1991
Jeff Gordon was NASCAR Busch Grand National Rookie of the Year. Two years later he would claim the Winston Cup Rookie of the Year award.
1995
Jeff Gordon won eight poles and seven races on his way to winning the 1995 Winston Cup series championship, making him the second-youngest champion in the history of the sport.
Chevy finished the 1995 inaugural season of NASCAR SuperTruck in the victory circle and claimed the Manufacturer's Championship. According to a 1994 NASCAR market survey, 89 percent of truck owners have an interest in racing.
1996
Terry Labonte powered his Monte Carlo to victory in his first win at Charlotte. Along the way, Terry captured wins at Bristol, Richmond, Phoenix, Rockingham, Darlington, Pocono, Talladega, Sebring, and Daytona, to name a few. Chevy Trucks took 1st-4th at Watkins Glen, driven by Ron Hornaday Jr., Joe Nemechek, Mike Skinner, and Jack Sprague.
In the late '90s, Chevrolet made an official return to drag racing with a contingent including Pro Stock S10 trucks and Camaros in both Pro Stock and Funny Car.
Chevrolet As A Hot Rod
Hot rodders found a true supporter in a man named Zora Arkus-Duntov. Born in Belgium, Duntov was a German-trained mechanical engineer-and a real high-performance enthusiast. Upon seeing the first Corvette (the XP-122 prototype) in GM's Motorama display, Zora sought a position with Chevrolet. He was a key player in the design of the small-block V-8.
Duntov's affection for the Corvette and determination to make it a world-class performer is the primary reason for the car's current status as the greatest American-made sports car of all time.
Fairly new to Chevrolet, Duntov penned a bold missive aimed directly at placing Chevy on top of the hot rod world, titled, "Thoughts Pertaining To Youth, Hot Rodders, And Chevrolet." Selected sections of that letter follow:
The Hot Rod movement and interest in things connected with hop-up and speed is still growing. As an indication: the publications devoted to hot rodding and hop-upping, of which some half-dozen have a very large circulation and are distributed nationally, did not exist some six years ago.
From cover to cover, they are full of Fords. This is not surprising that the majority of hot rodders are eating, sleeping, and dreaming modified Fords. They know Ford parts from stern to stern better than Ford people themselves...
Should we consider that it would be desirable to make these youths Chevrolet-minded? I think that we are in a position to carry out a successful attempt. However, there are many factors against us...When a superior line of GM V-8's appeared, there where remarkably few attempts to develop them, and none too successful.
Like all people, hot rodders are attracted by novelty. However, bitter experience has taught them that new development is costly and long, and therefore they are extremely conservative. From my observation, it takes an advanced hot rodder some three years to stumble toward the successful development of a new design. Overhead Fords will be in this stable between 1956 and 1957.
The slide-rule potential of our RPO V-8 engine is extremely high, but to let things run their natural course will put us one year behind-and then not too many hot rodders will pick Chevrolet for development. One factor which can largely overcome this handicap would be the availability of ready-engineered parts for higher output.