Stair-built Chevrolet Monza race ready and for sale

Ken Perrotti and his brother Chris rebuilt the car together, and did an exquisite ground-up restorative job. The engine is a 600 hp Chevy 358 cubic inch V8, which is topped by a large Holley carburetor, and has a $5,000 custom stainless steel crossover header exhaust.

The racecar was built in 1980 by Pat Stair of Minneapolis, and still has its original Borg-Warner Super T-10 4-speed, which is coupled to a Schiefer quick-change rear differential. When Perrotti acquired the Monza, it came with Hurst/Airheart disc brakes, which he changed over to a new Wilwood 6-piston type.

This born-again Monza weighs in at 2,400 pounds, as was the target weight on the IMSA AAGT racecar in the 1970s, giving it a neck-snapping ratio of 4.00 lbs/hp. That's essentially identical to the Porsche 918 Spyder Weissach Package having 3,616 lbs and 887 hp, or 4.08 lbs/hp for the street production sports car.

The Monza, formerly driven by Carl Shafer, Dick Kantrud, Marshal Kirkof, and Rick Balderson was trailered to Lime Rock Park in August for the annual vintage festival, but Perrotti chose not to run the car. They discovered the new engine was had a high oil pressure issue and didn't want to risk damaging in the race. Since then the problem has been fixed. Perrotti also said he is going to sell the Monza, and move on to a new project car.

We hope to see the old JRS Racing Monza on the vintage circuit, and is sure to be a crowd pleaser. It would be fitting if the next owner(s) brought the car back home to Minneapolis, Minnesota. We shall see what the car's future provenance will be.

Restoration of Pat Stair Trans Am Chevrolet Monza nearly done

Ken and Chris Perrotti's total rebuild of the Pat Stair-built SCCA Trans Am Chevrolet Monza is nearly done. The car is looking absolutely fabulous, with its livery backdated to 1980, when it was first driven by Carl Shafer with the number 21. The Monza road racing chassis was originally built by Pat Stair of Minneapolis for Jack Sandberg's "Metal Masters" racing team and their 1980 SCCA Trans Am effort. John R. "Jack" Sandberg was owner of J.R.S. Racing and Metal Masters of Minneapolis, and a notable Reno airplane racer. 

The Pat Stair Chevrolet Monza was driven once by Carl Shafer in the 1980 Trans Am race at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit in Tulsa, Oklahoma. However, Shafer retired early in the race due to electrical problems. The car was sold the following year to SCCA racer, Dick Kantrud of Minnesota. Dick raced the Monza in both SCCA Trans-Am and SCCA Club races in 1981 and 1982, before selling the car to Marshall Kirkof.

The Stair Monza saw more track time in the 1980s when owned and driven by Rick Balderson, of the Central Florida Region SCCA. The car was sold to Mike Perrotti in 2012, and since then, has undergone a meticulous rebuild.

Thirty eight years and a few owners later, the Stair-built Chevrolet Monza has been returned to it's original red/yellow livery and car number 21.

Ken Perrotti says they will debut the car at Lime Rock Park's Historic Festival 36, August 31 to September 3, 2018. His son Mike Perrotti will be driving the Monza at LRP's vintage race that Labor Day weekend.

* See more photos of the Monza at this link: Stair SCCA Trans Am Chevrolet Monza