Original Novakar Prototype

[Invader64]

Was rumaging through some old pics and found this. This was the day my dad ( Bill Simonds) took delivery of the prototype Novakar from Jay Novak after the 1986 runoffs. You can still see some of the damage and of course the Georgia red clay still on it. The little boy behind the car is my now 29 year old 6' 4" son Stephen.

[jim murphy]

Brings back memories . . . . . forgot what I was thinking!!
Old age is hell.

Jim

[Brian.Novak]

AWESOME!

[Jnovak]

Thanks a ton Perry. That was a very good car. I think that if I had not crashed and nearly destroyed the car in qualifying I would have had a good chance to win the Runoffs.

As it was I had a full hip cast on all week from a broken ankle and a fractured knee. We had about 4 guys working every day of the week to get the car back together and we did it. Many thanks to the many who were there to help especially Tom Shaver and Dave Craddock.

The night before the race I begged the hospital doctor to take my cast off. He would not do that but he did put a half leg cast on so that I could bend my leg.

I started the race in 14th position and steadily move to the front. By about lap 10 I was 3rd overall and catching the leaders. I could see them on the front straight and I was sure I would catch them. A couple of laps later I pushed the brake pedal going into turn 5 with my broken ankle and the pain was very intense and I went off the road on the exit of 5. I was still in third but had a flat tire in 11 and spun off.

Well that was the end of all my glory and I finished way back but missed fastest lap by .007 seconds as I remember. It was still fun and I remember it very well.

[Invader64]

It was a great car Jay. Dad then I raced it for 6 years and got a few wins with it. I have a picture somewhere, that I need to dig out that shows the right rear wheel up on a 4x4 piece of wood with the chassis level and the other 3 wheels sitting on the ground. Everytime I see someone post about the limited travel of these cars I want to post that picture!

[Jnovak]

We learned in the next couple of years of development that the rear wheel rates were too low to get tire temps. You could drive them over the curbs anytime you wanted to.

[Mo Makki]

sweet here's another old one. Jay did you say that's was one of the original 6-8 you built?

[Jnovak]

sweet here's another old one. Jay did you say that's was one of the original 6-8 you built?

Yes, that car is one of the first of 6 production cars I built.

[Rick Starkweather]

Jay:

Ran across some old pictures (Polaroids) just the other day. May even have a pic of the scale model you had. I'll dig them to share.

I remember vividly the 1986 Runoffs!

Rick