This Highway-Cruising Gasser is Drag-And-Drive Cool Emplified!
Covering a drag-and-drive as media means you encounter many teams on the road, but sometimes it’s just the same team over and over. Such was the case with Corey Bohl and his ’67 Chevy Nova Gasser, which we managed to find pulled over almost every time we hit the route earlier this year at Summit Midwest Drags.
Corey had his fair share of troubles at the event, with the Nova developing an appetite for rear ends at the track and even trying to set itself on fire on the road.
The 427ci SBC-powered, 93-octane fueled retro machine uses a Dart block, Dart heads, and a Victor tunnel ram. There’s twin 650 side hung double pumper Holley carbs, and the whole shebang was assembled and tuned by Ohio Crankshaft.
Being a gasser, it’s naturally got a straight axle front end from BZ Rods, with ladder bars out back. “It’s a hell of a street car and a half-ass race car,” joked Corey, who was doing the event with his dad as co-pilot.
The first day was a bit of a mess, as a pinion nut came off, ruining the 4.30 rear end. Fortunately it happened right as the guys were pulling into Walt’s Hot Rods, so the car went up on a hoist for a spare 3.73. But even that assortment of metal wasn’t long for this world.
“It survived one burnout, three passes, and seven hours of driving before I dead hooked at Dragway 42 and broke it again,” Corey confessed.
Corey made a mad dash to Summit in the Sick rental car (you’re welcome) and replaced the rear end right just meters from the burnout box. With a little time to spare, he was able to make two runs to hand in his time slips for the day and get on the road — just in time for a rain storm.
“I’ve never used the wipers, I actually had them capped off. So we popped the wipers on for some some sprinkles and I only touched them a time or two. When we headed into a thunderstorm, we turned them on low and the wiper linkage somehow grabbed a wire underneath the dash that was neatly tucked away and caused a short. Sparks were thrown inside the car, but we fixed it quickly with my wiring kit.”
Thankfully that would be the last of Corey’s dramas, besides a small oil leak from one of his see-through valve covers. With two time slips under his belt at Edgewater, he was finally able to let loose once again with a massive burnout and celebrate a victory in the B/Gas class. No-one said looking so cool was easy!
Written by Luke Nieuwhof.
