Repost of Aaron's Myspace Blog

BULLRUN II (SPEED): TEAM DART- A Father and Son’s Project Car
Category: Automotive

     Of all the fan teams that enjoy the Bullrun. Two teams from the web site made it into the high octane world of Bullrun this season. Which is a load of crap! I should have.. Oops, Sorry. This isn't about me, is it? I forget that sometimes don't I? Then I go into some silly rant that are just blah, blah, blah. I'll will try to contain myself a little better. This week. 

    Still, I would like to introduce you to one of  those lucky fan teams. Unless you have been living under your car 24/7 you already know PDUB. I have had the pleasure of knowing him for two years. He has even been a great resource  for me on how to build a better car. Team Dart is a family team that can build a car from bumper to bumber. I did however like them a little better, before they got picked for this season of Bullrun on Speed February 19th. 

Ah, heck. I still do like them! Mostly

TEAM DART - A Father and Son's Project Car. 

 

     So what are their names and just who in the hell are those two MOPAR drag racing competitors?  The first part of that question is very simple to answer. It's Paul Wagner and his son Tony Wagner.

     As for the second part of the question well ---- that is a little bit more complicated. So lets start with Paul Wagner. Him being the dad and all should be a great starting point.

     You see Paul grew up in a large family in upstate New York. What I mean by large family is he had five brothers and sisters. Paul's Dad had started his own company which was named "Wagner's Body Shop" to feed the bunch. This is where Paul learned his trade and in his spare time they worked together on the families drag car. They enjoyed spending time together on the local strip in Buffalo. Racing was something Paul would do with his own son Tony someday. I'll get back Tony a little later on. 

     The car Paul and his dad had so much fun in a rare '55 Dodge with a fuel injected Hemi (injection was rare in the 60's amateur scene).  I guess Paul's father taught him how to race it right. Any good racer knows that you always sandbag and in the 60's to be driving a car like that '55 in the amateur racing brackets was definately sand-bagging. That's racing and Paul had learned it well. You know he is going to be packing that bag on the Bullrun. 

     Paul took off to California in his twenties leaving the cold New York State behind him and to start his own body shop. His shop did very well and was getting a good reputation in the crowded SoCal repair market. As his reputation for being a goto shop grew he became very successful in his field. (The skills he had learned in the family shop with his dad were serving him very well indeed.) This allowed Paul some extra free time to return to racing. Which I do not think a guy like Paul never really left.  

     Now Paul has owned several MOPARs and has even wrapped a 440-Six pack Challenger round a pole when he was a little younger. Which is to bad because that car would be a $90,000.00 toy in todays marketplace. Paul knows that if you aren't driving it hard enough to destroy it then it isn't worth owning.

   His racing of MOPARs are still a big part of his life today, but it isn't everything. Paul is that type of racer who will line up against you on the track, then helps you out in the pits. Once he's whipped your sorry cars ass, that is. He's a guy that believes that you must be responsible for what you do and always be working to improve your life. He is goal minded person and is ready to challenge any event set before him. Using that inner strength givin to him by a father who showed him hard work will always pay-off.  Paul gets things done his way and that has been know to rub some people a little raw.

     Which brings me to Tony his Son who was born in San Diego and is your typical California kid. He grew up in his dad's shop not unlike his father had done all those years ago in Buffalo. Now, you have to remember Paul is from upstate New York and Tony is a California kid. Enough said..

Paul and Little Tony playing on the water.

     So Tony move to Arizona at the age of 20 to begin his life. The fact it's a whole lot cheaper to live in Arizona than in California made it easier to be away from his family. But that time he spent with his dad growing up infected him with the need to achieve perfection in the racing world. Tony didn't have a track around him in Arizona so he found other racing events to keep that addiction happy and under control.

     Paul introduced Tony to drag racing at the age of 11 and enjoyed the time spent on that SoCal track. Then when Tony was 16 years old he started working for a performance machine shop. He did it all porting heads, cutting valve jobs, and measuring engine specs to build race motors. By 17 years old he had built his first engine. Which he says still runs like a champ to this day. Tony has begun to build a name for himself  just like his dad had in his younger days. He has gotten involved in sand sports and drag boating. Both are very competitive and dangerous sports that require a keen attention to details. Tony has even designed his own turbo systems for 4 stroke quads. He also is one of the youngest pit chiefs in drag boat racing today. He has even received a couple of awards for his work on drag boats.

Tony is melting

     Tony is a guy that likes to play in anyone's sand box and if given a choice he would rather be playing than working. He enjoys the ladies and melts in their hands. He's  the cool in-control type but throw a sweet little lady into his life and you can lead him with a nose ring. Still his first love is family and his second is racing. 

     The Team Dart that I know from all the time I have spent on Bullrun is going to be ready for Bill's roads. They have the dice, are you ready to roll up on this team?

     Team Dart enjoys a good competition and are willing to run it harder than the others. They understand each others limits which should give us some good tv. They are true family of gear heads. This Dart that they are going to be driving in this season has been built for racing by these two knuckle draggers. They have enjoyed whipping it to death on a 1/4 mile track. With that being said this Bullrun race is going to seem like a Sunday drive for these two.

     Don't let this team lure you into a false sense of hope. Given the chance Paul and Tony are going to drive rings around your family car. If I had to pick two team's of six cars. I would get these guys on my team first. I wouldn't want to go head to head with them. They have the skills to build, drive and race winning cars. Only a freak of nature could stop this team from being the one's standing on top this season...    

     This is a father and son team that is made of motor oil, lead feet and Heart!! Tell you the truth they have already won the Bullrun. For a father and son to get to do something like the Bullrun together is something any boy would die for. Congrats Tony and Paul (TEAM DART)... Your winners in my book no matter the finale outcome!

GO TEAM DART!

AARON & MISTER HAPPY!