1968 Plymouth Road Runner

Racing Racine - Owners of replica race cars headed to Indianapolis Motor Speedway

CALEDONIA - For Ron Boutell and his cousin, Dan Vassh, taking laps around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend promises to be an intense new thrill. The sight of their cars circling a prestigious track, on the other hand, will be strangely familiar.

That's because the two men brought their replicas of famous race cars.

Boutell, 56, a concrete contractor from Caledonia, drives a 1968 Plymouth Road Runner that closely resembles one once driven by stock-car king Richard Petty. Vassh, a 56-year-old retired truck driver and taxidermist who spent much of his life in Caledonia, steers a 1970 Plymouth Superbird that's a near-mirror image of the one Racine racing legend Norm Nelson owned.

They're among seven members of the Grand National Vintage Racing Club, five from Racine County, who are participating in festivities leading up to Sunday's Brickyard 400. They've been invited to display their cars on the infield, take some parade laps and maybe even do some "hot laps" at higher speeds behind a pace car.

"That's something, like, once in a lifetime," Vassh said. "At first, I thought it was a hoax."

The invitation came through a contact at the Milwaukee Mile, one of many southeastern Wisconsin tracks where the club has raced. Each member chooses a different replica car.

Maintaining them takes both time and money, especially considering they're not the kind of classic cars that are babied by their owners. The tag line "The Money Pit" adorns the trunk lid of Boutell's car, a fitting description of a car he said has absorbed about $18,000 in work. He scrambled to find parts when the front end was damaged in a crash.

Although Vassh's car is based on one driven by Roger McCluskey, it evokes memories of the team owner. Nelson had a lengthy driving career, winning 35 races and three championships on the United States Auto Club circuit. He died in 1988.

"When we were kids, Norm Nelson was a hero in Racine," said Vassh, who now lives in the central Wisconsin village of Wild Rose.

Boutell hopes to meet Petty and convince "The King" to sign his car. The club members can be excused for being a little wide-eyed around the sport's stars, but they've signed some autographs for fans over the years, too.

"They like seeing the vintage cars come to life," Vassh said.

Even as the vehicles move forward at perhaps the world's most recognizable speedway, time can go in reverse.

Can't Beat the Roadrunner: 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner Classy as Hell

The Plymouth Road Runner was a muscle car built by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation in the United States between 1968 and 1980. In 1968, the first muscle cars were, in the opinion of many, moving away from their roots as relatively cheap, fast cars as they gained options. Although Plymouth already had a performance car in the GTX, designers decided to go back to the drawing board and reincarnate the original muscle car concept. Plymouth wanted a car able to run 14-second times in the quarter mile (402 m) and sell for less than US$3000. Both goals were met, and the low-cost muscle car hit the street. The success of the Road Runner would far outpace the upscale and lower volume GTX, with which it was often confused.

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