Super Chevy Show Norwalk Series - Chevy Show Cars

Super Chevy Show Norwalk Series Drag Racing Lines

After all the Bow Tie excitement in Dallas, we got a few weeks to catch our breath before heading up to Norwalk, Ohio, for the next event on the Super Chevy Show tour. Bill Bader Jr. and the crew at Summit Motorsports Park had everything ready to go for a full weekend of Chevy fun, despite some ominous weather forecasts.

Arriving at the track for Friday's test 'n' tune, we were stunned to see the pits filled to the brim with racers itching to hit the Norwalk quarter-mile and tweak their cars for Saturday's action. We're talking 390 race cars strong.

Saturday dawned gray and ominous, which undoubtedly impacted the car show. Luckily, we only fought a few sporadic drizzles through the event. The drag racers were not deterred at all. There were 450 Bow Ties of every conceivable combination entered in the various classes. These folks were hardcore. There was even an LS-powered Fox-chassis Mustang competing.

The premier strip category of the weekend was the Fuel Altered Showdown. Led by the most famous car in the history of the class, the "Winged Express," the nitro-sucking, on-the-edge-of-out-of-control monsters didn't disappoint as they faced off against each other all weekend. In between, the staging lanes were filled to the brim with cars from the various classes.

Over in the car show area, the First Generation Monte Carlo Club (www.fgmcc.com) brought over 30 of its members out for their annual eastern meet and judging to liven up the car show. Club President Andreas Kwetkus was in attendance with his own Monte despite having a mishap with his car's paint prior to the show. The club was established in 2000, and each year holds an annual eastern and western meet that members can attend to have their cars judged by members for a variety of awards.

While the brief flirtations with rain throughout the weekend caused a few delays, the crew at Summit Motorsports Park was always on the ball, keeping the track dry and everything else running smoothly. And much to the delight of everyone attending the car show award ceremonies, Bill Bader Jr. announced that the series would be returning to the track next year (dates to be determined).

Robert Pavlov was smoking out the track all weekend in his '57 convertible with John Force-style burnouts while running the Shoebox Shootout class. In the final round, he squared off against Bill Rodrigues' '56 Bel Air hardtop, with Rodrigues breaking out with a 9.84 run on a 9.93 dial in, while Pavlov ran a winning 9.22 on a 9.07 dial in.

It's not often you see a Tri-Five ragtop smoking the tires at the dragstrip. Robert Pavlov and his '57 convertible ended up as the winners in the Shoebox Shootout class. Robert had the '57 running in the low 9s all weekend.
It's not often you see a Tri-Five ragtop smoking the tires at the dragstrip. Robert Pavlov
Over in the show car field, Norm Meads brought out this blacker than black '69 L-78 Nova SS for all to behold. He bought it as a replacement for a nearly identical '70 L-78 that he bought new at the age of 17 and raced in the northeast. Each modification is a duplicate of what he had done to his original Nova SS back in the day.
Over in the show car field, Norm Meads brought out this blacker than black '69 L-78 Nova S

The featured racing event was the battle of the fuel altereds, short wheelbase, nitro-huffing beasts that test any driver's ability to control a race car. The most infamous is the Winged Express. Al "Mousie" Marcellus and Willie Borsch campaigned the original car (this example is version three of that), which became a showstopper at drag events. Today, Mousie still manages the dragster, while Willie Borsch rides along in spirit as his ashes accompany the Winged Express wherever it goes.
The featured racing event was the battle of the fuel altereds, short wheelbase, nitro-huff