Factory Five Crew and Customers

Bid Fond Farewell to Bob Kay

May 1, 2004

Bob with his FFR Coupe fresh from the paint shop.

He’s not Dead… Just moving to Atlanta!

For the last five years FFR customer Bob Kay has been a regular at our Saturday morning visits/tours/hang-outs here at Factory Five Racing.  Bob Has built three FFR’s over this time, a roadster, spec challenge car and finally now a Type 65 Coupe. 

Bob is a retired firefighter and has given many newbie FFR customers their first tour of the facility and stern warning against such an endeavor (usually futile in the face of shinning roadsters, coupes and racecars).

This past winter was particularly brutal and was the last straw that drove old Bob down to the warmer climes of ole Dixie.  With kids grown, cars built and the rest of his life ahead of him, we wish Bob a fond Bon Voyage and hope he enjoys southern hospitality and weather as much as we have enjoyed his friendship and help.

Several FFR faithful stopped by on Bob’s last day to bid him farewell.  FFR perennial Gary Cheney took the day to show off his new Spec Challenge car (rebuilt from parts salvaged from the wrecked car at last year’s 25 hour endurance race).

Gary was proud that the custom nose can be removed for fast race track side access to engine/suspension.  We timed him and it took exactly 52 seconds for him to remove his entire front nose/hood section. 

Hank Dondero showed up with his light blue Spec car (built for street/track duty with non-legal spec parts like full IRS suspension, high output 400+ hp small block and other hi-po accoutriments.

Customer Joe Leone (Forum call tag “Oldguy68”) drove his charcoal grey and house of colors black roadster down for the nice day to eat cake and send Bob off.  We are proud to offer Bob’s position to Joe (free parts for five years hard labor).

Joe’s car has won numerous car show awards (World of Wheels 2004) and sports a huge number of custom mods including 18” wheels, a slew of carbon parts and a killer power plant.  Joe is now building a Coupe… or I mean a Spec Challenge car… or wait a Spyder with custom top… no wait…. We’ll let you know when he makes up his mind.

The last part of the day involved a tour from the Massachusetts Corvette club.  The GTM has helped us reach new customers and while all this GM stuff is new to us, the cool attitudes and hard core car-guy following is still the same. 

Best wishes to Bob on his new adventure and sincere thanks from all of us here at Factory Five Racing!