Original Message

That Vega was a former Rod Cunnliffe modified that Tom Mauser won the 1981 Sportsman championship with. I bought it at the end of 81 from Mauser and ran it in 82 and 83, I hated that car. Bad Hearst-Earhardt brakes that always leaked because they were split calipers. Had a few good finishes with it but no wins. Just a bad deal from the get go...the engine was switched out before I picked the car up and all junk was put in it. I made the deal on a Sunday and was told they had to do a few things to it, so pick it up next Sunday. I was 18. Got there to pick it up and it would'nt start. They got it running, I ran it at NES and Turkey Derby then tore it apart in the winter and found all the junk parts in the engine. Found out years later what had happened and that was told to me by the original engine builder. Forgive and remember.

John Wieczoreck freshened the engine that was originally built by Jim Hagaman.  John built alot of modern stock 6 cylinders for Ray Evernham, Neil Rutt, Gene Fincher, Jim Markey...all the Bayshore guys.