Chevy Big Block Show - The Classes Of '48 And '09 Have A Reunion

Kevin McCauley brought his unrestrored '62 Bel Air two-door post across the Canadian border to take the win in the HR-2 class for 409s running 11.00 seconds or slower in the quarter.

When Ray Lehberger decided to get into the 409 racing game, he started with this clean six-cylinder body, a common trick from back in the day to get weight out of the car. This project has kept rolling and Ray has the best of everything from bumper to bumper. The 409 stroker has powered his '62 Bel Air to a 10.19 second/132 mph pass.

Allen George, Jr. races the Blue Screamer, a 470 cube W-powered '62 Impala, in MANDRA, the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Drag Racing Association. Fastest time down the 1320 for this Impala was a 10.42 at 125.5.

The Wully Bully Racing Team made to trip from nearby Kutztown, Pennsylvania, with twin Roman Red '62 Bel Air hardtops to put on a great show for the crowd. Since it was built after the lessons were learned from Steven Moyer's original Wully Bully, Carl Bucks, driver of Wully Bully II has a 310-pound weight advantage and a W-motor that is 22 ci larger than Steven's 450 ci engine. This advantage is good for 10 mph and a half second in the quarter.

This was one of the Z-11-equipped 409s running around during the Fred Totten Memorial. Note the aluminum front end on Rusty Symmes' black '62 Bel Air show car. Warming up the fluids prior to the start of the day's racing action is necessary for serious drag machines. Verlin Hale services the racing twin of Rusty Symmes' black bubbletop show car. Verlin ran a 1.27 second 60-ft time later that day on its way to a 9.04 second/149.91 mph pass, best ever for one of Rusty's Bel Airs, and a testament to the conditions of the starting line at Thompson Raceway Park.

In addition to the W-motor festivities, the gassers were also out in force. Here is one of many exhibition passes made by Gene Schwartz in his beautiful '52 Chevrolet. Gene has owned this car since he was 15-years-old and used it to set the NHRA E/G national record in '64 (which he managed to hold for four years.

The 6-71 blower was just installed on top of the 409 in this red '62 Impala SS. The owner, Jay Gould, used this event to dial in the combo and ended up with a weekend-best of 10.62 at 125 mph.

Many manual transmission Chevys showed up to compete with UMTR-North during the weekend. Wild Bill Dowhaniuk heats up the slicks on his '64 Chevy II gasser, the Mind Bender II. Bill bought this baby new, then drove it two miles to his house, where it was converted to a race car. He claims this C/Gas five-speed-equipped car is the only original '64 Chevy II still racing in America today.

One of the most enjoyable 409s to watch was Dennis Ford's '62 Biscayne. Denny made it through the first round of the HR-1 bracket of the 409 race with a 10.31/129.31 mph run. He was a crowd favorite as his Biscayne was wheels-up every pass.

One of our favorite gassers on the track was "Blew By You," a '56 running a 13:1 355 ci small-block with Hilborn injection. This '56, owned and driven by Steve Crook, has run a best of 11.14 seconds at 118 mph. Wheelstands were the order of the day and the crowds loved it.

Lou Terra brought this August '85 Super Chevy cover car, a '62 Bel Air race car from Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. This four-speed 409 was originally raced with an aluminum nose and a Z-11 top end by Jim Jones out of Dallas.

One of the organizers of the 1st Annual Fred Totten Memorial, Jim Kwiatkowski, brought this heart-stopping Bel Air. Good thing he has a tilt nose on the '57. There is nothing quite like a dual carb M/T cross-ram intake on top of a 409.

Gerry Gostenik drove this beautifully engineered '61 Bel Air. He posted the fastest pass in the HR-2 bracket with an 11.94 second/112.54 mph run in the first round, but he ended up red-lighting against the eventual HR-2 winner, Kevin McCauley.

Traveling with the McCauley brothers was Jordan Station, Ontario's Len Woodrow and his fully restored '62 Bel Air two-door post. We were glad to see Len wringing out the 409 four-speed on the strip.