Way back in about 2005, I walked into my friends garage where he was building some clone RXL’s so he could go racing. On a bench, he had an original 1978 RXL rolling chassis he was using as a pattern.
From the get go, that RXL was of great interest to me.. it looked exactly like every other RXL.. with some remarkable differences. It had a magnesium chain case (not a real big deal.. some did, some didn’t.. I think they put them on until they ran out, then the rest got aluminum chain cases). It had steel steering arms, bent so the tie rods lined up perfect with the the radious rods. The steering was a tad different. It had two magnesium radious rods.. all of which made me think it was factory race sled.
But there was nothing on it to really nail it down as one, so I just made a note of it and moved on. The sled changed hands a few times and is now in the hands of a private collector who wishes to remain anonymous.
Enter the Derby Track Archives… the current owner ran the serial number and *POOF* it comes back as Bunke’s 1978 250! The very sled I watched jerry win the 250 class on in Alexandria, in December of 1976!
Congrats to the current owner! What a great piece of history!
