were posted by Hotchkis and so I went to check out the pics people put up then thought "Hey! I should put a cool pic of my car up!" As you guys have seen in the past I'm always posting track pics to get others interested in taking their cars out. The contest said "post a pic of you enjoying your car". Well a day at an awesome world famous road course is the most fun for me in my car!

The Performance Therapy contest winners were just announced by John Hotchkis at SEMA and just posted online here http://www.performancetherapycontest.com/

Chad from Fletchers had called me yesterday from SEMA and said he'd heard my name over the loudspeakers and I'd been bouncing off the walls since waiting to see if it was really true!! I'd been at Fletchers Customs installing a dash I'd built for Tys car and then helping the guys all of last week. When they headed off toward Vegas I made the 8 hour trip back to south Florida from Chads shop in GA.

I thought maybe they were messin with me when they first called yesterday but it's true! I won!!!!

As the grand prize winner I'll be recieving a system from each of the sponsors of the contest. Man can I put this stuff to good use!!! Here's why

Hotchkis Sport Suspension: A full TVS setup. I already have Hotchkis springs, sways, and tierod adjusters, as well as the Bilsteins they sold me to go with their products I installed in my Firebird which I purchased a long time ago, before they called it the TVS. So I'll have to talk to them about my options for another car or maybe upgrading the Firebird.

Baer Brakes: A full setup. As many of you know from my posts like "here's why you need big brakes for track use" I've had some real issues running a stock front disc/rear drum setup in my Firebird on road racing tracks with long straightaways where I need to haul the car down from 125 MPH+ to slow for sharp corners. I've gone through stacks of different pads, shoes, rotors, calipers and literally gallons and gallons of brake fluid. I couldn't put bigger brakes on without also needing to buy new wheels and tires. I just couldn't afford to do both but thanks to Jason Rushforth....

Rushforth Wheels: A full set!!! Then I can install bigger brakes!! Funny that I win a set after I sent an email earlier today recommending someone else purchase a set for his early 2nd gen Camaro. Now I should be able to fit some really serious rotors and binders while being stylish with new wheels I couldn't afford. To wrap the new wheels.................

Yokohama Tires: Again a full set! I'd been running the Yokohama Advan AO 32s and needed to replace the fronts but they've discontinued making the DOT R tires in the sizes I needed so I've had a set of temporary front tires on the car (with the AO32 rears) since the end of the track day the picture was taken. The temporary fronts had nowhere near the traction of the original AO32's so I've had to take a little easier. (I put 4 wheels off once and found the new lower adhesion limit! LOL) Perhaps I can get some DOT Rs in a size that will work with the new rims!!!!

Red Line Synthetic Oil: I was going to order some of their Water Wetter this week. I've had some slowly rising water temp issues on track in the Firebird since moving south which required a cool down lap in the middle of each track session the past couple events when it was very hot out. Now that I'm in FL I don't need antifreeze anymore and I planned on flushing the system and switching to just water with Water Wetter. Not sure what else I'll get from them but because of the track time the Firebird gets I'm constantly changing oil, tranny fluids, rear end, etc. in the car as well as my tow vehicle (which takes 15 quarts of oil !) so I know I'll go right through whatever it is that they provide.

Lifeline Fire Safety Systems: A full system. As you might guess by the full cage, NASCAR full containment seats and 6 point harnesses in my Firebird, safety in cars is an issue with me to the point where the money I've spent on safety items could have purchased the killer engine I really want. I can certainly put a fire system to good use!!! Although hopefully not ever needed and activated!

MSD Ignition: A full setup! I currently run an MSD Pro Billet distributor, Blaster 3 coil, 6A box, and 300+ wires on the old Pontiac 400 thats in the Firebird. I'm going to need (read want) to replace the engine with a much more powerfull one to reach my speed goals at land speed races and open road racing, so getting an ignition setup for it will be a huge help!

Flowmaster: A complete exhaust system. While the sidepipes on my Firebird are functional they have a fake 4 into one header that won't even allow the current engine to perform as well as it could because only one of the 4 "header" pipes is actually used and it's barely 1 1/2" !!! I'd installed the sidepipes about 10 years ago when the car had a stock 350 two barrel and for that engine it was fine. I've been searching for the a set of the original Hooker headers that go with the sidepipes to replace the fake ones on the car but never found any. A new system will be awesome and allow me to run a bigger carb on the current engine than the (cough) 575 (cough) thats on there now. Plus when I can afford a new engine it will have some breathing room!

Hot Wheels: We're all big kids who love toys. Who wouldn't want enough Hot Wheels to fill a track that spirals around the garage! LOL

I want to thank all the sponsors for giving us all the contest. It's a place to throw our cool pics up and share our pride in our vehicles with others. If you haven't looked through the photo galleries it's really worth a look. You'll find pics of everything from ground scraping cars, to pics of little kids helping their ole man wash the car, the smokiest burnouts, and all the way up to giant 4 wheeler monter trucks as well as everything in between. http://www.performancetherapycontest.com/entries.php

OK enough of my ramblings! Here's the winning picture

Congrats! That is a nice pic and a great prize.

That car is what keeps me interested in American cars.

wow, I would LOVE that set-up...you could probably hawk your old set up on E-bay...or here on the forums.

what are you getting from Hot Wheels?

maroon92 wrote: what are you getting from Hot Wheels?

Lots of little cars with fat tires? Dunno, but I won!! After what I've been through the last 3 years I would have been thrilled to just win a T-shirt, and I won a whole pile of really cool stuff I can use but can't afford and wouldn't have bought.

maroon92 wrote: wow, I would LOVE that set-up...you could probably hawk your old set up on E-bay...or here on the forums.

Up for sale first my DRUM BRAKES!!! LOL Complete with new wheel cylinders (because I melted the rubbers on the old ones) and a nice set of race compound SHOES from Porterfield with only 2 track days on them!!

ouch, that beast is still on Drums?

Just so you guys know my car really is a grassroots kind of car. It looks pretty and is a lot of fun but it's always been on a very small budget.

I flipped cars and parted out cars for cash and only put about 1500-2000 dollars a year into the car since I bought it (for $190.00) in 92.

I did done all of the body work in a 1 car garage and painted it in my backyard on a dirt driveway. Installed all of the suspension, engine, and drivetrain stuff as well as the interior etc. myself. The only work I had others do was transmission work, exhaust bending and welding, sewing on the rear seat cover where the cage tubes go through it, and the construction of the cage.

Congratulations! I think the GRM sticker on the spoiler helped

maroon92 wrote: ouch, that beast is still on Drums?

Not for long!!! LOL Stock single piston discs up front and stock drums out back with race compound Raybestos pads up front and custom made race compound shoes out back. I do a lot of brake part replacements and fluid changes to keep up with it. Rotors last 2 track days at the road tracks and I also had a seperate set of dedicated street use rotors/pads shoes/drums I used for everything else beside road courses. Even drag racing land speed racing you don't really need a lot of brake because there's such a long slow down area for a car that can only go 150 MPH. I can just let wind resistance do most of the braking till I'm down to 75.

gjz30075 wrote: Congratulations! I think the GRM sticker on the spoiler helped

And the windshield banner!!!

In reply to Rad_Capz:

Congratulations! I recently won a trip for 4 to Space Camp in Huntsville AL. My 8 yo grandson is all excited. I'd be more excited if I'd won what you won.

congrats.. and pretty firebird. That generation has a soft spot in my heart since I learned to drive in a 71 formula and took my test in that same car. That was during my Father's Mid-life crisis years.

I can still feel how cold the aluminum hurst shifter was in the winter

Wow, that's a killer prize. Much better than a bunch of money you'd just feel guilty about spending on a bunch of car stuff, anyway.

Congrats!

They chose someone truly worthy of the prize. Congrats and good luck.

Congratulations. That's an insane list of free stuff. The picture rocks, too.

I recently was told that I won the RaceRamps contest here @ GRM. That is really exciting since I just bought a house and have no extra monies for garage luxuries right now.

Congratulations... That's an amazing prize package.

Congratulations!

That's a nice looking Bird.

Congratulations! That is a serious amount of prizes and a worthy car for sure,

Congrats!!!! Sweet ride.

Congrats. Hope to see some of this stuff on the car at the upcoming events!!!!!!!!!

Congrats. Nice car. Look forward to seeing more pics of the parts going in. And then the car on track. :)

I suggest a detailed installation diary including high res pictures be submitted to someone at Motorsports Marketing ;)

WOW, awesome! Congrats!