{"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 > :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=\"cs-paywall\">\n<div class=\"cs-paywall__card\">\n<div class=\"cs-paywall__top\"><span class=\"cs-paywall__label\">Members only<\/span><span class=\"cs-paywall__price\">$29 <em>\/ year<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"cs-paywall__title\">Keep going. <span>This is where it gets good.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"cs-paywall__lead\">Supercars.net Membership is for people who&#x27;d rather know the spec sheet by heart than skim ten headlines. The rest of this story \u2014 and every other one like it \u2014 is a few seconds away.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"cs-paywall__grid\">\n<li class=\"cs-paywall__item\"><span class=\"cs-paywall__icon cs-paywall__icon--book\"><\/span>\n<div>\n<h3>Thousands of members-only stories<\/h3>\n<p>Deep dives, driven reviews and the full archive back to 2005.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"cs-paywall__item\"><span class=\"cs-paywall__icon cs-paywall__icon--noads\"><\/span>\n<div>\n<h3>No ads. None.<\/h3>\n<p>The whole site reads like a magazine, on every device.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"cs-paywall__item\"><span class=\"cs-paywall__icon cs-paywall__icon--data\"><\/span>\n<div>\n<h3>Every car, every spec<\/h3>\n<p>Twenty years of models, numbers and history in one place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"cs-paywall__item\"><span class=\"cs-paywall__icon cs-paywall__icon--tag\"><\/span>\n<div>\n<h3>30% off the shop<\/h3>\n<p>Every Supercars.net shirt and piece of merch, all year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"cs-paywall__cta\"><a class=\"cs-paywall__button\" href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/checkout?plan=86696\">Join Supercars.net &mdash; Keep Reading<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"cs-paywall__fine\">$29 a year. Cancel anytime, no hoops.<br \/>Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/?memberful_endpoint=auth\">Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"cs-paywall__trust\"><strong>BY CAR PEOPLE, NOT A NAMELESS MEDIA COMPANY.<\/strong> Your membership keeps a small independent team that celebrates the brands and cars that defined this industry doing this.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"cs-paywall__sticky\" href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/checkout?plan=86696\">Join &mdash; Keep Reading <em>$29\/yr<\/em><\/a><\/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":"open","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 v28.8 - 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\\\/c6d9a48fb61e8e4ef14e84a8e2d5dd46\"},\"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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Annis is the Founder and Editor of Vintage Racecar\\\/Vintage Roadcar magazine, the Petersen Museum\u2019s Finish Line and Petersen Quarterly, Alfa Owner, and The Oily Rag magazines. He founded Parabolica Publishing in 1997 after a career in biology, anatomy and neurobiology. Along with this passion for automobiles Casey is a long distance open-ocean paddleboard racer who\u2019s competed in the 32-mile Catalina to Manhattan Beach race and the 32-mile Molokai to Oahu race. 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