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Foothills Sentry Page 8 April 2022 Come Visit Our Showroom 3024 East Chapman Avenue Orange, CA 92869 QUALITY BILLIARD PRODUCTS. EXPERT POOL TABLE SERVICE. Tuesday - Friday: 11 AM - 6 PM Saturday: 10 AM - 3 PM (714) 620-4001 Call/Text dkbilliards.com david@pooltableguru.com DK BILLIARDS SALES & SERVICE North Tustin man celebrates life and legend Bruce Junor celebrated his 90th birthday with a party at the Seger- strom Shelby Event Center -- and by writing a memoir. The Shelby museum was a fit- ting venue, because the longtime North Tustin resident was in- strumental in the transformation of Ford Mustangs into Shelby GT350 competition racers and street-legal cars. His memoir, “The Race Before the Race,” chronicles the Shelby Mustang from inception to production. In the early 1960s, when Car- roll Shelby was working on the Cobra, a car he intended to com- pete with Corvettes and Ferraris, Bruce Junor was working for Ford Aeronutronics. Cobras were powered by Ford engines. Ford was developing the Mustang, and wanted to boost its popularity by turning it into a race car. Ford made an agreement with Shelby American to modify the Mustang and create a street car that met F.I.A (Federation Inter- national de L’Automobile) rac- ing class qualifications. Race cars must look like street-legal ve- hicles and be manufactured in the same way as a consumer model. Upgraded engines, brakes and re- inforced chassis are acceptable. Junor was asked by Ford to go work for Shelby American to help them build a high-performance racing Mustang. He left Ford in 1964 to conceive and construct a manufacturing plant to convert Ford Mustangs into 550 Class B classification production cars. Fifty of those would be strictly race cars, 500 would be for sale to consumers. F.I.A. required at least 100 cars be produced for the consumer market before the modified racing version would qualify. To com- pete the following year, Shelby American had to build 100 cars by January 1965. Junor was noti- fied of the deadline only 4 months out, in August 1964. The first cars were modified in a small shop in Venice as Junor transformed two hangars at LAX into production lines. The hangars were perfect, he says, because they had no interior columns to work around, few windows and a huge door to accommodate the comings and goings of multiple cars and equipment. There was also a parking lot to store the fin- ished models. The team finished the fleet of 100 cars by January. “1965 was a remarkable and exciting year,” Junor recalls. “At Daytona, our racers were the top four finishers. At Sebring, our team finished sec- ond, third and fourth.” Ferrarri, however, continued to dominate at Le Mans, and Ford bore down on its efforts to win races. After modifying 500-plus con- sumer Shelby GTs and 50 racing versions, Junor’s job there was done. Not everyone can tell the classic white Mustangs with blue stripes apart. “I can,” he says, “I had my hands on all 550 of them.” His production plant continued to be used until 1967, when Ford moved the activity to Michigan. He has remained “a car guy.” He subsequently worked with spe- cialty vehicles, ranging from the Formula 1 Gurney Eagle, to India- napolis racers, to state-of-the-art luxury motor homes. He helped coordinate major concourse car shows in Orange County and, in a transportation-related twist, serves on the Orange County Airport Commission. Longtime friend Susan Dobak, left, did much of the party planning and shares a moment with guest of honor Bruce Junor. Bruce Junor prepares to blow out the candles on his 90th birthday cake at the Feb. 27 celebration. Junor’s memoir, “The Race Be- fore the Race,” chronicles the early days of the classic Shelby Mustang production cars. It is available at the Segerstrom Shelby Event Center gift shop and will be on Amazon later this month. Third District Supervisor Don Wagner with an icon- ic Shelby Mustang on display at the event center. Junor’s memoir made its first public appearance at the birthday celebration. Photos by Tony Richards