New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Hello everyone, I have been lurking around here for a few years and finally decided to introduce myself now that I have a car. This stock eliminator thing started for me 5 or 6 years ago when Paul Merolla was stuck in a truck with me for 15 hours on our way back from the Bonneville Salt Flats. During the trip we talked about the 66 Nova he was building as a class racer. He informed me what class racing was all about and answered all sorts of dumb questions I had. I then decided to build a car. I bought a 64 nova 2 door post, but soon realized building a car is quite time and money consuming, so I sold it and lost the dream for a bit.

A few years later after Paul finished his Nova I went and watched him race and that got me interested again so I bought a project 67 Impala 2 door but soon came to the realization that it was too big of a project to take on a if I wanted to race in the next decade. So I sold it, but this time I did not loose the dream. I early 2014 I decided I needed to buy a stocker so I told Paul and my wife Becky that I was going to sell all my projects , parts and junk that I had been collecting and buy a car that was ready to race. I believe that they both had there doubts that I would go through with it. I also needed a truck bed camper so I could stay at the track overnight and get the full race experience. So I bought a camper and a pitbike, and now I was a tag along, annoying question asking, pit side spectating wannabe racer. I followed Paul around to a handful of races in the Midwest and met a ton of nice people that taught me about how class racing worked and kept me motivated to get a car. I then met Bill Bogner at Kearney, NE in October who had the car I wanted for sale. A Nova with a stick. After chatting with him for a few months and stringing him along we came to a deal on his 70 B/S Nova. Paul told me a few months before that if I bought a car we could use his dually and enclosed trailer to pick it up. ( I think he told me this believing I would loose interest in buying something). Ha, I showed him, I called him on a Wednesday and asked him if he was ready to fulfil his offer to pick up a car with me on the following Saturday. He said he was up for an adventure so we made plans to drive 700 miles round trip to pickup my new toy in a possible blizzard. Bill was kind enough to meet us half way and save us an additional 700 miles. On Saturday Jan 31 Paul and I made the trip, and meet Bill and his son in Mitchell, SD in the sub zero temps and got the car. Thanks to Bill and his son the car the deal and car transfer went smooth. It was white knuckle driving on the way back for Paul (thanks Paul for driving, I didn't want to crash your truck.) Maybe his 2wd Duramax Dually in a blizzard was not the best choice. We did make it back safely and got the car into my shop. (slicks are surprisingly good on snow.)
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...1951650392.jpg


Now I just have to learn all I can about the car, get my nhra stuff in order, buy safety gear, buy an enclosed trailer and learn how to drag race before April.


Thank you Paul for putting up my questions and keeping me on track. Thanks to Bill Bogner for putting up with my calls for a couple months while i strung him along about buying the car. Thanks to everyone I talked to at the races for taking the time to answer questions about class racing. (Jim Parsons, John Hladky, Dwayne Dickens, ...) I plan on making it to a handful of midwest class racer events this year and some local bracket events to get my feet wet and figure the car out.


http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...0131151228.jpg




http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...0131151227.jpghttp://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...0131151930.jpghttp://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...131151227a.jpg

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Great looking car! Good luck to you and hope you have lots of fun.

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Welcome to Stock Eliminator & Have Some Fun.

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Good Luck with the car and have some fun and hope you get lucky - "I would rather be lucky than good myself" Bob

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Nice car, Hope to meet you as I hope to make some races up your way this year. What engine combo do you have? Tony Tosto B/S 69 Camaro 3050.

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Thank you, it is a aluminum head 375hp/402.

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Good luck with your racing. You've joined a great group of racers.

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Nice ride, Dave, welcome to the asylum.

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Very nice looking car, and cool story! Good luck and have fun!

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Dave, congratulations on your new ride,” that was easy ?”

We look forward to seeing you and your wife at the races having fun with the rest of us.

Jim & Linda Parsons

F/S 5305

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Great story, Next stop Walmart and buy the very best Jackstands you can find. Welcome Aboard......M.J.

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Don't let M J scare you! Adjusting the clutch is better than smelling auto trans fluid any day! Speaking of MJ. He is the owner in chief at derby city car covers. If you don't have one for your Nova, he can make one. Best investment ever for a racecar. It is a one piece fender cover that wraps around the front of your car. Saved ours many times during all of the flogging on the car!

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Dave great story. Welcome to stock eliminator, nice to see some New blood coming to race in one of the greatest class's around. Best of luck with the new car, enjoy your self.

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Dave, Jim is correct about running a stick car. Better to adjust the clutch, than smell auto trans fluid. Jim is also correct about M. J. Quinn. When I first observed the fender cover on Larry Cummings' car years ago, I knew I had to have one. I immediately called Derby City and ordered one for my Camaro. It is all in which you want. Do you want to run with the pack. Run in front of the pack, or behind the pack. It's going to take a lot of work and money to run in front of the pack.

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Elizabeth and I can make a clutch adjustment in about 10 minutes, so I don't know what all the fuss is about!
Can't wait for the season to start...now I won't be the newbie anymore, but I'll probably still drive like one. Congrats on making your dream happen!

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Congratulations Dave!
Nova's Rule !

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Welcome, and as you can see everyone is here to help.

See you at the track!

Sean

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

I'm still a newby. Ive only been to two races last fall with mine. I've bracket raced for years and thought it was great till I decided to build one to run stock too. I'm hooked already and cant wait to get mine back together and go testing/racing. Hope you like it as much as I do. Lots of smart guys here that are not afraid to help with questions. And you'll have a bunch. I know I did and still do.

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Congrats Dave for taking the plunge. At least you won't be the only newbie in the Midwest Class Racers next year. I'll be out there in Stock for the first time too. While you were in Mitchell you could have stopped by and visited one of the class racers in the area. There are quite a few of us around here.

Bob Tilton

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Quote:


Originally Posted by james schaechter View Post

Don't let M J scare you! Adjusting the clutch is better than smelling auto trans fluid any day! Speaking of MJ. He is the owner in chief at derby city car covers. If you don't have one for your Nova, he can make one. Best investment ever for a racecar. It is a one piece fender cover that wraps around the front of your car. Saved ours many times during all of the flogging on the car!

Dave, Jim is correct about running a stick car. Better to adjust the clutch, than smell auto trans fluid. Jim is also correct about M. J. Quinn. When I first observed the fender cover on Larry Cummings' car years ago, I knew I had to have one. I immediately called Derby City and ordered one for my Camaro. It is all in which you want. Do you want to run with the pack. Run in front of the pack, or behind the pack. It's going to take a lot of work and money to run in front of the pack.

X3
Congrats again Dave, and welcome to the asylum as Alan said...

You have a beautiful car.
Call M.J. and get your fender cover coming, when I was building my car I saw it as well. I ordered it and have loved it. There's nothing like adjusting the clutch and rotating the tires every two passes to make them live.
Great choice with the stick car... Now go out and have some fun.

Keith

__________________

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Awesome car What made you wanna go stick ?

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Clark Holroyd told me almost the same thing "wondering why it took me so long to discover how fun a stick car is to drive".;)

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Welcome aboard, Dave! The car is a proven winner. Looking forward to seeing you at some MCR events this season. -Al

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Way cool to have a stick car, Cimarolli likes the car, Helms likes the color, and you have plenty of help from all the stick guys.
Hope to see you at the races! Have fun and good luck.

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

I like your car,I think a little clutch dust is better than dealing with that devils blood that comes out of those slush boxes.
I have always been stick man, when I was a kid my bicycle had 3 pedals!!!
Mike Taylor 3601

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

I chose a stick car because leaving off a clutch just sounds like more fun. I admit I was influenced a little by a few stick drivers. Thank you for all the encouragement and it is nice to see that I will not be the only newbie out there this year. I will look into the car covers as I know I will need one. I had a blast watching and bench racing for the last couple years so I can only imagine how much fun and frustrating it will be to actually race. I think I found a trailer locally that I will be picking up so there is one thing off the list. Now I just need to find some different wheels. (I need the car to look different so it feels like mine.) I have a few performance things I want to try to hopefully start widdling down my times. I also need to lose a few pounds off the front to make up the difference in driver weight. (Hopefully I can find a deal on lighter front brakes and wheels).

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

For a first time stocker you sure started with the a quality car! :cool: Damn that is nice, I have always said its the adventure and the road trips that make it fun. :D Congrats and enjoy

Kevin

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Congrads on your new car. I also talked to Bill about that car when it was up for sale. Great guy to talk to and he mentioned that there was a "guy from Iowa who wanted the car real bad". Of course I need a second car like a hole in my head so I am glad it ended up where it was suppose to go. Good luck and have some fun!

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

X2


Mike A114 P/SA

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Welcome aboard! Enjoy the ups and downs that come with drag racing (especially a stick car!) and look forward to meeting you in the future!

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Congrats Dave! As a newbie B/S racer from just last year, I can say you will pick it up in no time! Look forward to seeing you at the track. Bill raced that car to a win in Marion last year. Always nice to have some more stick cars!

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Cool deal I like the novas too! And the stick is awesome! I'm gonna try for my first time the 396/375 hp alum head deal too. Good luck and remember have fun and if you win one it's a bonus lol!!

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Hi Dave, Welcome to stock eliminator! Most of the information that was posted is "dead on" The only thing that I might add is to Get a "Race Pak" if your car is not already equipped. The clutch adjustments are not difficult, but you do need to know which way to go! Good luck and hope to see you at the races!

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

X2 !! Bitchen Car !!
Congrats Dave!!


Don Anderson
M/S #5342
1985 L/X Mustang Coupe

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

always heard that stick cars were easy to maintain then automatics

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

That is a good looking race car. You must remember that while you thought you were stringing the seller along, he could have just as easily been sinking a hook in your mouth. Now you're in and all the fun and hard work begins.

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

Dave
Awesome! I hope to see you at the track!


Duane Dickens

Re: New Guy from Iowa with a B/S Nova
 

I am hoping that the comment about sticks being less maintenence then automatics is correct, but either way I understand how manual gear boxes work and go together, autos are a little too voodoo for me and the converter thing seems expensive and a never ending battle. Thanks again everyone for the compliments and encouragement. I look forward to meeting more of you this year.