Ed "Fast Eddy" Maurin Donates Larry Ragland Woodstuff Chaparral Class 1 to ORMHOF Vehicle Collection

ORMHOF Vehicle Collection Donor, Ed Maurin. Photo credit: Rob Smith Photography

Ed "Fast Eddy" Maurin has donated the Larry Ragland Woodstuff Chaparral Class 1 car to the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame.  ORMHOF board member Rory Ward met Ed in Lincoln, Nebraska, to accept the car, where it will be on display as part of the ORMHOF Collection at the Museum of American Speed.

The Woodstuff Chaparral at The NORRA Mexican 1000. NORRA photo

"On behalf of the ORMHOF board of directors, I would like to thank Ed Maurin for his generous donation of this historic off-road vehicle to the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame." -- ORMHOF chairman Mark McMillin

Larry Ragland built the Woodstuff Chaparral Class 1 buggy in 1983, and the wins quickly followed, earning the SCORE Class 1 Championship in 1983 and 1984, and the overall win at The Mint 400 in 1986.  That same year, Larry's winning ways caught the attention of Chevrolet, and he joined their factory mini-truck team. He won multiple races and Class 7 championships between 1986 and 1989. Larry continued to move up the truck ranks, first to Class 8, where he won his first Baja 1000 overall. The modern desert truck era dawned, and Larry was ready, earning four more Baja 1000 overall wins. A remarkable achievement. Larry was inducted into the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2016.

Ed Maurin, a lifetime resident of Kansas City, Missouri, purchased the Woodstuff Chaparral in 2011 and set out on a restoration project that lasted several years.  His hard work paid off, with the beautifully restored buggy earning class wins at the NORRA Mexican 1000 in 2016 and 2017, and the 2017 Mint 400. 

Ed Maurin with Larry Ragland at the 2017 NORRA Mexican 1000. Rory Ward Photo

Ed is no stranger to hard work.  He started his career as a welder and fabricator before joining the Kansas City Fire Department, where he served his community for twenty years. Ed established Fast Eddy's BBQ cooking team in 1990, winning many individual categories and overall contest wins in Kansas City Barbecue Society(KCBS) events. This led Ed to the manufacturing of his own pellet cooker, which he patented. Partnering with Cookshack Inc in 2004, there are now Fast Eddy by Cookshack smokers operating throughout the world with sales representatives on every major continent. He also designed the first commercially listed pellet fired pizza oven and opened a pizza restaurant in Kansas City, 451 Pizza. Ed is being inducted into the BBQ Hall of Fame later this year.

"Life is like an off-road race, every mile is an adventure." -- Ed Maurin

Ed explained, "This ORMHOF experience actually started in the mid-1990s when I got to spend an afternoon with 'Speedy' Bill Smith in his museum that he had put together next to Speedway Motors in Lincoln, Nebraska. Like most of us, I'm a huge motorsports fan and I felt like a little kid listening to every story Bill had to tell on that four-hour walk-through that day."

"Speedy" Bill Smith, founder of Speedway Motors, the inspiration behind the Museum of American Speed. Photo credit: Museum of American Speed

"A few years ago I decided single-seat racing was fun but not that much fun for me getting quite a bit older," Ed continued, "at the ORMHOF induction ceremony a few years ago Larry Ragland was telling me about how he'd recently been up to the Museum of American Speed and they were doing a display for Herzog Motorsports that he drove for some. He brought this up when we got to talking about what was I going to do with the Chaparral Class 1. I only live three hours south of there. I took a day and went up and was amazed at what I had seen, and what they had done with what Bill had started. It was cool back then, but unbelievable now. I picked up the phone and called Rory Ward and planted the seed about what if I donated the car to ORMHOF. The wheels started turning and now today it's in the best home it's ever had."

"I can't express the joy in my heart that this has given me."  -- Ed Maurin

After the trip to the Museum of American Speed to deliver the car, Ed said, "We spent several hours with the curator of the museum and I was so impressed by the interest they had, not only in the vehicle but just like Speedy Bill himself, the story was just as important to it too."

The Woodstuff Chaparral arrives at the Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, Nebraska. Rory Ward photo

Video: Woodstuff Chaparral walk-around with Ed Maurin and Rory Ward at the Museum of American Speed

The Woodstuff Chaparral Class 1 buggy joins two other vehicles from the ORMHOF Collection currently on display at the Museum of American Speed, the Snortin Nortins Nova and Scoop Vessels' Class 8 truck. 

The Snortin Nortins Nova and Scoop Vessels Class 8 Truck from the ORMHOF Collection on display at the Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, Nebraska. Rory Ward photo

Hall of Fame vehicles sharing the history of the great sport of off-road are on display at major automotive museums from coast-to-coast, made possible by the generous financial support of ORMHOF members, partners, and donors.  We invite you to join this distinguished group.

 Bonus Video:  The Woodstuff Chaparral Class 1 at the 2016 NORRA Mexican 1000 with Ed Maurin and Rory Ward

About the Museum of American Speed

The Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, Nebraska, is a non-profit corporation founded in 1992 by "Speedy" Bill and Joyce Smith. The museum was originally located in a smaller building on Van Dorn Street in West Lincoln. The museum moved to its current location on the Speedway Motor's campus in 2001. This 150,000 sq. ft. museum was formed to present a continuous chronology of automotive racing engines and speed equipment development to preserve, interpret, and display items significant in racing and automotive history. The collection results from the Smiths' personal involvement in racing and hot rodding, and their lifelong passion for collecting and preserving racing and automotive history. Website: https://www.museumofamericanspeed.org/

About the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame

The Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame was established in 1978 by racing promoter and NORRA founder Ed Pearlman to recognize and honor those individuals and organizations whose lifelong contributions to off-road motorsports have set a standard for others to follow. In 1995, legendary off-road racer Rod Hall became ORMHOF chairman, a position he held for more than twenty years, before selecting current chairman Mark McMillin as his successor.

The mission of the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame is to educate and inspire present and future generations of the off-road community by celebrating the achievements of those who came before.  Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees represent excellence and achievement in many areas of off-road, including advocacy, journalism, industry, rock sports, desert racing, short course, and rally. 

The ORMHOF Class of 2024 will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at Off-Road's Biggest Night of the Year, the ORMHOF Induction & Awards Gala in Las Vegas on November 3rd, the Sunday before The SEMA Show.

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ORMHOF maintains a collection of vintage off-road vehicles that are displayed at museums around the country, as well as an extensive online archive of print, images, video, and audio, with more content added as funds become available.  The Hall of Fame Off-Road Registry invites clubs, organizations, events, businesses, and individuals with fifty years or more of history in off-road to apply for Hall of Fame heritage status in the official archives of the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame.

The Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame is funded through donations, individual memberships, and industry partners. A 501c non-profit organization, ORMHOF has earned a Gold Seal of Transparency for 2024 from non-profit rating service Candid.

ORMHOF is guided by an all-volunteer board of leaders in the off-road community, including Chairman Mark McMillin, Frank ‘Butch’ Arciero Jr, Jim Bramham, Frank DeAngelo, Bud Feldkamp, Jeff Furrier, Josh Hall, Bob Ham, Gary Haugley, Nate Hunt, Rich Klein, Emily Miller, Rafael Navarro III, Fardad Niknam, Bonnie Vessels, and Rory Ward.

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