THE RED BULL - You can stop asking now, the answer is YES

The Red Bull

Matt Trombley Photos

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You can stop asking now, the answer is YES, Shannon Poole will be back racing his 1964 Corvette!

Article and Photos: Dave Diehl

Additional information & photos supplied by Shannon Poole It has been 6 months since Shannon Poole’s wild, airborne ride and fiery crash landing. Remarkably, he walked away with only a few bumps and bruises, a testament to both his driving and the safety devices in today’s race cars, but his beautiful 1964 C2 Corvette was not so lucky. The entire front end was destroyed, frame twisted and cracked. The initial assessment did not look favorable, could this be end of the car that had become one of the top grudge performers in the new ALL OUT LIVE program?

It looked as if there was little to no hope for a rebuild, so the frame and remaining body pieces of the car were loaded up and sent north to see “the doctor”, “The Chassis Doctor”, Jay Grieshop, that is.

The shipment arrived at Jay’s newly expanded shop in West Harrison Indiana, not far from Cincinnati, Ohio, a bit lighter than it started. Somewhere on I-75 between Atlanta and Cincinnati one of the doors blew off and was never found. (If anyone finds the door, please let Shannon know!) Setting the patient on the surgery table, “Dr.” Jay’s close evaluation showed that the prognosis was much more terminal than originally thought.

The underlying tube frame and roll cage

structure had done its job to protect Shannon upon re-entry, but it paid the price.

Portions of the frame had been significantly tweaked, welds cracked, and abraded nearly through. The amount of time and labor to try to use the portions of the frame that appeared solid was just not worth the risk. Jay started sketching out the new frame structure to be built from ground up that will not only provide additional protection to Shannon but improve adjustment capabilities and handling of the car.

The parts and pieces to put the Bull back together are starting to roll in to Jay’s shop however, the biggest obstacles are finding suitable parts for an original 1964 convertible C2 Corvette. These are not something you just find in your local junk yards! Enter Tom Keen, owner of Keen Parts (corvetteparts.net) and loyal sponsor of Shannon’s racing efforts and amazingly, just a few miles away from where the Corvette lays on life support. Tom went right to work to try to obtain the necessary front end, door, windshield pillar/cowl and more.

“As soon as I get a windshield frame I’ll be able to set the body together and start building the main chassis,” said Greishop.

“Starting with ride height and tire size to determine how the car will sit, I will continue on with the structure of the car until it is rolling, including motor and drive line.

Next would be all the mechanics of the car: steering, pedals, seat, etc., then firewall and tin work. This will take approximately three months.”

As of the writing of this article, a front end structure had been located and is due to arrive any day. Once the major body parts are on-hand, Jay will be able to flex his fabrication muscle and replace the backbone for this monster ride. This may not be a story of the Phoenix rising from the ashes, but it is certainly the story of the re-birth of one wild Red Bull. We will follow along as the surgery team works their magic to put the pieces back together to get Shannon back on-track. Stay tuned for upcoming progress!

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Red Bull Restoration

T s

This Holeshot all over b

“It’s a life’s work down the drain”, said Shannon Poole following the 2019 accident.

The Chassis Do reviews t

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Red Bull Restoration

The first glimpse at some of what’s left.

t wheel took a beating but still held air!

octor, Jay Greishop, the damage.

Doug Key, Dale Poole and Miguel help with the disassembly of the Red Bull after the crash.

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Red Bull Restoration

From a safety standpoint, despite the hard lick that the chassis took and the amount of times it rolled, the main structure is surprisingly intact with a slight overall twist.

Also from a safety standpoint, the chassis was not worth trying to save. Broken welds, road rash to the bone and twisting was found in many areas.

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A shelf of new chassis p for the project to get u ahead mo

Red Bull Restoration

Chassis and body are strapped down and ready to be delivered to the Chassis Doctor.

A Some new parts are set on a shelf at the Chassis Doctor in front of the remaining door…the other door went airborne from the trailer somewhere on I-75 between Atlanta and Cincinnati!

parts sits waiting under full steam ode.

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The rear body section is really not that bad and Shannon thinks it can be fixed.

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Red Bull Restoration

If you’ve ever done a Vette project on a C-2 you know these original windshield frames or “bird cages” are hard to come by.

The guys got the rear end out of the car and found that it was bent and will go to the scrap yard.

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It’s interesting what happens when you build, fix or rebuild a car. Many times along the path, you meet new friends and develop relationships that last a lifetime. Tom Keen came into our lives in a similar scenario and is an integral part of our total rebuild of the Red Bull now, as well.

It was 2017, and after a mishap on the race track I turned to a former sponsor, Rodger Ausley of Ausley’s Chevelle parts, for advice on how to fix the RED BULL before it was supposed to make an appearance at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas.

The Bull was scheduled to be in the Woolf Aircraft booth in front of thousands of people and had to look its best! Within about 30 minutes, Rodger had Tom Keen of Keen (Corvette) Parts on the line willing to help.

I talked to Tom for about 45 minutes

and he and his wife Tj Keen were onboard with our program and mission to make SEMA in just 3 short weeks.

From there, with a small group of friends, I started tearing the front end apart, working on some small structure damage while waiting on the front end body parts from Keen Parts. We had the struts and steering parts in stock here at Poole Speed and had everything in that regard fixed in about 2 days.

Within about a week we received the front end and I immediately got the body mounted, sanded and ready for primer with longtime friend and painter Doug key. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find the hood I wanted, but GLASSTEK put a rush order on a new hood, and for that I am very grateful! Time crept along while the car was blocked and primed 3 times.

We worked day and night on that car with very little sleep. We were running out of time and I had mentioned to Tom that I was worried we wouldn’t have time to finish the hood because of the time it would take GLASSTEK to get it to me. Tom’s response was, “that’s easy”. He got on the horn with J&D Corvette and arranged to have a

custom hood built and painted and waiting on us in Vegas, just in case we couldn’t finish the other one. Some of the things Tom Keen can make happen are amazing to me.

With the car back together and still wet, it was put in the trailer to fully cure while my dad, Dale Poole hooked up and began the 30-hour trip. My wife Cara and I jumped on a plane bound for Vegas a few days later and hooked up with my dad to put the car in the booth, the only challenge was that the car still needed a day’s worth of sanding and buffing. I blocked and buffed that thing right there in the SEMA booth!

It was a very stressful 3 weeks and I was really glad it was over, we were 100% ready for the show and now I could sleep. The first day of the show, the man that made the whole thing happen showed up and he and I met for the first time. I was was sure to tell him how much his help meant to us and that he made this happen.

This event was on my bucket list, to have something my dad and I built on display at the biggest stage in the automotive industry was overwhelming.

Today, Tom Keen is not only a sponsor for my program, he is a great friend.

RPM

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