Restoring the 43A
By Scott White

The 43A was an amazing piece of workmanship and technology, years ahead of it's time.  Maybe a little too far ahead, as you'll see as you read on.  Scott has done his best to restore the car exactly as it was and has done an amazing job.  Maybe my opinion is just a little bit biased, but I think this car is one of the best late-models ever to campaign in this area of the country.
-DZ.

The year was 1976 and Bobby Goodling had just completed another successful season in the Eater and Starz car (#61) by claiming two more track championships at Williams Grove and Selinsgrove.  He was also the KARS champion, but 1976 was going to be the last year he would drive the Eater and Starz owned car.

Enter Barry Klinedinst. Barry was building a new car and was going to run select shows with Dick Tobias as his driver. Dick was very good friends with Barry and was often at Barry’s shop. Dick was instrumental in the design of the rear suspension that Barry would run on the car. Barry was also good friends with Bobby and had built and maintained some of the Eater and Starz cars in the past.

The story, as I was told, is both Bobby Goodling and Dick Tobias were at Barry’s shop in Manchester, Pennsylvania one evening.  Barry asked Dick to get into the car to be fitted for the seat. Dick suggested that Bobby should be fitted for the seat, and after that Barry had his new driver, Bobby Goodling.  Dick Tobias was a sponsor of the car and a picture of the 43A can be seen on the inside cover of the 1977 Tobias Speed Equipment catalog.  Bobby won the Potomac Speedway twin 75 on October 23, 1976, his first win in the car.  

In 1977 Bobby and Barry skipped around from track to track taking home the big money wherever they went. Bobby’s only regular stop was Hagerstown. Among the wins that year was the Firecracker 50 at Bedford, a 25-lap championship at Port Royal, a 35 lap Memorial Day championship, the Johnny Roberts Memorial at Hagerstown and the BIG 77 at Selinsgrove. Bobby also won the pole position for the 1977 National Open 150 at Hagerstown Speedway and ended the race in sixth place. Bobby placed a remarkable third in the final KARS point’s standings after missing 30 races on the circuit. Bobby finished second in points at Hagerstown.  

During the off-season Barry and Jere Stahl of Stahl Headers in York, Pennsylvania got together. Jere had a Chassis Dyno, and hours were spent working on the chassis geometry. When the 1978 season started Bobby and the team came out blowing the doors off the rest of the competition. After numerous wins at different tracks, and multiple declarations from other teams that the car was illegal, the Barry Klinedinst designed 43A camaro was officially banned from seven area speedways. Bedford was the most frequent stop that year.  The only extra-distance race win was the 35 lap Spring Championship at Bedford.

The car was banned from Hagerstown, Lincoln, Latrobe, Williams Grove, Selinsgrove, Jennerstown and Motordrome 70.

Bobby Goodling stopped driving for Barry Klinedinst at the end of the 1978 season.

Steve Smith Sr. later drove the car on the NDRA circuit and traveled as far south as Kentucky with the car.

I asked Bobby if any of the cars he drove were still in the area. He told me the only car left was the 43A. Bobby thought the car was still in the possession of Rick Christine who bought the car from Barry Klinedinst.  I contacted Rick about the car and he was willing to sell me the car. He had it stored under a bank barn at Christine’s Salvage Yard.  The car was still intact and unchanged since Steve Smith Sr. had driven the car.

Special Thanks go out to the following people:

Gary Snelbaker.
Gary was a long time driver of many 43A cars owned by Barry Klinedinst.  Because of the association that Gary had with Barry over the years he was the logical choice to paint the car. Gary had painted the 43A in the past. He would not allow me to pay him for his work. I’m very grateful for his generosity.

Rod Lentz
Rod was a car owner back in the seventies with driver Marlin Morgan car (#35).  Rod also donated his time to the project. Rod built the motor and did the mechanics on the car. Rod is credited for getting the 43A back on the track.

Larry Spangler
Larry, the owner of Spangler Sign’s, lettered the car.

Dale Lott
Dale, an expert welder at Harley Davidson, donated his time to fabricating missing brackets on the car.

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