Actually guys this is not a new policy or occurance in my limited knowledge.
My first car was a 1972 SS-396 Nova given to me at the ripe ole age of 15 by my grandfather, yup, Ole pop like torque. Anyway, at that time I was working for free with a local NJ race chassis company by the name of Bontempo Brothers racing, still in business I believe, hung around the brothers for years learing most everything I now know about chassis fabrication and suspension geometry. Anyway to the point here; my Nova, although not actually insured intil I was 17, was a track only car untill then. The car evolved from a 14.5 sec bone stock car to a 9.8 second blown 470 Cubed full on bad ass. At that time I was not able to get the car through inspection for the obvious reasons, so I opted for Commercial plates, which at that time was a serious gray area, the car was still insured under my grandfather.....
Long story longer; Some butt head backed into the car at the Blue Star shopping parking lot on Rt-22 in Scotch Plains NJ, and of course not knowing what we all know now, we called it in. Yup, the claims adjuster came and looked and that was all she wrote, or Un-wrote in this case. Basically after that I couldnt get insurance because they all seemed to begin the polisy which I believe is now standard today, that they want to see the car before writing the policy, so we took it off the street and I built myself an 8.8sec Pro street 1970 corvette that I had titled and insured through a family member in NY, but thats another strory all together.
PS: Between the ages of 17 and 26 I lost my NJ drivers license 6 times and was invited not to have another one. So, here I am in Beautiful rural Montana where I occasionally pass the HWY patrol at a buck point five on our vacant Hwy and they wave! Long way from hot summer night street racing in LBI. Some of you Jersey guys might remember me, I was the bright yellow 72 Nova going light to light on my rear wheels on Long Beach Island!
Rick Ellis
HDR