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The Lohnes Wreck Files: The End of Leo Santucci’s 1950 Chevy


The Lohnes Wreck Files: The End of Leo Santucci’s 1950 Chevy

For fans of GM straight-six performance, the name Leo Santucci is household. He has been a recognized authority on these engines for some time and his history racing them on the dragstrip is quite impressive.

His 1950 Chevy was a legend at a bunch of New England tracks, notably the old Connecticut Dragway where he went for an entire year without losing a race in the N-Stock category.

My memories of the car are not all that happy. The last time I saw it run, the result was a destroyed car hanging off the guard wall with Leo slumped over in the seat and not moving.

I remember the day but I do not remember the event, it may have been a nostalgia day or it may have just been a test and tune, but whatever the reason Leo and his wife Teri were there running the car which sported a straight six and a turbo, something that in 2003 was a pretty rare deal. If my memory is right the all-steel car ran in the very low 10-second range and under normal circumstances was not known for being a wild child on the track.

It would leave fairly easy and when the boost came in, the thing just flat out hauled the mail. It was fun watching him get left on and then seeing him run down his competition on the top end of the track.

On this particular run, things were going ok until about 700 feet down track when the car for whatever reason got squirrelly, spit out the driveshaft, and then made about a dead 90-degree turn straight into the wall. The car was pulling hard at this point and the big blunt nose Chevy tagged the wall and as the rear end started to rotate “ahead” of the front, the car caught the ground and began a sickening series of rolls right on the top edge of the tapered concrete wall. I honestly don’t remember the exact number of rolls, but watching it, it seemed like a hundred.

I was on a scooter and making it down the track as the ambulance pulled up. In navigating through the debris field to get to the car I was paying attention to the ground rather than looking off at the race car which was still sitting on top of the wall, with two of its tires touching the ground. It was a sneeze away from flopping down onto its roof, which would have been a very bad thing because the roof was torn open like a tuna can and Leo’s arms would have come out of the hole and surely been crushed by the weight of the car.

We braced up the car with wood and the emergency workers used the jaws of life to cut the rollcage out so Leo (who was still unconscious) could be removed safely from the car.

I remember driving the front-end loader that we used to carry the destroyed hulk of a car back to his pit space. We essentially lined up the heap and bulldozed it back into the trailer.

Leo was ok, but his bell was rung just about as bad as anyone had ever seen. His wife was shaken up as well. The rolls on top of the barrier are as clear in my memory today as they were back then.

Santucci literally wrote the book on Chevy inline power. You can find it pretty easily. The title is The Chevy Inline Power Manual. The motor from the 1950 Chevy found its way into a 1954 Studebaker and is still out there running around, albeit with a hot shoe driver. Leo is the owner and crew chief.

Leo Santucci 1950 Chevy


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