{"id":109159,"date":"2026-02-22T09:16:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T14:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?p=109159"},"modified":"2026-02-22T09:16:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T14:16:33","slug":"collector-car-corner-cars-we-remember-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2026\/02\/22\/collector-car-corner-cars-we-remember-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Collector Car Corner \/ Cars We Remember"},"content":{"rendered":"

— When the Feds Call the Racing Press —<\/p>\n

[By Greg Zyla]<\/p>\n

After more than four decades in motorsports journalism, I\u2019ve learned that racing stories don\u2019t always stay at the racetrack. Occasionally, they follow you home \u2014 and sometimes they arrive in the form of a phone call from a federal agency.<\/p>\n

Over the course of my career, this has happened three times.<\/p>\n

Each call was professional. Each was brief. And each carried the same underlying message: we\u2019re not calling because you\u2019re in trouble \u2014 we\u2019re calling because you talked to someone we need to understand.<\/p>\n

The main call of note came in 1989.<\/p>\n

I had contacted Grant King for an interview related to PRI Magazine, still the number one respected business publication in the racing industry. At the time, King was already a major figure in American open\u2011wheel racing \u2014 a noted builder of sprint cars, midgets, and Indianapolis 500 style championship race cars. His cars had powered multiple USAC sprint championships and featured drivers such as Sheldon Kinser, Gary Bettenhausen, and Tom Sneva. He was widely admired for his fabrication skills and ability to build competitive cars without high-dollar support and on extremely limited budgets.<\/p>\n

Our conversation was straightforward and lasted perhaps 30 minutes. We spoke about racing, engineering, and history –  <\/span>the kind of exchange journalists and builders had thousands of times in that era. I hung up, filed my notes, and moved on.<\/p>\n

Not long afterward, the phone rang. This time, it wasn\u2019t PRI; it was the FBI.<\/p>\n

The agent identified himself and then asked a series of simple questions: why I had called Grant King, why he called me back, what we discussed, and whether I had ongoing contact with him. There was no accusation and no pressure, just fact\u2011gathering. From their standpoint, they were reconstructing communications as part of a broader investigation.<\/p>\n

I answered honestly. Racing. PRI. Technical background. Nothing more. The agent thanked me, and the call ended.<\/p>\n

Roughly a year later, the reason for the call became public. Grant King was charged in federal court with assisting in a stolen\u2011vehicle and VIN\u2011switching operation involving late\u2011model street cars, crimes entirely unrelated to racing.<\/p>\n

The investigation had been underway for years before it surfaced publicly, which explained the timing of the call. King\u2019s racing career effectively ended, and his legacy became complicated overnight.<\/p>\n

For me, it was a reminder that journalism often intersects with events far larger than the stories we\u2019re writing. King spent six months in prison and returned to his racing business. Unfortunately, King died from injuries he received in a highway crash in 1999. He was 67.<\/p>\n

\"Collector<\/a>

The Grant King Race Cars museum and garage. (Museum photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

However, the Grant King story ends on a positive note as his garage is now a working museum thanks to Bill Throckmorton, Grant King\u2019s nephew.<\/p>\n

Throckmorton grew up around Grant King, and today he operates and curates the Grant King Race Shops as a working race\u2011shop museum in Indianapolis, alongside his wife, Stephanie Throckmorton. Bill preserved the original shop and its assets after Grant King\u2019s death and turned it into the public, appointment\u2011only museum it is today. (See the many YouTube videos on the museum for more info).<\/p>\n

The second call of note came earlier than the main King call, and this one revolved around something far more obscure to non\u2011racers: tires. The time of this phone call was 1978-1979.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the FBI phone inquiry involved tires that had once been mounted on Kenny Brightbill\u2019s No. 19 modified stock car. I was told very clearly that Brightbill himself was not in any trouble, and that point was emphasized from the start.<\/p>\n

On the tire was written “19, bright, rr.” I quickly told the agent that it \u201cfor sure\u201d came from Kenny Brightbill\u2019s No. 19 modified stock, which he then told me they already knew that information.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Collector<\/a>

Kenny Brightbill was one of modified stock cars’ top drivers, winning numerous feature events during his career. His right rear tire was the subject of a phone call to our author. (Reading Fairgrounds photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

As best I could determine, investigators were trying to trace the source of illegally dumped racing tires. How my name entered that chain wasn\u2019t surprising. I attended many races at the Reading, Pa. Fairgrounds track in Pennsylvania and saw Brightbill win many races. Racing journalists often know where cars, teams, and parts were at specific points in time.<\/p>\n

I explained what anyone who has spent time in a modified pit already understands: trying to track down what happens to a specific racing tire after it leaves a car is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. A big right\u2011rear slick on a top\u2011tier modified is typically changed every four or so races, sometimes sooner. Under certain conditions, abrasive surfaces, heat cycles, or sudden changes in track bite, that tire might be swapped during a single race night.<\/p>\n

Once a tire leaves the car, it can be sold, traded, stacked, scuffed, discarded, or passed along quietly. Any meaningful paper trail effectively ends.<\/p>\n

The agent on the other end of the line listened. They understood. The call remained professional and brief. I was never told where the investigation went, and as far as I recall, nothing ever came of it.<\/p>\n

The third call came from a different agency entirely \u2014 the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) somewhere around 1982.<\/p>\n

\"Collector<\/a>

Numidia Dragway in Pennsylvania operates weekly to this day and is one of Pennsylvania\u2019s top drag racing attractions. Shown are Luke Kaiser, left, and Steve Kaiser nearing the finish line in 2025 action. (Bob Reed photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

By that point, the pattern was familiar. The IRS already knew my background: that I had served as a weekly track announcer from 1975 through mid\u20111979 at Numidia Dragway in Pa., and that I had left the announcer\u2019s booth to build and race my own car full\u2011time, beginning in 1979. They also knew I competed actively during the 1979 and 1980 seasons.<\/p>\n

They asked me to identify a race team I had announced about and then competed against during that period and to explain whether it was a legitimate racing operation.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, It was a legitimate racing operation.<\/p>\n

I explained that the team competed in the same Super Pro class I did, that it ran regularly, and that it indeed fielded high\u2011dollar race cars, which was not unusual at the upper levels of the sport. From the IRS standpoint, the question wasn\u2019t racing; it was tax treatment, specifically whether the operation qualified as a legitimate business for promotion and, most importantly, tax deduction purposes.<\/p>\n

Once I explained that the team was real, competitive, and active, and that it raced head\u2011to\u2011head with me in the same class, the conversation ended.<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t identify the team for obvious reasons. The situation ended professionally, which is how it should.<\/p>\n

Looking back, none of the calls were dramatic or threatening. None suggested wrongdoing on my part. When questions arise, investigators look for people who were there to explain what was normal inside the sport.<\/p>\n

After more than 43 years in motorsports journalism \u2014 including time as a publisher, announcer, racer, and columnist \u2014 I\u2019ve learned that if you stay in the business long enough, the phone may ring for reasons you don\u2019t expect. When it does, you answer honestly, explain clearly, and let the facts speak for themselves. Racing stories don\u2019t usually end with federal phone calls \u2014 but when they do, they tend to reveal how little the outside world, including these federal agents, understands about the sport and how carefully journalists must navigate both.<\/p>\n

In summary, racing merges money, engineering, transport, and competition in a sports entertainment delivery. When questions arise, investigators look for people who were there and who can explain what was real and what only looked unusual to outsiders.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not drama.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s reality.<\/p>\n

Next week, we\u2019re back to collector cars but here in 2026 I will write more of my personal memories, as requested by my dedicated readers.  <\/span><\/p>\n

(Greg Zyla is a syndicated auto columnist who welcomes reader input on collector cars, auto nostalgia and motorsports at extramile_2000@yahoo.com<\/a> or Greg Zyla, Roosevelt St., Sayre, Pa. 18840.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

— When the Feds Call the Racing Press — [By Greg Zyla] After more than four decades in motorsports journalism, I\u2019ve learned that racing stories…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":109160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nCollector Car Corner \/ Cars We Remember - Owego Pennysaver Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2026\/02\/22\/collector-car-corner-cars-we-remember-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Collector Car Corner \/ Cars We Remember - Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"— When the Feds Call the Racing Press — [By Greg Zyla] After more than four decades in motorsports journalism, I\u2019ve learned that racing stories...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2026\/02\/22\/collector-car-corner-cars-we-remember-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/The-Owego-Pennysaver-49179420591\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-22T14:16:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/d28r85ckdoaa46.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/22091047\/Car_Collector1.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"736\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"552\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"psadvert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"psadvert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2026\/02\/22\/collector-car-corner-cars-we-remember-2\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2026\/02\/22\/collector-car-corner-cars-we-remember-2\/\",\"name\":\"Collector Car Corner \/ Cars We Remember - Owego Pennysaver Press\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2026\/02\/22\/collector-car-corner-cars-we-remember-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2026\/02\/22\/collector-car-corner-cars-we-remember-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/d28r85ckdoaa46.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/22091047\/Car_Collector1.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-22T14:16:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e03684194434956dfb61f5ffcbc19492\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2026\/02\/22\/collector-car-corner-cars-we-remember-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2026\/02\/22\/collector-car-corner-cars-we-remember-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2026\/02\/22\/collector-car-corner-cars-we-remember-2\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/d28r85ckdoaa46.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/22091047\/Car_Collector1.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/d28r85ckdoaa46.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/22091047\/Car_Collector1.jpeg\",\"width\":736,\"height\":552,\"caption\":\"Grant King poses with one of his historic racing cars from his shop in Indianapolis. 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