68 Harrell Nova

[Chevy454]

Ray:

You bring up an interesting point about "why" Fred ordered the '68 COPO Novas. I was recently thumbing through an old Super Stock and Drag Illustrated (June '68), and they were talking about the refactoring that NHRA was doing to curb the amount of Chevrolets. A lot was in part of the under-rating of several of the Chevrolet engines. For instance: the Z/28 was refactored to 315 horsepower, while the L-71 was factored to 48o horsepower, and so on. But, in the article they stated the "Chevies haven't been strong in the automatic classes for years". So, obviously someone saw a niche for a new drivetrain combo, and convinced Chevrolet it would work.

I'm sure Ray could add a lot of info on this aspect of it, as he was there when it happened. Anyway, just something I found "interesting".