beating out expensive Corvettes. “We’re redneck-engineering

our way through the process,” Scott said. “But we’re getting

pretty good at it.”

During the early-1990s, Scott was stationed on Coast

Guard Island in Oakland, California, autocrossing his 1988

Trans Am on the weekends. He road-raced around local

Northern California tracks like Sears Point, too, and was

coming close to obtaining a road-racing license when he

transferred to Charleston, South Carolina. Not finding any

autocross events, he eventually sold the Pontiac and

stopped racing. He retired from the Coast Guard a Chief

Gunner’s Mate E7 after 20 years of active duty and settled

in North Carolina.

Four years ago, Scott’s son, Shelby, found a Facebook post

about an SCCA autocross event at zMax Dragway, only a

few miles from their house. They attended, and Scott

returned to the next event with his wife Laura’s 2008

Challenger. “He convinced me it wasn’t abusive on my car,”

Laura said with a laugh. Around that time, SCCA introduced

the Classic America Muscle class, which caught Scott’s

attention. “I saw a ton of Camaros and Corvettes racing,”

Scott said. “I can’t do what everybody else does.”

Scott searched Craigslist for another option, discovering a

1973 Dodge Dart Sport 340—not the car you see here. It

was full of issues, and Laura hated it. “But it was affordable.

For a couple thousand bucks, I had a car,” Scott said. It was a

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