Beaver Springs Dragway– If you’ve been around the sport since the late 60s or early 70s, you’ll recall how the drivers often became our heroes more for their ability to build their race cars and how that looked than on how well they drove them or how fast they were. We got to see a lot of innovation in those early days with a lot of varied looks pulling up to the line with really astute builders exploiting every hole in the rule book they could find. It was far more exciting to see who built what compared to today’s tightly-regulated “cookie-cutter” designs in the pro categories.

Every now and then you find a car that takes your memories back to those old cars and the guys who built them. Gary Breeback’s altered hot rod is just such a car. Gary built the frame, all the suspension, did all the sheet metal and body work himself. Building the car required a lot of modifications to the body and when that was all completed, he also painted the car himself. And not only that, he also built the engine! According to Breebeck, “It’s far from the original. Everything on it’s been touched, or modified. The intent was to show what cars used to look like, that’s what nostalgia racing is supposed to look like.” It’s obvious he’s done a fine job of reproducing the look.

This engine is definitely not one you see at the drag strip every day. Close examination reveals the engine is an old 292 cu.in. Chevrolet truck engine, the type that was used from 1952 to the early 90s. According to Breeback, they were “found in a lot of farm trucks and combines.” When he built this car he wanted it to be, “how it was supposed to be in the late 60s early 70s.” And it is constructed in the old-school manner, with everything custom home-built, like back in the day when you went to the junkyard and got the parts you needed that you could find and you fabricated the rest, doing your best to mimic the high-dollar drivers/teams. One of the unusual features on this car is the mechanical fuel injection. Gary was quick to point out, “You can’t get mechanical fuel injection for these engines, so it’s a V8 Chevrolet Hilborn setup, all chopped up on a manifold I made and got working.” Like just about everything else on the car, the headers were fabricated by Gary. Included in the makeup of the old engine are aluminum rods, roller lifters, and roller rockers and a modified cylinder head, which Gary says, “is about as well-modified as you could get a stock Chevrolet head.” On the front of the car are genuine 12-spoke American Racing magnesium wheels to help complete the old-school look and feel of the car. As Breeback says, “That’s what they looked like back in the day.” The rear suspension of the car is also a throwback. Breeback explains, “This is a hard tail, it’s not suspended in the back like the modern cars. It likes to hop coming off the line.” To date, Gary’s has a personal best of a 9.74 e.t. at 134 mph, this just being set on the day of this interview. In his own words, “I’m thrilled to death to do it up here (Beaver Springs Dragway).” It’s hard to imagine a better example of nostalgia drag racing than this car and driver. If you get a chance to see this car in action, look at it, take your mind back in time, and realize, back in the day, cars and drivers like this are what made the sport what it is.