Lou Hart is on a hot streak. We were enthralled with his Pro Stock history book, which we reviewed last week, and here we find ourselves heaping praise on another title, his ode to Chevy power. Chevy-Powered Drag Racing is a huge collection of vintage photos, all featuring cars running bowtie motorvation.
The book concentrates on the nitro powered classes, with some attention given to the early days of Pro Stock, Competition Eliminator, and there are also a large number of photos showing multi-engine Top Gas dragsters. It is easy to forget that the big block Chevy was a viable fuel motor back in the day before virtually all of the technological development in the nitro categories favored the Chrysler Hemi. The small advantage the Chevrolet wedge engine had over the Hemi (and it was a fleeting one) was in mid-range power. The Hemi engine would really wail on the top end, but if a Chevy driver got out first, he had a fighting chance of putting some real estate between himself and his competition before the elephant motor would charge hard on top.
Gassers, altereds, old school modified street roadsters, and junior fuel dragsters all ran well and won lots with Chevy power. It would have been cool for this book to have looked deeper into the amateur scene during the era it concentrates on (the late 1960s), but in saying that, we do realize that there had to be some editorial focus and there are only a certain number of pages allotted to be filled.
The Chevy engine does still have some nitro applications. It is pretty popular on the nostalgia circuit with cars like the Champion Speed Shop machine running one. With respect to “big show” racing, 1975 was the last year for a Chevy powered car to win a professional nitro class. Jim Butcher was the driver and his mount was powered by an all aluminum ZL-1 motor with the good stuff cursing through the veins!
Blue oval boys and Mighty Mopar minions can leave their wallets alone for this one, but Chevy drag racing fans would be remiss to pass on this title. It is absolutely loaded with never before seen photos and hundreds of informative captions telling the stories that would otherwise be lost to time.
Two BangShifty thumbs up!
You can score a copy of this book at Amazon.com or other book sellers.
