At an event like the Holley Hot Rod Reunion, it’s very, very difficult to stand out when everybody and their mother is trying to stand out. You have to have an “X-factor”, something that makes you rise just that little bit more above all of the others to grab attention and keep it. With old-school gassers, nitro-huffing racers and fields of show cars to keep anyone entertained for days on end, what does it take to capture the eye of someone who is busy ripping off tons of photos?

Well, in the case of this 1956 Chevrolet, the appearances are a great place to start. Parked right next to the staging lanes at Beech Bend in full view of everyone, the Chevy’s throwback scheme, complete with lacework, endless lines and enough colors that you just have to study the picture to capture it all is a good start. For a race-prepared machine, it’s certainly pretty, and mistake #1 made was thinking that pretty was all it was good for. You see, with paint like this, putting the car on the track stirs up memories of the work that’s put into the eye candy. Think about another wild 1956 Chevy readers of BangShift should be familiar with: Mike Bolina’s green, psychotic, scraped-up and raucous machine that launches however it damn well feels like. It’s bounced off of the walls at Beech Bend…surely, the owner of this dream machine wouldn’t dare?

Oh, hell yes, he dares.

Justin Moses is a member of the Southeast Gassers and this wildly-painted Chevy is beat on worse than a rental in the hands a man who bought the walk-away insurance on purpose. The racer look isn’t for show…the Chevy gets wailed on, it’s mechanically-injected big-block caned for every last RPM, it’s four-speed rowed with aggression. “It’s a race car before it’s a show car…we don’t cut it no slack,” as Moses said while we looked the car over. And it’s not like Moses is just loosening up for the Hot Rod Reunion, either…the Chevy sees plenty of track time at events all around the Southeast throughout a season, including Meltdown Drags.

So why is this car here? Because just like Bolina, watching Moses run this car is an experience. Moses ran in an exhibition class just to have some fun instead of all-out competition, so every time that the Chevy would come out, it was all-in for a show for the fans and not necessarily for the win light. Seeing daylight under the wheels at launch is cool, but seeing it again at the 1-2 shift and again at the 2-3 shift is something else entirely. Throughout the event, Moses was unhappy that the car wasn’t pogo-bouncing down the track like he wanted it to. Apparently, the multi-hued ’56 lives it’s quarter-mile life on the bumper for at least the first half of the run. But the show that Moses put on in Bowling Green, while not up to his standards, was still something to behold. During the interview, a gentleman interrupted to ask who the driver of the shoebox was. After Moses introduced himself, the gentleman had this to say: “Man, you a wild man…a wild man. I like to see someone drive like that…you have absolutely no fear.”

Moses’s response: “Man, I keep telling him…this is kinda tame!”