Ben Rivers-FAMILY CAR TURNED SUPER STOCKER
Quain Stott | Published on 5/29/2020
When 42-year old school teacher Ben Rivers was a kid, he rode around town with his dad John Rivers in a 1965 Dodge Coronet. John had rich drag racing history in the 1960's before he switched to NASCAR to be car owner and engine builder in the late 60’s and early 70’s. After John retired from racing, he bought a 1965 Dodge Coronet that reminded him of one of his favorite drag cars. John kept the car in working order, and even daily drove it in the early 90’s. John retired the Coronet to a carport in the late 1990’s and then got moved into a field where it quickly began to deteriorate. About 15 years ago, Ben couldn't stand to see his childhood memories rot away, so he pulled the old car out of the field and put it in dry storage.
A few years ago, Ben went with good friend Daniel Hogan to a few Southeast Gassers Association races to hang out while Dan ran his gasser. Ben and Daniel started to talk about how cool the old school racing was so the idea popped in his head to pull the old Dodge out and build it for the SEGA Super Stock class so he and Daniel could travel and race together.
Once Ben decided to tackle the project, Daniel Hogan was there also helping to get the project finished for the 2020 SEGA tour. Ben located a 440 Mopar engine and to meet the strict SEGA rules he backed it up to a 4 speed manual transmission. It took Ben and Daniel 9 months to complete the build and he is looking forward to its debut at the first SEGA race June 6th at London Dragway in London, Kentucky.