Sure. Whatever, Richard can come at me if he wants.
I don't even remember what year it was, probably somewhere between 95-97 supposedly someone stole a bunch of prototype parts and other stuff mainly from BGC. I don't remember the specifics but there were several one-of-a-kind pieces that were supposedly stolen along with some other stuff. I think Mike lost a set of injectors and maybe something got taken from Conley, I never really got all the specifics. I was up there with Nelson Hernandez racing the ORIGINAL Cuban Missle. I rode up with Nelson so I had no car so I couldnt have went anywhere even if I wanted to.
There used to be this guy that lived very close to Bowling Green that had a ton of Stage 2 parts. Jeff somebody I think. Well, the day before this "theft" happened, we lost the gear drive off the front of Nelson's engine and in a panic, went to Jeff's shop and pulled an all nighter trying to get the car back up and running with a different set of heads since we bent a bunch of valves when the gear drive failed. Ultimately, we weren't able to get the car going again so by the time we got back to the hotel, the sun was well up. Went to the track that day and heard about the theft but didn't think much of it.
Fast forward a couple of months and Mike LIcht calls me and makes some vague remark about how I better watch my back. I called another friend, Conrad Jones and he did some digging and called me back and said that BGC got a letter in the mail accusing me of stealing all the stuff. I had an airtight alibi as I was with that Jeff dude and Nelson literally all night so whatever. In the months that followed, more letters showed up mailed from various places in the south around Valdosta. All of the letters were on random company stationary. Pretty sure Conley got a letter, Im not sure about Mike. BGC got several.
Then I started hearing through the grapevine that Richard was going to accuse me in the GS-Xtra.
Somehow Jim Haas got involved in all this (I think because him and Conrad were doing the Buicks at Bristol event and I was helping Jim tune the FAST on his NA GS) and started doing some checking around and was able to determine Richard was in each of the places those letters were mailed from on the day they were postmarked. I wasnt privvy to the call but Jim told me that he called Richard and told him if one more letter shows up, he better have a damn good lawyer because Jim would be paying for mine. There was never another letter sent after that.
Ill be honest, I never had much use for RIchard and still dont but Im pretty sure what set all of that off was me helping Keith Blythe develop TR parts. I helped Keith with some custom cams that he sold that I worked with Lunati to develop and I helped him with his 3 inch exhaust system which IMO was the best exhaust ever made for these cars. Keith and Richard were in business together at one point and it was a nasty split. So I guess between Red (who was Richard's boy) and me not getting along and Keith and Richard having a falling out, Richard decided I would be a good fall guy for that "theft." I dont think Richard had anything to do with the "theft" and I cant even say for sure he was behind the letters but its purely speculative based on what I was told.
One other thing... to the best of my knowledge, NONE of the parts that were stolen ever showed up anywhere. I know there was a set of custom step headers that were supposedly stolen and I feel like there was a hood stolen too. Like I said, as I had nothing to do with it, I don't remember a lot of the specifics. I think its pretty much been accepted by everyone at this point that John from BGC took his own shit and claimed it on his insurance.
... BGC/John & Lassiter, pretty sad if that's the way it went down. Being accused for some shit you had nothing to do with, definitely the type of grudge that is hard to forgive, that's for sure! 
