Everyone has their own preferences for the sights, the sounds, and the style of race cars that they most enjoy. It’s no different than your preference in food and women, really. Some love nothing more than the ground-pounding thunder of a Top Fuel Dragster, while others get their kicks from the whistle of a small tire turbo car, others the growl of a centrifugal supercharger, and yes, some even the buzz of a high-winding six banger.
But in this writers opinion, along with that of so many others, it just doesn’t get much better than the sweet melody of a high-winding, stick-shifted Small Block Chevrolet singing a tune as it screams down the quarter mile with the tach needle buried in places that would make many racers cringe. You can find many of these cars competing in NHRA’s Competition Eliminator, Stock, and Super Stock categories, as well as the NMCA Pro Stock and NMRA Hot Street divisions, among other venues. And while not nearly as quick an fast as their big block, power adder counterparts, these old school naturally-aspirated cars have quite the following.
And so we present this fine example of such a car, as Super Stock racer Troy Fillipone takes us along for the ride as he rows the gears in his screaming four-speed GT/I ’66 Chevy II at New England Dragway in Epping, NH.