The Theft of DOOM.
What fascinated people about the theft of DOOM was that whoever had it could never use it - or even sell the parts. The car was an instantly recognizable machine with a singular combination of new fabrication and recycled, modified parts robbed from race cars and put to use in new ways. It was brutally powerful, and nothing like it had ever been seen before.
DOOM lived in Norwood's fabrication shop in Dallas. However the Sunday night DOOM disapeared, the uninsured race car was in the parking lot outside the shop, inside Norwoods enclosed trailer. A video camera's glowing eye kept watch on the trailer and a VCR inside the shop recorded the scene on a loop of videotape. The last thing Norwood did before he locked the rig was fasten a club to the steering wheel of the dually. When Norwood technicians arrived at 8:00 the next morning, the loading dock was empty - not even a fragment of glass was left behind. The vidoetape was useless because the repeating tape loop had already been overwritten. One wittness later said the rig was missing from the lot at 12:30 am, and a cement truck driver said he saw the rig on Route 12 at 3:30am.
The theft got immediate publicity from television, radio, and magazines. A "car hunt" began for the rig and it's kidnappers -- police, FBI, private investigators, informants and others looked for DOOM. Norwood himself posted a large reward.
The dually truck was recovered two weeks later near Waco at Carl's Corner truck stop. One window of the truck was smashed and the Club was gone (with no evidence of forced removal). The steering column was damaged, disabling the headlights and turn signals -- which would make night driving suspicious. The radio knobs were removed and the rear speakers disconnected. It was as if the truck was vandalized after the fact to conceal the true reason for its theft.

The trailer rig and race car were never found. Police and private investigators have searched for clues and have uncovered some evidence, but nothing conclusive. Three years later, the investigators still consider this case open.

EXCELLENCE June 1998