American muscle: North Albany man's car wins award at Hot August Nights - Corvallis Gazette Times
ALBANY — Vann Beckner turned the key on his bright red 1970 Dodge Challenger R-T and the engine roared to life with a deep-throated rumble, the sound of more than 650 horsepower. Earlier this month, the North Albany resident took his American muscle beauty to the massive classic car show, Hot August Nights in Reno and Sparks, Nevada, where the Challenger spoke loud and clear and brought home a trophy, ribbon and a $1,000... Beckner’s Dodge won the Summit Racing Equipment Celebrity Choice Award during a show-and-shine event on Aug. Hot August Nights has several contests a day, and in total, more than 5,000 vehicles show at the five-day event. He started going to Hot August Nights in 2002 and entered a car for the first time in 2008. This year, Summit Racing Equipment representatives wanted a car that looked like it was built out of their catalog, Beckner said. And many of the Challenger’s parts were purchased from Summit, he added. “They also wanted a car that looks like it’s been driven, and this has been driven. I put 10,000 miles on it in 10 years,” Beckner said. Beckner purchased the Challenger in 2003 and finished his rebuild in 2005, after about 800 hours between him and his childhood friend Brad Lindsay, who helped with the project. When Beckner purchased the Challenger, it had its original black paint job, but the car had been mothballed since the 1980s. The vehicle was. Source: www.gazettetimes.com
