Roger Mears Budweiser Jeep J-10 Honcho ++ Restoration ++

Jeff Furrier

New Member
Soo…I’ve owned the Bud Honcho for a year and now finally have the time to kick off a build thread. I’ll do my best to answer all questions and keep it updated while I work my day job at UPR Racing Supply. I suspect this will actually consume less time than answering daily Rory Wards texts about when I'm going to start a build thread on the Honcho!

There will also be updates on our Facebook and Instagram pages, so after following this thread, follow the Save Bud project on social media:

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Getting support for these projects isn’t easy, so by following @SaveBud on social media and participating in this thread really help show that’s there’s interest in vintage off road racing.

Here’s where this adventure started:

During the Mint 400 2015 Contingency, I was speaking to former Jeep racer Mike Randall at the UPR Trailer and asked him if he had or knew where there were any vintage off road race cars. The Randall Racing team was run out of Randall AMC in Mesa Arizona. I about fell out of our trailer when he mentioned he had the original Bud Honcho. Mike told me that he and his brother John acquired it from Larry Casey(who had acquired the whole Budweiser Team from Mike Moore in 1982) with help from BF Goodrich to race some HDRA short course events. The truck had been partially dissembled over the years according to Mike, but the truck was never modified since the Randalls last raced it in 1986. Mike gave me his number and I was to call him after the Mint, but it was still hard for me to believe this truck really still existed.

With the familiar AMC Firecracker Red paint and Budweiser sponsorship, Roger Mears drove the Walker Evans built Jeep Honcho to victory in most of the major races entered from 1979 through 1982. The races include multiple Riverside Off Road World Championships, the Baja 1000, Baja 500, the Mint 400 and the Parker 400. Jeep and Dodge battled in Class 3 and 4 for the top spot for 3 SCORE and HDRA seasons. Roger drove the wheels off the Jeep Honcho, and when it held together it was usually in front at the finish.

The Jeep Honcho was used in Budweiser and Jeep TV and print advertising in the late 70's and early 80's as well as in numerous other sponsors ad campaigns making it one of the most recognizable Jeeps of its era.

There is a ton of off road history captured under the layers of paint, rust and grease that I will do my best to expose during the build. I've contacted some of the original cast and they have been very helpful sorting out the history and will continue to do so. If you have stories, know any of the original team members or have any relevant information, please post it!

The goal is to have the truck completed by the spring of 2017 for the Mint 400 and the NORRA 1000.


1 Randall phone number image for story lr.jpg

A lead for a vintage car may sit on my desk for a while before I get the nerve to follow up, it’s like the girl in high school that you’re afraid to call because you know she’s going to turn you down. I honestly STILL didn’t think that there was any way possible that this truck could be sitting in Mesa Arizona(100 miles from my desk), the longer I waited, the longer the dream would last. I’ve done this many times and it usually ends in disappointment (just like HS!) Even though Mike Randall is a straight shooter and he obviously knows his Jeeps, I was still skeptical.

Once I finally called Mike and he told me where the truck was, it just so happened to be across the street from the Desert Rat Off Road Centers which I frequent on Broadway in Mesa.

1 honch randalls yard.jpg

I found the truck hidden in plain sight, took a bunch of pictures and headed back home to do some research in my 1000's of old magazines, race programs, images and notes to see if I could verify its lineage.

1 honcho plaque randalls yard 1.jpg 1 honcho plaque randalls yard.jpg 1 off road hincho interior.jpg

honchooff road lr.jpg

It didn’t take me long to find some compelling evidence that this was likely the original Budweiser Jeep truck. There is a feature article in the July 1979 Off Road Magazine that shows the same dash plaque that is still riveted to the dash of the sun beaten Honcho in Mesa. A phone call to Tim Casey to verify that the La Paz trucks were actually formerly the Budweiser trucks and that one of them was sold to the Randall’s had me convinced that truck needed to be saved.


As they say, "the rest is history" or in this case, "the restoration of history"!
 

Wardy

Active Member
Another piece of off road racing history being saved, can't wait to see the progress Jeff!
 

Jeff Furrier

New Member
Here's the original article as it raced for the first time. There were changes made over the few years it raced which has made figuring out the history a little challenging. This article has been a great bench mark for the build. The last page says the truck as a Class 3, but the number is 421. I'll got through the confusing evolution of Class 3 and 4 in a future post.
 

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Jeff Furrier

New Member
Here’s a brief history on the 3 trucks built, listen closely as it’s a bit confusing.

Truck 1: The first truck was built by Walker Evans for Texan Budweiser team Mike Moore, who owned the Budweiser Off Road racing team. The truck was completed in 1979 and its first race was the 1979 Mint 400. Truck one started out with the original “bottle cap “style roof visor until the 1980 Mexicali 250 when the truck rolled, the cab was then updated to the newer style without the “bottle cap” visor above the windshield that the 1980 newer Jeep J-10 trucks were equipped with.

Truck 2: The second truck was built in Mike Moore’s shop by Tom Strong and the Budweiser team to compete in short course races. Truck 2 was completed in September of 1981 and its first race was the Pikes Peak Meadows short course race. Truck 2 only competed in short course races in 1981 and 1982 which I believe were the 81 PP race and the 82 Riverside and Firebird Az races.

Truck 3: The third truck was built for desert racing and was updated to the newer more open class 4 rules that were implemented in their final form at the 1981 Baja 1000. Truck 3 was entered into the 1982 Mint 400 for points only, but never raced a complete lap. Mike Moore started the truck to get the points, but pulled in as soon as he took the green. Roger Mears couldn’t be at the race because of the rain delayed Michigan 500.

At the end of the 1982 season, all three of the trucks were sold to the Casey family that raced all three trucks from 1983 through the 1985 season with the family’s famous La Paz Party Mix colors. After the 85 season, the trucks were sold individually to new owners. Truck 1 was sold to Randall Racing, Truck 2 was sold to George Barnett and truck 3 was sold to Rock Bradford.

Truck 1 remained mostly intact in its original condition with Randall Racing until I bought it in 2015. Truck 3 was never raced and was reportedly (by Rocks son RDC @rearendjeep) sold again in the SE where it was crashed and burned by the new owners.

Most the confusion around these trucks surrounds Truck 2 which should be the truck that is currently racing Jeepspeed and formerly owned by Clive Skilton and T&J Off Road(no identifiable parts remain that I could see). AsTruck 1 had the cab updated from the “Bottle Cap” style, it appears that Truck 2 has been backdated to the “Bottle cap” style”, which may be where some of the confusion comes from. Also to add to the confusion, there’s an Aug 1982 Hot Rod Magazine feature on the team where they show images of truck 2 at a short course race, but the story line is the Frontier 250 which is being raced by Truck 1. I dug pretty deep into the article as it didn’t make sense and confirmed my suspicion with Tom Strong the original crew chief.

There is no question that I have Truck 1, which has been verified by the previous owners and other historical documentation and images.
 

Jeff Furrier

New Member
Sorry the updates have slowed down, but racing season has started and I have to do my real job at UPR Racing Supply. We’ve managed to get a few things done, so here’s a brief update.

The body is back from paint, and it looks great! I may be able to move some stuff around in the shop to get some real pictures this weekend.

The seats have been a challenge to get mounted without changing the cage. As I’ve said, the only changes to the trucks original configuration will be the safety equipment. I only race in Sparco seats with UPR custom padding. The seats will be the EVO 3 models which are a little wide for me, but the extra space will allow for a little extra padding which I’m guessing I’ll need with the straight axles on both ends. The seats will be recovered to look like old school suspension seats, so to the casual observer they will look original. I had to add a bar to get the shoulder harness height correct for my height, I didn’t want to do it but there was no way around it.
seat install3.jpg seat install2.jpg seat install3 (1).jpg

I picked up some used Summers hubs, drive plates, calipers and brackets through the RDC classified section. The deal was good and they seem to be in a little better shape the truck. I recently bought new drive plates from Speedway Eng, so these will be good spares. I’ll probably use the caliper brackets with new calipers.


summer hubs from rdc.jpg

I’ve been talking to Tim Casey since I started put the truck and its history together. If you have read this thread from the beginning (or you’re old!), you’ll know Tim’s family is La Paz racing and he raced the trucks from 83 to 85. A few months ago I asked Tim if he had any Centerline wheels stuck in a corner from the Honchos on a long shot, and sure enough he had 3! As you can see from the picture, the wheels have MM for Mike Moore stamped in them, so no doubt the wheels are authentic.
I now have 5 of the correct Centerline wheels, but will probably need 6 or so more in case anyone runs across any.

centerline with mm.jpg centerline from Tim Casey 2.jpg centerline from Tim Casey.jpg
 

Junior

Active Member
Wow, great score on the wheels. You must have grinned from ear to ear when you say that stamp!
 

Jeff Furrier

New Member
Unfortunately the Honcho will not make it to NORRA this year, real life and work got in the way one time! I didn’t want a compromised effort, so the completion deadline has been moved to the fall. I will be racing the Mexican 1000 in a modern truck, though it’s not my first choice I’m still racing.

The pushed back deadline has slowed progress, but here’s where we’re at-

The cab is back as you know from the previous post, but here’s a better shot of it as it sits now and what it looked like before.

cab compare.jpg

The engine is going together, just waiting for more parts. It’s sometimes a struggle to decide if replacing old original parts that could be worn with new parts of questionable origin is the way to go. It’s taking longer than expected to complete the engine, the traditional suppliers don’t stock 401 parts like they do for a SBC. The JE custom pistons and Comp Cam fit perfectly as usual!

honcho engine 1.jpg

The opening for the fuel plate was never fit checked before the bed went to paint, I was concerned but it fortunately fit perfectly. The rear cage amazingly fit into all of the mounts without much trouble, only one leg was bent from what appeared to be a nerf that bent everything forward. The bent leg was replaced and we added a sleeve that will hopefully give… in case someone is actually fast enough to reach the rear bumper!

cell opening in bed.jpg bed with spare mount.jpg bed with cell and bumper.jpg spare mount.jpg

Most of the cage mounts were OE GM spring bushings that were still in good shape, the urethane bushings were all dry rotted. Daystar had what I needed, along with hood mounts and bump stops.

daystar product.jpg daystar hood mount.jpg

I try to keep the painted finishes as close to original as possible, so on a 70’s build powder coat isn’t used as it wasn’t very common. The front torsion bars were painted silver originally, so Steel-It stainless steel paint was used to get the original look with a much more durable finish. Some of the off road shops are starting to carry steel-it, or McMaster Carr has it if you can’t find it locally.

steel it torsions.jpg

You’ll see in a few of the pictures the orange rolling stands which we made to obviously make the chassis and body moveable. Here’s a better picture as I’ve received some messages asking about them. They were easy to build, the rubber is recap rubber and the adjustable perches are from and old hoist.

rolling stand 1.jpg rolling stand 2.jpg
 
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