Perkins Exhibit at Rapids Museum
The Rapids Racing Museum recently acquired the cars formerly raced by Indyslotcar star, and ISF starter, Tony Perkins. The cars were put on display in the winners circle outside the museum in a recent weekend tribute to the driver.
"This is a special collection from a beloved driver that we thought would be good to start this new series of spotlighting the machinery of popular drivers," said museum curator D. Riven.
"We were pleasantly surprised as you can see from the above picture. Advance ticket sales were sluggish as I don't think people knew what to expect. Then when word got out you can see the crowds that came!"
This exhibit contains the cars Tony is most famous for including Target and Players.
The one car that no longer exists is the Duracell car, otherwise known in lore as the "working man's car." That car was recycled long ago and is part of the Shine museum on Sanibel Island.
The Perkins Exhibit does contain some rarities from him. The PACWEST starter, and an unknown car mounted in a pit crew display.
Some other cars in this historic collection include the stock cars Perkins races in ARA (American Racing Alliance) competition. The Penzoil and Havoline cars were used in the ARA Superstock division. There was also an unraced TYCO sponsored car that whose chassis was used in other divisions.
Another car was Perkins car from the Heavy Metal Challenge Series division of the ARA. Many of these original NASCAR style cars from the early ARA seasons no longer exist so it is a nice treat for the fans to see this one.
The Perkins exhibit also contained his very own Penske LMP and BMW F1 ISF cars. Perkins made one start in each of these cars. He has four total starts in ISF. The other two being with Arrows ISF F1. Perkins was the last driver as of 2013 to drive for Arrows.
One car that brought a lot of interest was Perkins' Williams Indyslotcar. Back when F1 teams were allowed into Indyslotcar, Perkins thought the original Indyslotcar F1 team of Ferrari needed a rival. Williams was Ferrari's rival in F1 so Perkins led the Williams charge into Indyslotcar. His most famous heat win against all three Penske cars and parties with The Spice Girls were in this period.
Also in the collection was Perkin's ISF test hack. Not ever raced but interesting for fans.
"We couldn't be happier with the fans response to the Perkins exhibit," said D. Riven. "We just got proof that we should do more of these special outdoor exhibits."
Steve The Wrench Ratchett
