1975-1980 AMC Pacer

“You only ride like a Pacer if you’re wide like a Pacer”

by Paul Duchene

If you’re among the many who laugh at AMC Pacers, let us introduce you to “Weird” Harrel Lamkin of Ruston, LA. He drag-raced a 550-hp Pacer from 1987 to 1996, turning 10-second quarter miles at 124 mph. As he said, “I wanted to build a Pacer no one would dare laugh at. I think I succeeded.” And lest you think that Lamkin is but one weirdo, Roger Scott’s “Racer Pacer” was clocked at 152 mph in a closed-highway race in Nevada in the mid-1990s. If that’s not enough speed to claim a little respect, know that Pacers ran in IMSA road races in the 1970s and four-wheel-drive Pacers have even conquered the Baja 1,000. Of course, that neglected used Pacer that’s been sitting at the end of your neighbor’s driveway with a “For Sale” sign in the window for a decade bears little resemblance to these fire-breathing monsters. It’s also a far cry from the original idea for the Pacer, the brainchild of Dick Teague, one of the most significant Detroit designers of the 20th...