When it comes to off-road racers with a heart a big as the desert sky, there are few people on earth that can match Northern California’s Peter Lang.
As this year comes to a close, the veteran desert racer and internationally-recognized animal conservation expert has come up with a unique and charitable way to enjoy NORRA-style vintage off-road racing via the sale of a very historic piece of racing history.
Lang is the visionary founder of Safari West, a 400-acre former cattle ranch near Santa Rosa, California that he and wife Nancy purchased in the late 1980s and built into a world-class African-style wildlife experience and conservation breeding facility. On the night of October 8, 2017, the then-76-year-old Lang made national news by single-handedly fighting back the devastating flames of the Tubbs Fire for 10 hours using a half-dozen gardening hoses. His actions saved all 1000 of his beloved animals, while his own home and race shop burned to the ground just up the street.
In the time since, he briefly returned to desert racing by restoring the original 1999 Chevy S-10 race truck known as “Mini-Mac.” Built and fielded by the legendary factory Team MacPherson Motorsports effort of Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame (ORMHOF) inductee Joe MacPherson and Joe McDonald, this special truck was part of a Chevrolet Class 7 campaign that earned seven championships in a row.
Working extensively with GM Truck & Bus Engineering, Team MacPherson was a test bed for product development and innovation, and many features found in today’s GM trucks and SUVs, including electronic four-wheel drive, were born in the MacPherson shops and the terrain of Baja California.
After racing and finishing third in class at the 2019 Yokohama Tire NORRA Mexican 1000, Lang has decided to hang up his driving shoes and put the completely-restored Mini Mac Chevy for sale with a very unique offer. Potential buyers can purchase the vintage racer for just $1.00, but with the new owner also making a $49,999.00 tax-deductible donation to his Safari West Foundation (a 501 C3 entities) whose mission is wildlife conservation and youth education.
In addition, Lang can also help provide full logistics and race prep service via several NORRAcentric race teams he has long established connections for just this type of support.
For more information on Safari West and its foundation visit www.safariwest.com. For more information on the Mini-Mac Chevy contact Peter Lang directly here or by calling (707) 318-0817.
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