Quater-Mile Corvetts & Kings of the Quarter-Mile: 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.

When our young heroes began returning from World War II, they applied the knowledge gained from Uncle Sam towards the fledgling hot rod movement. While speeds increased, rodders learned the hard way just how dangerous it was to "drag it out" on the city streets. In the mid 50s, organized drag racing gave hot rodders a safe place to race. Cars evolved from pre-war coupes and sedans to crude "rail jobs," which were stripped and narrowed frame rails with nothing more than an engine, driveline, seat, and steering gear. 

As hot rodders were the true Mothers of Invention, the cars later became hand-made, finely crafted "Slingshot Dragsters." Dubbed the "Kings of the Sport," these supercharged, fuel-injected Slingshots burned exotic fuels and captured the attention of every young enthusiast from coast to coast. The cars dazzled with gleaming chrome, Candy Apple, Pearlescent, and Metalflake paint jobs, while the nitromethane fuel produced an unforgettable thunderous sound. This new volume contains all the stars that waged war on quarter-mile strips of asphalt from California to Maine. It's a vivid pictorial display that captures the true essence of extreme acceleration in all its glory.