There has been a lot going on of late here and its time to start posting the news on the e-zine.

The Zippo #47 Koni Challenge Mustang that we acquired in April is complete and ready for competition.  Rob Bodle RaceSport is the new company that my wife, Cathy, and I have created to race this Mustang.  We have partnered with another new company, Prestige Performance Racing, to attempt Grand Am Koni Sportscar Challenge racing in 2010.

PPR's Joe Cowart approached us this summer with the idea.  He has been a part of Hypersports/Patrick Dempsey Racing Koni Challenge and Rolex GT Sports Car racing for many years.  That team won the 2008 Koni Challenge Championship with a Mustang and he was ready to start his own race team.  They had all the contacts and expertise needed to open their own race shop, but needed a race car.  We had that piece and a partnership seemed obvious.

Joe came in September to pick up the Zippo car for assembly.  Soon after Joe and his crew moved into a new Jefferson, GA race shop and things started to come together.

PPR got the Mustang back together.  We put fresh paint on the car and took it to Road Atlanta for the SCCA's American Road Race of Champions to shake the car down.

We chose to paint the car in tribute to our hero Bill Stroppe.  The orange, white and blue paint scheme came from the famous Stroppe Mercury Marauder stock cars and other Ford Motor Company legendary cars of the past.  On the Mustang they really pop and give our team an instantly signature appearance.

As with most tests there were a lot of small things that had to be worked through to get the car working right.  In the end we had a great sprint race and won the pole and led many laps in the three hour enduro.

There are still many things to work through.  We have not decided on drivers for the coming Grand Am season.  We have conversations with sponsors in progress as well.  In the mean time we are getting the car ready for our next test in a couple weeks at Road Atlanta.  We are planning to attend the Grand Am test at Daytona January 8-10.

As I said, there is a lot left to do and this is the place you can come for updates.  For now we have a few pictures of the car from Road Atlanta to look at with more to come.