A podcast series called “Smoked” about Randy Lanier will be posted tomorrow on MiamiHerald.com. Interesting to note, Randy Lanier is fresh out of prison and overseeing the sale of Preston Henn’s cars from the Swap Shop in Ft. Lauderdale. Preview here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article232149507.html BHW
Agree. I wonder if this was Betty's decision and who might have influenced her. I can think of, oh, a couple of hundred others who would be better suited...... edit
What's the problem with this? IMSA owes its very life in the 70's to the party pharma industry. Try running a Kremer K3 on a 70's sponsorship. God bless those that kept the ship afloat.
International Marijuana Smuggling Association. Remember this era well when the Whittington Brothers and later Randy Lanier suddenly showed up running primo equipment at Daytona, Miami and Sebring. There were also a number of Central and South American teams that were regulars at the Florida events that were a bit shady. These podcasts are bringing a lot of it back. Lanier was doing a lot of running with the Whittingtons but, of course, we fans weren't privy to what was going on behind the scenes. These were also the days of the "Cocaine Cowboys" in South Florida when the violence escalated to the point where Reagan and Bush figured out how to increase their under-the-table profits and intervene and the "War on Drugs" started in earnest. High profile guys like Lanier, the Pauls and the Whittingtons had to be made examples of and suddenly they didn't have any friends in the racing business. The draconian mandatory sentencing laws changed overnight and what to that point was punished my a slap on the wrist turned into thirty year sentences without chance of parole. I'm only in the early portions of the podcast but it's looking as though the point of this from the POV of the Miami Herald is now that these laws are relaxing and there are now literally drive through marijuana dispensaries in South Florida, guys like Lanier who got caught up in the hysteria essentially lost a major portion of their lives in prison. BHW
I'm surprised the trustees/executors/estate attorneys are cool that an ex con with no experience liquidating a nine figure car collection is on the job but whatever. hashtag Florida.
Would it be possible that Mr Henn made such arrangements prior to his passing that Mr Lanier be not only employed but repayed for his dealings in said illegal activities. The ill gotten booty of smuggling ran quite far up the line of wealthy individuals. I remember in the movie "Blow" Johhny Depp's charcter walking into a house that had cash from floor to ceiling. Maybe we do not know all of the dealings of the late Mr Henn. Pawn shops are not exactly above board either.
Swap Shop, not a pawn shop. I'm pretty sure Preston was squeaky clean. He did an enormous amount of legitimate cash business in his swap shop operations. A lot of IRS and state tax authority scrutiny comes with that.
I had many chats with Preston starting when I did my 1994 two part article on 275 GTB/C/LM #6885 for Cavallino and once he told me how at a speedboat race he figured out he was the only one there with legitimate money...went to his beachfront house twice, once with Al Roberts to photograph 6885 for a Japanese Ferrari magazine, he combined luck of having put his finger on an amazing money pump with running it very smartly. He had to keep a tight leash on a lot of the people selling through his premises and I remember there was some friction but the vendors were the problem not him. It always seemed a bit surreal to see such important cars just sitting in that facility. Last time I spoke with him is when I drove his ex 512BBLM with Porsche 935 brakes for a Classic & Sports car article in 2011, he had fond memories of it, of starting from a low qualifying position at LM and being amazed by its top speed passing lots of people on the then uninterrupted Mulsanne...one surreal moment is when we met at Moroso circuit entrance during a Cavallino Classic, one leaving one arriving I was in my KHamsin, he in his MC12! He had very simple origins yet was always gracious, a unique character.
The MC12 ended up at Curated by some strange twist of fortune. Since sold and in a new home. BHW Image Unavailable, Please Login
Would you consider Mr Henn a private person when it came to his personal affairs? Based uponhe pocasts it would appear that he knew of Mr Lanier's matters yet retained a friendship with him despite the legality of it. I can only say that Randy Lanier was only guilty of one thing,. We are all guilty of it. Those that love racing, those that love these cars, those that love the life style are simply adrenalin junkies. As i walked past the Whittington trailer years ago and saw the shiney hardware, i only could think of one thing ... what the hell was i doing wrong? Randy Lanier did what most of us should have done, he took the final step. Good or bad, he lived life on the razors edge . That has to be the biggest rush you can get. Because in the end, all of this stays here. We don't take any of it with us.
I can't claim to have known him based on some chats through the years. I am sure he knew what Lanier, the Whittington brothers, the Pauls were up to but that does not mean that you can't be if not friends then at least buddies with them. I would think that was the case with Lanier and Preston, though I am really surprised he or his family specified that Lanier was to sell the cars... I have encountered my fair share of scoundrels and none more than Europeans in Florida where there are many good ones and a few really bad ones. Being a European there myself they tried to befriend me to pull con jobs but I somehow sussed them out each time. It was interesting to see how their minds worked which is why I spoke to half a dozen of them many times but always kept them at arms length. I could tell a few stories but prefer not to except a few examples, one worked in a restaurant at the Breakers in Palm Beach where I used to go dine once in a while and he tried to pull me into a cosmetics investment scam, before he realized that even though I came from an old European family and dined at the Breakers it did not mean there was a fortune and there wasn't I never said there was but in his own hopeful cupidity he was eager to believe there was (reminds me of a Russian gold digger who had also worked up her hopes and disappeared when I told her the money was long gone ). Another claimed he wanted to buy an F1 car I was representing (those who know please don't mention which ok Barton;-)). This Hungarian told me he had bought the star lot of the Concorde Bonhams (or Brooks as they were called then) early 2000's auction which was a Concorde nose. As soon as he left I immediately called the London office got ahold of the auction manager gave him the names of the people I knew at Brooks/Bonhams and sure enough just as I expected he told me right away the guy had never paid for the nose...I then sold the car to the Indy museum.
It’s an odd deal because the Swap Shop car collection was technically a dealership- that’s probably why it was open like it was. So, who owned the dealer license? Preston?
A lot of collectors have dealer licenses to get around paying sales tax. In the case of Swap Shop it probably depended on how they have/had the cars and place insured.
I understand. I understand. I also care not to reveal certain matters. I will say this...i worked for a gentlemen in the music industry for a few years. I learned a phrase that seems it may have relevance. ...." just a little taste". It seems to find its way into deals of this making. Maybe several people got a" little taste "of what Mr Lanier was doing. Not enough to bring notice, but enough to line their pockets with a little more than usual. If i can borrow 100k and get 2mill in return....that may be just a little taste. Risk management is part of any business. Hence 5 close "investors" each receives a taste without anyone getting seriously noticed or drained of resources. Deals do go bad sometimes.
https://autoweek.com/article/indycar/50-50-john-paul-jr-battles-huntingtons-disease You may find this interesting
Seems as though Henn had a knack for taking in these guys and giving them jobs at Swap Shop when they got out of prison. BHW