IF I’M PLAYIN’ I’M SPRAYIN’
CRAIG WATSON’S 1973 CHEVY NOVA Chassis Type & Mods: 12-point chromoly cage with funny car cage addition by Bivins Race Cars. Suspension: FRONT: TRZ upper/lower control arms and steering arms. Pinto rack and pinion. Moroso Trick Springs, Menscer shocks, Aerospace brakes. REAR: Calvert Caltracs and split mono leaf springs, mini tubbed by Bivins Race Cars with Detroit Speed tubs, AFCO shocks by Mark Menscer, Speedway sliders on self-fabricated custom mounts. Body & Paint: Paint by Danny Abrell of Columbia, KY. Harwood fiberglass hood. VFN trunk lid. Glasstek bumpers and air dam. All stock glass with roll up windows. Engine: 437 “Oldsmopar”—SBC based on a GM Oldsmobile Rocket block with 12-degree Pro Action heads ported by BES. Induction: Mopar 420 intake by BES. C.A.M. intake spacers to match heads by Uratchko Race Engines. 1050 Quick Fuel carburetor custom spec’d by Zach Baker and tuned by Matt McCullough. Power Adder: Induction Solutions Sledgehammer plate. Baseline tune by Steve Johnson and fine tuned by Watson. Electronics: MSD distributor, HVC coil, and 7531 box. Transmission & Converter: Bradco 2-speed TH400 and custom 9.5-inch converter. Di˜ erential: Owner-built 9-inch Ford. Moser aluminum center section, Strange spool, and 35-spline axles. 4.29 or 4.56 gears. Best Perfromance (eighth-mile): 5.30 at 133 mph Thanks: Craig wishes to thank his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Warren Racing family for their teamwork, advice, support, and race day assistance. His family: wife Angella, son Timothy, mom Jane, dad Philip, and brother Mark. Patrick Higginbotham, Kenny Smith, John Heard, Chris Uratchko, Nathan and RL Stinson. And also to his sponsors: AEM Electronics and Lawson Mollica, Bradco Engineering and Brad Ector, Rapp Racing and Mark Rapp, Bivins Race Cars and Derek Bivins, Competition Automotive Machine and Jason, Matt and Dave. Quick Fuel Technology and Zach Baker, VP Racing Fuels and Jason Rueckert, and Carnivore Performance.
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june 2016 | RPM Magazine
The ‘73 Nova has a Sledgehammer Plate by Inductions Solutions and was base line tuned by Steve Johnson.