[muel7]

[QUOTE=oldskool;619695]Well, that's a very interesting post, which brings up more questions.

(1) So, what happened to the 2nd '72 Lemans or GTO, that is NOT the one you're talkin about. TWO cars & TWO drivers were mentioned on the same Q-list. Any info on the other car ? Did it also belong to either the Axemakers or the Reulands ? In fact, on that same Q-list, there was another '72 Lemans, driven by Jon Wacholtz. Anybody know anything about it ?

Just to clarify your confusion, there has only ever been one car, which is the brown '72 GTO that we still own. Dad (Dave Reuland) and the Axemaker brothers are first cousins, which was how the team came to fruition. They began racing locally in the '70s, and began building the GTO in '76-77. The four of them would switch driving duties when they were available. At a later point the '71 Formula HO Bird was acquired and added to the stable. The driving arrangement continued mostly until the turn of the century with both cars. Denny eventually went out on his own and got another GTO which he still has and plans to race again this year, dad got full ownership of the original '72 GTO, and the Bird remained Ken's. Wacholtz was a family friend, a tile-man from Austin, MN, and a real good friend to Denny until he passed away a few years back. He was a big Pontiac guy with a massive collection. Last I heard his car that was on the sheet was acquired by an owner overseas and it still goes down the track.

In 2003 dad stepped away from racing and sold the GTO to a local racer, while the Axemakers sparsely raced as well. The history has already been said before, but we asked Ken to drive the Bird in '07 and drove it for 10 years. Dad reacquired the GTO in '08 and we made that into our secondary car for myself when I started in '12. As the Bird was the better HO car, we used that for the National Events and dad and I would switch as drivers.

Now, as for why the Brainerd race in '15 shows the Bird but we actually raced the GTO. Simple, the Bird developed some motor issues the night before we left, and we had to use the GTO. Unfortunately I ended up snapping teeth off the ring gear in the final Q session and was unable to make eliminations. The GTO has had a couple different iterations of paint schemes over the years, from all brown to the last look of brown, orange stripes, and cream hood. Currently it is being repainted to factory cardinal red with black stripes. However, as this is the backup to our '11 Challenger, it will probably not make any appearances at National or Divisional events.