In 1958 Doug Bentz was introduced to the world of fast cars while attending the Howard Stamp Memorial Drag Race with his dad at the Famoso dragstrip just outside of his hometown of Bakersfield, California. Now known as the famous March Meet Fuel and Gas Championships, the race planted quite a seed in a young and impressionable Doug. And after cruising with a friend in his lowered F-100 in the late '50s, it was hook, line, and sinker!
In '60 and '61 Doug won the Mobil Oil Co. Safety and Economy Run for high school students in a Ford Falcon that turned out an impressive 24.93 mpg. Later in life Doug raced Mini Stock from '77-87 at Mesa Marin racetrack, where he took two track championships and moved up into Open Competition Camaro, where he ran in the Top Ten in points for 10 more years. He also graduated from the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving in '80, where he learned more than a few tricks, I'm sure.
Doug doesn't race anymore, but he still enjoys all forms of racing, and thinking back on those days in high school tooling around in the slammed F-100, he thought he'd like to have one to put his foot into. After a long period of searching he finally pulled the trigger on an uncompleted project in a local paper. Kind of like trying to hold a sandwich that's falling apart in your hands, Doug put the pieces together enough to drive the truck around town for about two years while battling countless gremlins like the fuel pump falling off while out with his son, fixing it with a Swiss Army knife and a spare bolt. It was common for Doug to keep his bike in the bed for some involuntary peddling home.