{"id":492142,"date":"2011-12-01T17:00:29","date_gmt":"2011-12-02T01:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=30730"},"modified":"2024-01-04T22:25:24","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T22:25:24","slug":"the-gopher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/the-gopher\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gopher"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='memberful-global-teaser-content'>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As you\u2019ll read in this month\u2019s Racecar Profile, I had the good fortune to be given the opportunity to drive the 1979 March 79V Super Vee that Dennis Firestone drove to that year\u2019s USAC \u201cMini-Indy\u201d championship. I have a certain affinity for Super Vees, both in having raced a Ralt RT1 in historic races and having had some fledgling involvement with them back when they were new in the 1980s. It was this latter point that came bubbling back to the surface, in conjunction with this test drive.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I was sitting at Sabina Precision Preparation, in Anaheim, California, talking with crew chief Bob Morris about the history of the March Super Vees, when a \u201csmall world\u201d connection was made. Bob mentioned that he had shared shop space in the late 1970s with the guy who had converted the first March F3 cars into Super Vees. \u201cOh, who was that?\u201d I ask. Morris\u2019 reply was, \u201cWilbur Bunce.\u201d Just like in the movies, the room went strangely still for me as my mind teleported me back to 1983.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n        .memberful-global-teaser-content p:last-child{\n            -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n            mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n        }\n    <\/style>\n<div class='memberful-global-marketing-content'>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content-wrapper\">\n<h2 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-title\">No Subscription? You&#8217;re missing out<\/h2>\n<p class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content\">Any Text Here<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"a07online-global-marketing-prompt\" href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/checkout?plan=86696\">Get Started<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">\n<h4 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">Already a Member? <a href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/account\">Sign in to your account here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As you\u2019ll read in this month\u2019s Racecar Profile, I had the good fortune to be given the opportunity to drive the 1979 March 79V Super Vee that Dennis Firestone drove to that year\u2019s USAC \u201cMini-Indy\u201d championship. I have a certain affinity for Super Vees, both in having raced a Ralt RT1 in historic races and having had some fledgling involvement with them back when they were new in the 1980s. It was this latter point that came bubbling back to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":548664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,11272,261,18207],"tags":[17152,17140,548,17143,17200],"class_list":["post-492142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-culture","category-members-only","category-motorsport-racing","category-special-feature","tag-car-culture","tag-members-only","tag-motorsport","tag-special-feature","tag-first-turn-column"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Gopher<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Gopher\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/the-gopher\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Gopher\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Gopher\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/the-gopher\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Supercars.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-02T01:00:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-04T22:25:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/FTpic-3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"899\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casey Annis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casey Annis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/the-gopher\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/the-gopher\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Casey Annis\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/02825f2c90f727d91e873a83f18cbd9f\"},\"headline\":\"The Gopher\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-02T01:00:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-04T22:25:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/the-gopher\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1064,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/the-gopher\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/12\\\/FTpic-3.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Car Culture\",\"Members Only\",\"Motorsport &amp; 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