Quarter-Mile Corvettes & Chevy-Powered Drag Racing 2 Book Set

Re-live Corvette’s early years at the drag strip!

Famously known as “America’s sports car,” the Chevrolet Corvette came to market in 1953. That same year, the newly established National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) hosted its first event. The Corvette was not intended for quarter-mile drag racing, and it appeared to be completely at odds with the sport. Early equipment included an underpowered Blue Flame 6-cylinder motor and automatic transmission. However, the two have become forever entwined.

The Corvette brought an element of class and style to drag racing. In the showroom and on the street, it has always been unique. It is truly American. Likewise, the uniqueness that sets it apart from everything else also meant that it had no natural competition on the drag strip. However, that fact didn’t dampen enthusiasm. Indeed, the NHRA and other governing bodies introduced Sports Car divisions in the late 1950s, catering to both stock and modified vehicles. Naturally, these classes were packed with Corvettes.

Racing historian Steve Holmes breaks new ground by unearthing the complete early history of the Corvette in drag racing. Quarter-Mile Corvettes focuses on the period from 1953 to 1975, which spans the first two decades of Corvette V-8 production. Fittingly, this was also the era considered by many to be the greatest in drag racing’s history, and Corvettes encapsulated the vibrancy of the period in a way that will never be repeated.

Certainly, Chevrolet never intended for the Corvette to become a quarter-mile terror, but today, its nameplate has become one of the longest running in all of drag racing.

Chevy-Powered Drag Racing (A Photo Gallery)

For more than half a century, Chevrolet has served noticed down the quarter-mile with dominating record-setting performances from nitro-fed Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars to heavy-metal door slammers. The list of Chevrolet's quarter-mile legends include the likes of Harold Ramsey in his Chevy-powered dragster that earned him the first NHRA Top Eliminator title at the 1959 U.S. Nationals, Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins, Dick Harrell, "Dyno" Don Nicholson, Jim Bucher, Lee Shepherd, "Jungle" Jim Liberman, Warren Johnson, John Peter's "Freight Train," Clare Sanders, Dave Stickler, Wally Booth, Paul Bevins and legions of others!