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