Unique Motorcars Ninth Annual

Photos and story by Jerry Rowley

The Ninth Annual Unique Homecoming 2001 was held May 3rd - 5^th in Gadsden, Alabama, home of Unique Motorcars. Unique Motorcars has been in business building Cobra* Replicas since they started in Arizona in 1977. In the past 25 years the company has produced somewhere around 1150 cars. The company started as a family business with Jean and Jim Weaver and their sons, Alan, Maurice and Rick. Jean and her sons Alan and Maurice now manage the business as Jim retired several years ago and Rick went back to teaching. Mama Jean handles the office and Alan and Maurice manage the shop. 

This year, as last, was a three day event. There was a 100 mile Poker Run on Thursday, leaving from the Unique factory at 10 A.M. Tom Davis, who is on his second Unique Cobra* Replica, organized and led this event.  This was great fun for the dozen cars that attended. We spent the day driving our Cobras* Replicas through the Talladega Speedway, a local State Park, and a lot of very winding roads that proved to be lots of fun. Everyone had a chance to take pictures of their cars at the NASCAR Talladega Speedway's Winner's Circle. That's as close as most of us will ever get to driving on such a track! After the track museum and picture taking all participants had lunch together at the state park restaurant on top of the mountain. The day ended with dinner at Top O' The River Catfish Restaurant where the greens, hush puppies and catfish were just right to end a perfect day!

People come in for Homecoming from as far away as New Jersey, Texas, Florida, Connecticut, North & South Carolina and Virginia. Friday is open house at Unique starting at 7 A.M. until 3 P.M. Some 48 Cobras* lined the whole front of the 25,000 square foot factory building and down the side. This is a free car show for the locals, and many prospective Cobra* Replica owners. All eyes are on the Cobras*Replicas, both outside, and those inside under construction. The cars in the plant are there to show the custom powder coated frames and front suspension, Jag rear independent suspension, hand laid fiberglass bodies and fine detail work that make every Unique Cobra* Replica a collectable masterpiece. In addition to the bodies, Unique also builds the complete chassis and many of the accessory parts as well. Unique produces both 289 and 427 models, both of which were on display. Everyone eats lots of pop corn, sodas, cake and cookies that are provided by the Weaver family. All of the Weaver family, wives, kids and friends help make everyone feel at home. Nobody goes away hungry or without more knowledge about Unique Cobra* Replicas.

After the open house was over, all the Unique Cobra* Replica owners and their families headed over to the local Noccalula Falls Park for an evening of catered dinner, car talk and camaraderie. Old friendships are renewed and many new ones were made. Door prizes followed the chicken dinner spread put on by the Weaver’s. Everybody won something, and many, more than one door prize for each car. The Friday dinner was a great family time and helps make Homecoming a true family event where all the wives and kids enjoy the outing. This year the attendance was around 240 people.

"Buns of Steel Award" Went to Mike Galasco and Tom Melia  From Connecticut

"Longest Tow" Won By John Nafsinger From New Jersey

Saturday is track day at Homecoming. All the cars line up outside the factory at 7:30 A.M. to caravan to the Talladega Gran Prix Raceway just outside Talladega, Alabama (a 60 mile-one hour trip). 

This little 1.4 mile road course is primarily a motorcycle raceway, but is a lot of fun in a Cobra*Replica. The short course keeps speeds down to tops of about 100 mph on the straights. If anyone spins out (as a few did) there is little chance of getting hurt as long as you don’t fight the car. After a short drivers meeting, the cars are broken into classes of “Small Block” (SB), “Medium Block” (MB) and “Big Block” (BB). Each class of cars have two morning practice sessions of 20 minutes each and one ten minute session. All hands break for a catered BBQ sandwich lunch around 1 P.M. The afternoon is then setup for “Time Trials” against the electronic timer provided by the local Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) group. This year the SCCA timer announced the results which made it easy for the spectators to follow the action.

The Pit Area Gets Busy In Track Preparation-Changing To Racing Tires, etc.

The time trials shows the top drivers in each class of SB, MB and BB cars. The best four drivers were selected for a fastest-time-of-the-day (FTD) shootout. This year it was a good mix of SB, MB, BB as well as men and women drivers.  SB was represented by Adam Brownyard and Michele Lincoln, MB by David Smith and BB by Lee Dahmer. The “Shootout” time trials were closely followed by all and were exciting to watch. All four drivers pushed their cars to better times than they had set during the regular timing. The eventual winner was Adam Brownyard at 71.051, David Smith at 72.596, Lee Dahmer at 72.716 and Michele Lincoln at 74.022. These  drivers also won their respective class, except Michele who was second to Adam. Linda Dunn was the Lady Driver Champion at a very fast 75.213. This was her third win, so next year she will compete in the regular classes. Since she beats most of the men it won't hurt her chances for a trophy!

Small Blocks Ready To Compete

Big Blocks Ready For Time Trials

Jerry Cowing's Big Block 427

David Smith's Medium Block 427

This was a good track year with no accidents, no blown engines and only two cars left the track with mechanical failures (one front brake caliper broke off a bolt and one starter problem). All 53 drivers that ran practice and the 37 that competed enjoyed the day. All got to know their car better and had a blast running at speed, and did it safely. Interestingly, three small blocks and a medium block beat all but one big block for those that keep score as to which is “best” of those engine sizes. This is always a much debated topic amongst Cobra* Replica owners.

Maurice Weaver presented trophies after the time trials ended to each class and the best lady driver. The cars were all back in Gadsden by 6 P.M. and a large group went to dinner at the local Mexican joint, Villa Fiesta, to celebrate “Cinco de Mayo” (Mexican Independence Day). The bench racing that followed dinner was a lot faster than any of us went on the track! A great time was had by all and the Tenth Annual event is being planned as you read this with yours truly ready to run!

Fastest Time & Top Small Block, Adam Brownyard

A Proud Father, Rick Brownyard (center) Adam (in car) & Erik

David Smith, Top medium Block

Linda Dunn, 3 Time Ladies Champ

Lee Dahmer, Top Big Block

Lee In His 427 After Winning Run

Homecoming 2002  Tentative dates are May 2,3 & 4, 2002. Thursday, May 2nd, there will  be a poker run in the morning. Friday, May 3rd, is open  house  at  the  factory, and Saturday, May 4th, the  Homecoming Time Trials will be at the  Talladega Gran Prix Track.   Trophy  presentations will be held immediately  after  the  runs.

For more information,  please contact Unique Motorcars, 230 E. Broad St., Gadsden, Alabama 35903; (256)546-3708.

* Cobra is a trademark of FORD MOTOR COMPANY. UNIQUE MOTORCARS' products have no connection with Ford.

Designed by 10/17/01

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