As I mentioned in our last blog, we had our parts trailer stolen over the 4th of July weekend from our race shop in Blacksburg, S.C. Inside it was approx $92,000 worth of parts that were loaded up for our return to racing in September at zMax Dragway.

We put the word out on the street and all over the internet, e-mailed a bunch of folks, and mentioned it here in this very blog. Well guess what drag racing fans, a reader of this blog came up with a tip that lead to us recovering the trailer and some of the parts. Here’s how it all went down.

Early Monday morning, I get a call from Doug Herbert. He tells me that Wally Stroupe, who builds a bunch of sportsman cars in nearby Kings Mountain, N.C., called him and said that he might have some information that might help us but didn't know how to get in touch with us. I call Wally right away, and he tells me that a guy driving a black wrecker with yellow flames came to his shop looking to sell a set of black chrome American Racing Wheels with Funny Car tires mounted on them. Bingo! Our first good lead. Wally sweetened up the news when he said I’ve even got video surveillance footage of the guy and the truck. Thanked Wally and told him we’d be in touch soon.

I immediately called Gilby, his son Rob, and our car chief Kevin Fenstermaker, and they all converged on Wally’s shop. After watching the video and armed with a description of the vehicle, a whole bunch of people in the area were put on the lookout as we believed that the thieves lived nearby.

So yesterday (Tuesday), Gilby and Rob spent most of the day cruising around the local area and spotted the wrecker. They followed it with the cops on the phone the whole time, and when the dude pulled up to his house the cops apprehended the perpetrator. Turns out that he was trying to sell the tires for another dude. The cops said lead us to him and you will only be charged with receiving stolen property. The guy folded like a cheap tent. He lead them to a nearby trailer park, and there it was, our trailer parked where it couldn’t be seen from the street. They grab the two guys in the house, cuff them, and Gilby and Kevin opened the trailer to see that a lot of stuff was missing, including over 300 brand-new clutch discs and a couple of hundred floaters and our golf cart.

With all the commotion going on in the trailer park, one of the neighbors revealed that he saw another neighbor buying stuff from the guys, so the cops went to that guy’s trailer, opened his storage shed, and found more of our stuff. Another set of bracelets.

So the cops seized our trailer and towed it to an impound lot so that it can be used as evidence. Hopefully, we’ll get it back soon. The booking of the four suspects, processing reports, and taking of statements took all night, and Gilby, Rob, and Kevin are getting some well-deserved rest right now. Two suspects were charged with Grand Theft (a felony) and the other two with receiving stolen property. They’ll be spending some time in jail until their first hearing later this week.

They’re being questioned today and hopefully they’ll fold and tell us where the rest of the stuff is. We’d be really happy to recover the over $40,000 in clutch discs and floaters. I’m sure the golf cart is junk, but you never know.

So we really have to thank Wally Stroupe. He read about the theft in our blog, and his quick response really helped us out. Gilby says he owes you a bologna sandwich, and I gotta give him a plug — visit Wally’s site: http://www.strouperacecars.com/home.php

I also got to thank all of you out there who wrote with support; we really appreciate it.

Back to normal (if there is such a thing) around here, type at you L8R.

BB