Well, I went straight to the builder of the car, Jim Hayes. He's a true gentleman and I'm honored to have heard the stories he shared. In regards to the No. 3 car, it is a Cooper Monaco, built in 1966 for Roger Ward before he retired from racing. So it never got finished until Jim and his brother Claude bought and finished it. He put in more hours than anyone would care to venture. He built the manifolds, windshield, brakes, etc. It had one of the very first McKee transaxles with no reverse. It weighed 1400lbs with 450 horsepower!
Of the three races it participated in, it only finished its last race at Huntsville. Claude thought the car was scary fast and didn't want to get back in. Wise. The front end created too much lift, with the openings for brake cooling much too large. Jim was an aerodynamicist and added a full chin spoiler and winglets on the sides of the front like the GT40's. It was then good for 140-150mph, about as fast as you'd go on the tracks it would race on.
It got its "Honker" nickname from Claude's good ol' southern saying "it would honk!", meaning it was scary fast. 100mph in 1st gear!
It was sold about 6 months after its last race to Chuck Haynes who campaigned in in SCCA A competitions and still owns it to this day, as far as Jim knows.
I've got to say that I've met some great legends in automotive history and heard some priceless stories from some of the best storytellers of our time - THANKS to Autopuzzles. In researching these cars in the puzzles, you'll find that each car has a great story to tell and who's a better source than the guy or girl who built it. Usually these folks are just as excited telling how these cars came to be and love sharing their history. I know we spend probably way too much time on the web searching for answers, but if you pick up the phone, or even e-mail, every now and then, you'll most likely be richly rewarded...
