Big Red, the first real Pro-Touring car burned up in Pike's Peak testing. 
Big Red, the first real Pro-Touring car burned up in Pike's Peak testing.
It'll be back. I mean, the original got absolutely destroyed in Mexico back in '89, leading to the car we know now.
Topography looks rather flat for Pikes Peak.
Serious bummer on the fire! Hope the driver was okay.
R.J. is okay, the fire system did it's job. They'll rebuild it (again), but this has got to be the 3rd chassis for Big Red. It's kind of like George Washington's axe at this point.
this day just became very depressing
It could have been worse.
I thought this was going to pertain to a certain diesel pick-up that belongs to a member here
Dare I say I am kind of happy it was a different "big red"
trucke wrote: Topography looks rather flat for Pikes Peak. Serious bummer on the fire! Hope the driver was okay.
It happened yesterday at Buttonwillow.
Javelin wrote: R.J. is okay, the fire system did it's job. They'll rebuild it (again), but this has got to be the 3rd chassis for Big Red. It's kind of like George Washington's axe at this point.
I mean, there is nothing left of the original Big Red. The Big Red we know is a completely different car. And there isn't a whole lot of '69 Camaro left at this point anyways. Just a few body panels and that's it.
NOHOME wrote: I thought this was going to pertain to a certain diesel pick-up that belongs to a member here
My thoughts exactly.
Yeah, I thought this was going to be about a truck. I knew of the truck and the chewing gum, who knew there was also a big red car?
T.J. wrote: Yeah, I thought this was going to be about a truck. I knew of the truck and the chewing gum, who knew there was also a big red car?
Big Red (the car) is/was a 1969 Camaro that RJ Gottlieb built back in the late '80s to go Mexican road racing. The original car was a mostly-stock 1969 Camaro with a big motor and got absolutely destroyed in 1989 in a bad crash. He then built this Big Red, which was a '69 Camaro body on a full-on tube chassis and huge big block Chevy engines and went open road racing, demolishing records and exotics. It was a huge inspiration for the Pro Touring trend. Got retired in the late '90s, spent time sitting around, got revived in the mid-2000s with even more power and has been out throwing down with it since.
Huh. Back on 3 June my brother ran there and this happened. Must be getting hot out there, or just bad luck.
WildScotsRacing wrote:trucke wrote: Topography looks rather flat for Pikes Peak. Serious bummer on the fire! Hope the driver was okay.It happened yesterday at Buttonwillow.
Yeah, that truck in the background that says "Buttonwillow Raceway Park" is a bit of a clue. 
Big Red is legendary---- bummer about the fire, but I'm sure it will rise again from the ashes!
T.J. wrote: Yeah, I thought this was going to be about a truck. I knew of the truck and the chewing gum, who knew there was also a big red car?
This Big Red is the only one I know of.. I have a poster of it somewhere from Hot Rod magazine back in the day..
Yeah I thought there was another time after Mexico in 89 it had to be rebuilt again. I think it was an off at the Silver State run.
But I'm old.
NickD wrote:Javelin wrote: R.J. is okay, the fire system did it's job. They'll rebuild it (again), but this has got to be the 3rd chassis for Big Red. It's kind of like George Washington's axe at this point.I mean, there is nothing left of the original Big Red. The Big Red we know is a completely different car. And there isn't a whole lot of '69 Camaro left at this point anyways. Just a few body panels and that's it.
never mind
Official word from the Big Red team on what happened:
"The unfortunate fire that almost completely took Big Red has been identified. After a 29 year run without a complete rebuild it was time. In November last year, we started tearing Big Red apart. Just four weeks ago we had finished the complete rebuild of Big Red, every single component on the car was rebuilt, updated, replaced, and/or modified. It was a six month thrash to essentially build an entirely new car with the latest and greatest of materials and components. We knew it was going to be a tight schedule between finishing the build and the running of Pikes Peak in Colorado on June, 26th. There were going to be bugs and growing pains as there are with any new fresh build, so testing was critical.
We had four substantial testing sessions: 1) on the engine dyno, 2) a track day test at Buttonwillow Raceway prior to Pikes Peak Test Weekend, 3) on a chassis dyno for final tuning with full exhaust system, and 4) a two day Test Weekend at Pikes Peak. We took the car home to California and wanted to get one more session before going back to Colorado for the race, which ran last weekend. On our 5th test session we took the car back to Buttonwillow Raceway. That’s when tragedy struck. After a 14 day examination we have concluded that a fuel rail failure (not a manufacturing defect), possibly due to unusually high engine temps and loose fuel rail bolts, was the cause of a major fuel leak in the engine compartment. With a high-pressure fuel pump, a small leak can turn into fuel spray. Hot components under the hood ignited the fuel. The fire quickly spread to the wiring and hoses, then to the rear of the car where the rear tires caught fire and got out of control.
The quick action of the Big Red Team and Buttonwillow Raceway Emergency Personnel prevented a total loss.
It has been officially decided that Big Red is salvageable and repair work will begin immediately. It will however take many months."
The old girl looks pretty rough, but it's seen worse. I'm sure it will come back faster and more pissed-off than ever.
NickD wrote: it will come back faster and more pissed-off than ever.
THIS!!!
I wonder how much of that they really will rebuild. Fire changes the property's of metals making them not optimal for structural components of a race car.
dean1484 wrote: I wonder how much of that they really will rebuild. Fire changes the property's of metals making them not optimal for structural components of a race car.
How much they re-use probably depends on their ability to determine which metal sections suffered enough heat damage to be structurally compromised and which ones didn't. I'm not sure what the costs involved with determining that would be compared to just replacing more metal though.
Oh man that really sucks to have happen after a big thrash. I would feel awful if I were the guy to touch the fuel system last.
Hope the new version is even better, glad no one was hurt.
Circa 1989 we were working the finish line of the Silver State and the car came across the line at over 200mph, very impressive.
Opportunity for an upgrade.
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