Christian Horn just wanted to relive some of the finest years of his youth.

Horn, who answers to the nickname Butch, was part of the R. Gaines Markley championship team along with driver Rob Bruins. The team had the dubious honor of winning an NHRA Top Fuel title without ever having won a national event during the course of the season.

Christian Horn just wanted to relive some of the finest years of his youth.

Horn, who answers to the nickname Butch, was part of the R. Gaines Markley championship team along with driver Rob Bruins. The team had the dubious honor of winning an NHRA Top Fuel title without ever having won a national event during the course of the season.

Horn's story of an incredible find dates back to 1991 through acquaintance with iconic Australian drag racer Gary Phillips. Phillips was shopping for an Al Swindahl dragster to take back home, and he found just such a car in northern California. The car just happened to be the ex-Gaines Markley machine, and while it was sure to be a collector's item one day, it just wasn't the pipe the Aussie was seeking.

Horn learned of the find, but he let opportunity pass by. Shortly thereafter he moved to Hawaii and the car was all but forgotten. Some years later he would come to realize that, contrary to the commonly held belief, opportunity sometimes does knock twice.

"In 1996 I was on a Harley ride up in northern California going into Lake Tahoe and found this car was still for sale," recalled Horn.

Horn didn't tempt fate this time; he immediately purchased the dragster and had it shipped to River Hill, WA.

"I pretty much put the car away and just went back to work because I had the car, and I thought all was well," said Horn, who was still living in Hawaii before returning to live in the mainland U.S. in 2000.

Horn reconnected with Bruins and showed him the find. Bruins then shared the news with Markley, who came over to look at the car.

"We started talking to Gaines about what happened to the motor from the car because he won a championship with one motor block in the frame rails," said Horn. "There was another engine used for match racing - block number 463 was documented as belonging to Gaines, too. So he gave me the name of the guy he sold the block to."

Markley sold the block to a gentleman named Bill Rainey in Colorado. Armed with a name and state, Horn's search for the block was a needle in a haystack experience. A chance phone call with Ralph Gorr provided an excellent clue in the mystery.

"I told him the story about Bill Rainey and how I couldn’t find him, and he tells me, 'I just built a pump for him a couple of weeks ago, here’s his number,” Horn recalled.

Rainey still had the historic block intact, and had stored it away in 1988, when the piece became obsolete during this era. Horn made the trip to Colorado where he not only purchased the block but also various engine pieces including valve train, pistons, cylinder heads and various associated parts. He also purchased some special brackets Bruins had built for the dragster.

"I brought them home and started to make a list to start putting the car together," Horn said. "I was doing that for quite a while. Then I went from being a real estate agent to a broker and business took off, I kind of put it on the back burner."

Horn worked sparingly on the project, and even more sparingly following Markley's passing six years ago. His grand plan included Markley reassembling the engine once he'd acquired all of the period-correct parts.

As Horn "piddled around" on the restoration, other historic relics were revealed such as the dragsters of Shirley Muldowney and Tommy Ivo, just to name a few.

"I realized that this is a nice piece of history and I needed to get it finished," Horn said. "I was working on it a little bit here and there in the garage and I had health issues come up. I just got to the point where I needed to find a home for the car. That was kind of more important than finishing it. I needed to find a home, and I needed the right place for it to go."

Enter the World Speed Museum in Wilsonville, Oregon.

Tony Thacker, former curator of the Wally Parks NHRA Museum, had an interest in not only obtaining the car but also in completing the project. Veteran chassis builder Brad Hadman pitched in as well.

"It has a great home now here in the northwest," said Horn. "It's a centerpiece ... kind of ... in their drag race scene. This museum is going to cover all elements of racing so I made a deal with them to complete the car so it would run. We did it on a handshake agreement."

The car was completed in June, and both Horn and Bruins were invited to Woodburn Drag Strip to fire the drag racing relic for the first time. They fired the car on June 17, almost 35 years to the day Bruins took the point lead for the final time in 1979.

The emotional experience was overwhelming.

"When walked up to the car, as it ran, I was just overwhelmed with emotions and all Robbie and I said to each other was, 'I wish Gaines was here.”

"I can honestly tell you we both held back tears. It’s just really cool to have the thing exist not just for the Northwest history but for Robbie’s family, his grandkids and things like that. Another ironic thing about that day was that Robbie’s dad was there. He’s in his early 80s now and he had never seen his son race.

The experience included numerous photo shoots, and an enlightened [Rob's father] Bud Bruins.  

"After we fired the car and Robbie gets out and we’re pretty emotional about the thing they let us mix the fuel, they let us put the valve covers on it, spark plugs and kind of all that.”

Bud Bruins’ comment after they fired this car was, 'I think I get it now.”

The experience made Horn realize he'd played an important role in preserving drag racing history, and reaching back into his personal past.

"The whole thing just kind of came full circle for all of us," said Horn. "It came full circle for Rob and his dad that day kind of and it definitely came full circle for me to have that car done and kind of give something back to the sport. It was great to give something back because I was given so much to be able to go race. That’s kind of how I looked at it.

"I was honored to travel with this car and knowing Gaines and Robbie obviously changed my entire life," said Horn. "And then to be able to work for Shirley [Muldowney], Tom McEwen, Billy Meyer and the Kallitas, changed my life working on this car."

Restoring his most momentous gig did too.

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