Gold for the Persistent!

Chuck Armer was one of the victims of the rained-out Concours d'Elegance at the 1998 convention in St. Louis. He had towed his restored and customized '65 sport coupe, Darth Vair, hundreds of miles, only to have to return to Chamblee, Georgia, without having had the opportunity to compete. Undaunted, he pledged to return, did so at Daytona 2000 and won gold in Late Closed Modified. Darth scored 96.29 points after a .50 point trailer deduction. Darth is now a Senior Division car.

Above, the judges take a close look at Darth's underside, no easy task when you consider they spent 6 hours doing this sort of thing in oppressive 100 degree heat and humidity!

Darth Vair was the first subject of an "Owners' Feature" in the Extra! section of this site. For more details on Darth, click here.

Canada's Dorai Issac, owner of this '66 sport coupe, went home with an award for best gas mileage in his class in the Economy Run.