A Decade of Drag-and-Drives – Bob Ruppel’s Nova Has What It Takes to Survive on the Street and the Track
As the drag-and-drive world continues to expand, it’s easy to focus to focus on all the new events, the really quick cars, and the cool new builds that continues to gain traction in the community.
But there are some participants that have been tried-and-true in their methods to enjoy a week of memories and racing, even if every experience isn’t a touchdown.
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Bob Ruppel has been participating in drag-and-drive events since 2015, since embarking on his first Hot Rod Drag Week. “I never owned a trailer until Covid,” said Bob. “So the car was always driven to the track and was a daily driver for my first semester of college as a low 13-second big block car in the 1990s.”
With a good car for the task of trying out the drag-and-drive scene, Bob got some encouragement to embark on his first one. “My friend Geoff became a multi-time winner of Hot Rod Drag Week daily driver, and he made the drag-and-drive scene look like fun,” said Bob. With his encouragement, Bob gave his ’72 Nova a good once-over, and fixed all the weak links before entering his first drag-and-drive event.
That first event would be Hot Rod Drag Week, and although he successfully completed the event, Bob had mixed emotions because of his results, an 11.63 average. “I missed the 32-car field for Street Machine Eliminator class because I was limited to 11.5-seconds (due to safety gear),” said Bob. “That year, the bump spot dropped too low for me to stay.”
Bob didn’t waste any time fixing that issue. “I took the car to Larry Larson's a few hours away to be legal to 9.99 that winter.”
Since that first experience, Bob has encouraged his wife and children to jump aboard as well. “In 2016, I took my 11 year-old with me to the Rockies for a bucket list road trip,” he said. “We even opted to drive the extra miles to take my Nova to the top of Pikes Peak before evening racing in Pueblo.”
That experience led to doubling the Ruppel efforts one year later. “I made my daughter and wife team up for 2017 Rocky Mountain Race Week (RMRW), and all four of us went to the top of Pikes Peak.”
Bob also made some changes to his program to have a better chance of being in the running for class titles. “I've have finished fourteen drag-and-drive events so far,” said Bob. Those include eight visits to RMRW, including his 2024 Big Block N/A class victory.
A big part of that success is the Nova’s running gear, which starts with a Fessler Racing Engines 496 cubic inch big block Chevrolet, featuring a Straub Tech hydraulic roller camshaft and Air Flow Research cylinder heads.
The big block mill gets an extra shot of power from NX Express pro power plate when Bob deems it necessary, and the engine is backed by a Transmissions-to-go Turbo 400 with a Gear Vendors Overdrive behind it. A Strange Engineering 9-inch rear end with 3.50 gears passes the power to Mickey Thompson ET Street R drag radials on classic Weld Racing Draglite wheels.
If Bob’s performance doesn’t catch your eye, then the unique PPG Wintermint green color of his Chevrolet he calls ‘Lucy’ will. Named after the popular ‘Peanuts’ comic character, Bob said Lucy can be unpredictable at times. “So many times I went to an event to race, and something would happen,” said Bob. “It gave me the Charlie Brown feeling of landing straight on my butt. Like the starter going out at a bracket race as I was 2 spots from the burnout box.”
With Hot Rod Drag Week now in his sights, the co-pilot role shifts from his son Bob to good friend Mateo, and the elder Bob knows it could be the final year with his son riding shotgun. “During RMRW my son took his place with me for maybe the last time,” Bob said. “He’s to the point he can start his own legacy from the driver's seat. I'm locked into RMRW because my son gets to participate without missing school. We've done 7 together as the #allBobraceteam.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Bob Ruppel and Motion Raceworks.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com