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Phil Parker's B/Modified Production '59 lifts the wheels at the NHRAU.S. Nationals. This Texas-based flyer ran a small-block Chevy andfive-speed transmission and was sponsored by Shioleno and Coleman, whomade specialty shifters for the Doug Nash trans.
Purists will surely howl at the sight of this pristine '57, framed upand tubbed for those big, wide slicks and running in the NHRA's SuperGas category. S/Gas runs off a 9.90-second e.t. breakout, and140-150-mph numbers are common.
Driver Jim Warter and his partners built this '57 to run in theD/Altered class in NHRA Competition Eliminator. The small-block-poweredVette carries the No. 7, indicating that Warter was the defending CompEliminator Winston World Champion at the time. Warter and the JointVenture team campaigned several successful Corvette race cars in theModified and Comp Eliminator categories.
This late 50's photo taken at Amelia Earhart Field, Hialeah (South Florida), Florida, features a B/Gas '32 Ford Victoria sedan getting ready to run Don Gist's 1959, 290 hp, 283 Corvette. Class rules required 7" maximum width tires. Because of this, "Cheater Slicks" or Atlas Bucron rubber (softer compound) tires were popular before M&H Racemaster, Firestone and Goodyear offered better options. It appears that the Vette's driver, Don Gist is indicating that his rear axle may have decided to take the rest of the afternoon off.
As a Lake Worth, Florida used car dealer, Don Gist had his choice of many different rides for drag racing. His choice was this 1959 Fuel Injected, 283 cid, 290 hp Corvette roadster. Gist shows off his car and the ludicrous "safety equipment" of the day, a shorty helmet and clean, white t-shirt. Note the coveted, full Corvette "knock-off" style wheel covers, white line whitewalls, two-point roll bar and nifty '56 Chevy tow wagon equipped with fender skirts.
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