Bill Bagshaw's Red Light Bandit 1970 Hemi Challenger former Pro Stock car will debut on August 29 at the NHRA US Nationals and be on display the entire weekend. The car is the real car that was built by Ron Butler and raced by Bagshaw from 1970 to 1973. As an interesting connection with Indy, the Red Light Bandit Challenger won "Best Engineered" at Indy in 1970, and was featured in the November 1970 issue of Hot Rod magazine.
John Gastman came across the car in 1994 in a package deal with a couple of other Mopars. Gastman held on to the car, and quickly connected with Bagshaw to authenticate the car as the one Bill raced in those great early days of Pro Stock.
The Red Light Bandit has been restored to its former glory at Bucky's Ltd by Bucky Hess and his son Travis. As most of us know, Travis Hess is an incredibly talented painter, and pulled off a miracle to get the Bagshaw car back to "as raced" condition. Nelson Grimes lettered the car exactly as it was in 1970. Cole McAllister, Bucky's fabricator, did the metal work.
Bill Bagshaw will be in attendance at the NHRA US Nationals at Indy next week, as will the current owner of the Red Light Bandit, John Gastman. Gastman is the owner of Roanoke Motors Chrysler/Dodge in Roanoke, Illinois. For those of you who do not know him, Bagshaw is a great guy, and served expertly as consultant throughout the entire restoration process.
The 426 Hemi engine was built to 1970 Pro Stock specs by Bill Bagshaw himself over the past winter. Bagshaw's friend, Ron Shaver of Shaver Racing Engines in Torrance, CA allowed Bill use of his shop. When Bill completed the motor, it was installed on Shaver's dyno eventually produced 679 horsepower at 7800 rpm.
Bucky did an awesome job on the car, and sacrificed testing time with his race car in order to get the Red Light Bandit done for Indy. I can't say enough about the hours and incredible job Bucky and Travis did on the car. We hope that those of you who are attending Indy will stop by and check out the newly restored Red Light Bandit Challenger.
