The Doom Car’s Doom

POLICE STILL HAVE NO CLUE as to the whereabouts of the $250,000 {retail value) Porsche racer known as the Doom car, missing since last summer. Created by Bob Norwood of Norwood Autocraft, the car was sponsored in part by Dallas millionaires John Romero and John Carmack, creators of “Doom,” the most popular-and violent- computer game ever.

The car-supercharged, 600 horsepower, 1,480 pounds fully loaded-was stolen in its $ 15,000 race trailer along with $28,000 worth of tools and about $50,000 in spare parts, the kind you won’t find down at Chief Auto Parts. Two weeks after the theft, the truck taken along with the trailer turned up near Carl’s Corner, the famous truck stop on I-I5 south of Dallas. Steve Reideler of the Dallas County Commercial Auto Theft Task Force says he had information at one point that the vehicle may have been somewhere in South Texas, but it did not pan out.

Norwood believes Doom now rests at the bottom of a lake, sent there by racing rivalries run amok. He’s offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to its recovery-but so far, he’s shelled out $2,500 for useless information. Carmack’s also crestfallen over the loss, but not because of his investment. “We didn’t really put up very much money, ” he says. But he’s crushed that he won’t get a chance to drive Doom. “It would kick the crap out of everybody else,” he says, “through technical superiority.”