Wow, nothing for 3+ years...this is a going thread!
We're still racing the Argo JM17 and have purchased another chassis from Butch Dennison.
Interestingly it has the same SCCA roll bar stamp as our other chassis...
I think it boils down to the fact that the "spare" chassis was written off at a race in Portland, OR., this chassis appeared from somewhere and the 2 were made into what is our racer now.
Butch is a pretty good fabricator and they did a great job building this chassis. Along the way it seems that they took a little artistic license and modified a few things to make it a better handling car.
I have made contact with a few ex-JM17 racers over the last few years and have found out some good info.
One person was Dan Wall, who won the Kansas Region Divisional Championship in '89. ( I can't remember if I talked to Dan himself or a person that knew him well, the K region historian Sharlene Smith)
I also spoke with another gentleman (name escapes me) that mentioned that they raced a JM17 and it took they 2 years to get it setup. After they won the championship he test-drove a Swift DB3 and immediately was 2 seconds faster than the Argo had ever been. This with mere minutes in the seat.
Some in-car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r_11TvHSo0