There’s been a lot turnover this year when it comes to NMRA race cars. Bart Tobener sold his Renegade car to Shane Halleman, Tim Matherly sold his Renegade car, and took over Joe Charles’ Coyote Stock car. Those are just the ones that come to us off the top of our head. We recently heard another car change hands; that being Kermit Buffington’s beautiful Bimini blue Fox coupe.

Buffington’s Bimini blue coupe is ready to go as it sits, but Drake has quite the laundry list of components ready to go in place of what was already in the car. Drake will be testing the car to make sure it is fully-optimized for NMRA competition. Coyote Stock is decided by thousandths of a second, which makes car set-up even more critical.

Buffington raced the car in NMRA competition for several years, and in different classes, but now the car has been sold to Coyote Stock-bystander Chester Drake. Buffington’s car already had the necessary items on the car for Coyote Stock, but lack of time to test in order to put up competitive numbers lead him to sell the beauty to Drake. Plus, Buffington’s son is interested in a junior dragster so he may become a crew chief for that program. However, part of the deal Buffington and Drake made was another Fox car Buffington took back home with him. That car might turn into a father/son project.

We have always lusted after Buffington’s coupe, and you can see why. Buffington tells us the car only had 42,000 miles on it as of this writing, and is 1 of 241 built with the Bimini blue paint.

Drake is getting the car ready for competition since Buffington’s car had the required sealed crate engine with the Ford Performance controls pack, a Hanlon Motorsports-prepped TKO 600, a Spec clutch, an ATI Performance Products Super Damper, an MSD 2-step, Kooks headers, Team Z Motorsports front and rear suspension with Strange Engineering struts and shocks, and Moser axles.

Drake will no doubt change the car around a bit. He has been building up a collection of parts for a car of his own, including a UPR suspension, another sealed Coyote Stock engine, a G-Force transmission, and ARH long-tube headers. When Buffington’s car came available, though, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to own the car he always admired from afar. Drake utilizes the talents of Charlie Booze from Booze Brothers Racing, so the two will put the car on the dyno right away to see which combination works better from a horsepower perspective. Then they’ll outfit the car with Drake’s parts and go testing in preparation for the NMRA World Finals in October.

“I can be really confident, especially with Charlie Booze behind me,” Drake says. “But the driving part remains to be seen. If I can drive half as good as Shiftin’ Shane Stymiest, I’ll be doing good.”

Drake had already been working on a Coyote Stock build with Booze Brothers Racing’s Charlie Booze, but buying Buffington’s car accelerated Drake’s process of getting on the track. As you can see, the car is already at Booze Brothers Racing to get prepped for Bowling Green.