The racing career of David Tatum III, the NHRA’s 2010 Super Gas world champion, is very much in doubt thanks to thieves.

Tatum’s car and trailer were recently stolen from his home on Roosevelt Highway in Palmetto, Ga.

The trailer was a 1993 Gold Rush and inside was Tatum’s prized 1967 Chevy.

“They stole my whole racing operation,” Tatum said. “I just came back from a divisional race in Adel, Ga. (March 9) at South Georgia Motorsports Park. I had a car in the shop, so I didn’t unload. I left my truck hooked to the trailer and I jacked my trailer up just enough to take the pressure off the truck. It was parked underneath a shed where I park it all the time. I have been parking it there for 15 years. Early in the morning on March 13, they broke into the truck of one of my buddies and moved it forward and then they broke into my truck and unhooked my truck from the trailer and cut everything loose. They then stole another truck about three miles away and used it to come in and get my trailer. They knew what they were doing. They were professionals.”

According to Tatum, his trailer was found March 15 still hooked to the truck and then March 16 they found his 1967 Chevy, but neither was in good condition.

“The car was just dumped on the side of the road,” Tatum said. “It was as completely stripped as you could strip one. Every component was taken off it, even the wiring. They stripped the whole thing and then they cut it into pieces and it looked like they threw it in the back of a truck upside down. They just destroyed the car. They also tore up the trailer.”

The crime has left Tatum devastated.

“They stole everything,” Tatum said. “They stole my jack. They stole my fuel jug. They stole my battery charger and they even stole my driving suit. The worst thing is they also got my car, that 1967 Chevy. My trailer was race ready and they took everything. I’m pretty ill about it.”

Tatum acknowledged he had no insurance on the items which were stolen.

“The bad part is that I’m the guy who is always preaching to all of my buddies to get insurance,” Tatum said. “My excuse is since I bought that car late in the fall, I have been extremely busy and have not done a lot of things I needed to do and I just had not done it. I would like for them to catch whoever did this and get some of my stuff back, if there is something left.”

Starting over in racing is not going to be easy for Tatum.

“It is amazing the outpouring of concern, and how many people are pissed about this all over the world,” Tatum said. “I have received messages from all over the country and even Australia. It is crazy. I’m going to try and regroup, but they took everything.”

Anyone who has any information about this crime should contact the Palmetto Police Department at (770)-463-9068.