Stacked Shoebox - Andrew Starr’s Big Block Chevy-Powered ‘56
It’s rare that a 582ci big block Chevy would be at a significant displacement disadvantage, but when Andrew Starr’s ’56 Chevy rolled into Hot Rod Drag Week last year it was the David to Matt Sweet’s Goliath.
Matt arrived with an 800ci Sonny’s Hemi at his disposal, with seven-second time slips a near certainty. But here is where we insert the cliché about how drag-and-drive is all about survival. In the end it was a transmission problem that put the Sweet family out of contention on day three, elevating Andrew to the top of Pro Street Naturally Aspirated. His 9.639 average would be enough for the class win.
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Competition was not a certainty for Andrew in the months leading up to Drag Week. The ’56 had broken the ladder bar cross member during testing for Midwest Drags, forcing Andrew to miss that event.
“I was not going to attend Drag Week, but once I repaired the car I felt urged to go,” he said.
Andrew wasn’t feeling the good vibes so much on day zero, with the rained out tech-n-test day leaving him feeling despondent as a solo driver.
“Everything was water logged, the car wouldn’t run right, and I was even afraid I had hurt the engine due to water intrusion. The drive through the grass fields to get back to the trailer after they canceled testing deposited all kinds of crap in every crevice under the car. It was just a long day and not what I needed to start the event. Although I was with many friends at the event, not having a co-pilot was more difficult than I had imagined.”
Fortunately, things got sunnier at the track and in Andrew’s disposition. The car he has owned for 30 years treated him very kindly for the rest of the week. At its heart is a self-built 582ci big block Chevy with Brodix BB-3 cylinder heads, CP pistons, billet rods and a Crower crank working together on 13:1 compression. A Bullet 55mm cam is specced at 282/294 @ .050 with 0.914/0.865 lift. Crower 0.937 lifters and 1.75 stainless rockers are in place.
Adding significantly to the street cred is a G-Force five-speed transmission. This pushes horsepower under a stock chassis with 2x3” rear back half into a Moser fabricated nine-inch housing with a Moser aluminum center section. Moser also supplied the 40 spline spool axles. The 4.63 rear gear gives plenty of down-low mumbo.
The Hilborn fuel injection stacks atop the manifold are instantly recognizable, perhaps even moreso to Andrew. He worked for Hilborn for 16 years before Holley purchased the company. From there he transferred to become the EFI motorsports manager at Holley before going out on his own as Starr Performance Tuning and Consulting. It never hurts to be your own tuner, that’s for certain.
As far as drag-and-drive mods go, Andrew is particularly proud of the removable trailer hitch, which comes out by pulling four hitch pins. But for survival, nothing beats the Clutch Tamer.
“I don’t want the extra work of an adjustable clutch, and dead hooking at 4000lb breaks everything,” he said. “This clever device slowly applies the clutch, allowing clutch slip at the line and at the shift. It might not be as good as an adjustable clutch, but it sure has stopped the constant breaking of parts I used to encounter.”
Written by Luke Nieuwhof.
