I'd like to thank Dave Bongiovanni for donating his GTI-Cup car to me.   About a month ago, fellow cup racer Scott Neville told me that former GTI-Cup car racer Dave Bongiovanni was donating his Cup car to someone who would repair it and compete with it in GTI-Cup racing!   I couldn’t believe it!   I waited until my class was over, and immediately gave Dave a call.   Unfortunately, I had missed out on the opportunity by a couple of hours.   Then about 2 weeks ago, following the NASA Thunderhill race on May 1-2,  I heard that Dave's car was again available for Cup racers (his original deal had fallen through).  I called up Dave and setup a time to go look at the car.  I inspected the car, it had definitely had an exciting racing career to say the least, but with a bit of TLC, this car would be ready to race again.  I asked Dave what the deal was with the car.  He told me, " You can take this car, fix it, and race it.  The deal is, if I want to race it with you during an enduro, you have to let me.  The other part of the deal is, when your done racing it, you have to pass it on to another NASA member who’s looking to join the ranks of GTI Cup racers."  With a hand shake, I arranged a pick-up date. The biggest surprise was yet to come. Upon arriving with my trailer and truck, Dave loaded me to the gills with all kinds of wheels and tires, and spare parts.  Dave had a very serious set up, and just gave it all up, just to see the class have a revival.  Dave said he was glad to see that GTI-Cup was gaining popularity again, and if he didn't own his Thunder Roadster, he'd definitely jump back in the class.  I'm so glad to have been connected with Dave, and can’t wait to show him the car once its all cleaned up and gone through.  It's people like Dave Bongiovanni that make this sport great,  thanks Dave!

Dan Pina, dpRacing

Click Here to see Dan's latest progress with this car.