Upland, CA – For those of you familiar with the vintage 1957 Chevrolet sedan bodied desert racing car known as the Rippin Rooster, rest assured that it will be back better than ever when the 2016 NORRA Mexican 1000 takes place April 23-27. If you are not familiar with the car, owned by racer Jim Riley, you should check out the story of the 2015 NORRA race in the January 2016 issue of Hot Rod Magazine, or a lengthy 11 page story in Roadkill Magazine issue #2, on the newsstands now. You will also find stories at several online magazines, and posts to Face Book: Jim Riley, Twitter: @azuniajim or Instagram: @jimriley68 and @jimrileyracing.

When we last saw the Rooster, it was looking a little worse for wear. Sections of the rear body work were torn off during the Mexican 1000 and the crew had to source a junkyard motor in the wilds of Baja, Mexico just to make it to the finish line. Just six miles from the finish, the donor engine died too. After towing it to the finish area, the crew and a few enthusiastic fans pushed the car across the line. It didn’t count as an official finish but it was a moral victory for a team that refused to quit.

Looking at what remained of the car, many feared the Rooster’s wings had been clipped for good but one of the millions of fans who were following the team’s race was Lucas Hand of Mutt & Jeff’s Hot Rod Shop in Las Vegas, Nevada. Before the team had returned to the United States, Lucas had reached out to Jim Riley, letting him know he had a rear clip and any trim pieces he would need to put the car back together again. “I was going to make a couch out of it,” said Lucas, “Now it will be back in service eating up miles of Baja terrain on the way to La Paz instead of sitting in a living room.”

This won’t be the first time the rear clip has been replaced on this celebrated race car. It had 1955 body panels on the car when it was originally built by Larry Schwacofer in the 1980’s. The car competed against some unique vehicles in what was class 6 at the time, the Production Sedan class. There were Chevy Nova’s, an El Camino, even a SAAB driven by Swede, Arnie Gunnerson. The Rippin’ Rooster took home over 40 Class 6 wins, including five at the Baja 1000, and nine points championships. The good news is that the Rippin Rooster will be back, better than ever.

The car is being re-built with the rear clip from Lucas and a long list of the best off road parts available. General Tire, Method Race Wheels, Rigid Industries, Lucas Oil, GQ-6, MSD, Red Kap, Kreed Eyewear, Magnaflow, and Rugged Radios; the same parts that Jim Riley runs on his Azunia Tequila Spec TT race truck that competes in the Best In The Desert series. Jim Riley created the Spec TT class and is going for his second class championship in 2016. The engine issue on the Rippin Rooster has been solved as well. Under the hood will be a Chevrolet Motorsports LS3 V8. The Rooster will be Rippin’ and rumblin’ in 2016.