John House passed away on January 16 after a long battle with cancer. He was chief mechanic for the great Mickey Thompson in the 1970s and ’80s, working to develop cars like Thompson’s Challenger series of desert racing buggies.

The Challenger buggies were introduced in the 1970s as Thompson wished to deviate from the trend of using Volkswagen-powered single-seater buggies in the desert. Instead, Thompson wanted to try a V8. House and team members like Bruce Parrish worked to build cars like Challengers III, IV, and V that were then brought down to Baja California for racing.

Challenger IV in particular is considered one of the most iconic buggies of the era. Sporting a 700-horsepower Chevrolet V8, 41-inch shocks with coil-over suspension, and 15 inches of front travel against 18″ of rear, it was bad fast but also struggled with reliability. The car retired from its debut at the 1978 Mexicali 250 and meeting similar fates in the Baja 500 and 1000. Still, Challenger IV revolutionized the way Class 1 buggies would look.

Other projects undertaken by House with Thompson included a 1975 Chevrolet LUV that starred in Thompson’s stadium truck series. It bore a U.S. Marines livery, was powered by a modified rear-mounted LS7 engine, and had a titanium roll cage that was next-generation for its time. He also oversaw Roger Mears’ stadium truck program.

House would later be a shop manager for Electramotive, who would develop many of Nissan’s future race vehicles like its GTP cars and off-road trucks before becoming Nissan Performance Technology Incorporated, and at Walker Evans Racing.

A GoFundMe to pay for funeral expenses can be accessed here.

Featured image credit: Bruce Parrish