Nick,
I see that you are in California so forget the DMV. All they will or can tell you is how the car is registered and to whom. They won't get into any prior accident reports even if they know about them. I think Super Performance keeps a record of all of their cars and the owners but I doubt they would know if anything has happened to the car such as a wreck & etc. Roscoe would be a good person to ask about this as he is quite adept in this field. Another option, if you are friends with one of the local police, ask them to run a check on the vehicle to see if they show any reports or claims on it. Also find out what insurance company the owner is with and talk to them.
Ron
