Brian Brooks’ new 1966 Chevrolet Nova SS is truly a show-stopping build. You don’t see many race cars that look like they could earn a podium spot at any major car show. Brooks’ nasty Nova is destined for small-tire nitrous racing, and it certainly will get plenty of attention on and off the track.
The true Super Sport was purchased as a non-running factory car, stripped down, and rebuilt around a 480-inch EIC small-block Chevrolet, a three-stage dry nitrous system, a state-of-the-art chassis from Lunsford Engineering, and is filled with plenty of titanium.
Brian has raced everything from Camaros to a leaf-spring Chevy II and an X275 Mustang, but the Chevy II body style has always pulled him in. Now, the Nova is being prepared for small-block no-time racing, with X275 and other small-tire possibilities already part of the long-term plan.
Brian grew up in West Texas around the local small-tire heads-up racing series called King of the Hill. His first car was a 1976 Camaro with a 383 small-block Chevy, and later came a field-find Camaro that became a successful small-block nitrous car. The first Chevy II Brian ever owned followed, and it made the body style stick as his new favorite. He sold that car, moved into X275 with his familiar white Fox body Mustang, won races with blower combinations, and kept looking back toward the Nova.
“My heart has always been toward the Chevy II,” Brian shares. “I had this car for probably four years, trying to decide what to do with it. It’s a true SS car, and when I do a car, we blow it all the way apart and make it what we want it to be.”
Robert Haven at Dynamic Hot Rods handled the sheetmetal work before the car went to Chris Lunsford at Lunsford Engineering. Brian met Chris through racing, and the two became close friends. From there, the Nova became as much Chris’ brainchild as Brian’s, with a member of his team, Opie, helping and hours spent thinking through weight, safety, serviceability, and rules.
“This car is the brainchild of Chris. He’s one of my best friends, my ride-or-die when it comes to racing,” Brian says. “The time he and Opie spent thinking through how to keep me safe and keep the car as light as possible is why it turned out the way it did.”
The Nova retains its steel roof and quarters, with Ultra Carbon doors, decklid, and wing, plus a Glasstek front clip and hood. Lunsford built the car with a true bolt-on front clip to fit the X275 rulebook, and Brian kept class promoter John Sears involved to make sure it would pass inspection.
The details underneath are where the car shows its intent. If titanium could be used, it generally was. The Nova has titanium firewall pieces, control arms, pedals, steering shaft, parachute mounts, and gun-drilled titanium bolts.
The rear suspension uses a titanium four-link setup, and zero-offset RC Components rear wheels allowed the Merillat Racing rearend to stay narrow and light. Menscer Motorsports supplied the rear four-way adjustable shocks and worked with Brian and Chris on chassis setup, including four-link settings, spring rates, and alignment. AFCO radial-valved canister struts handle the front suspension work.
The engine is a 480 cubic inch small-block Chevrolet from EIC Motorsports based around a Brodix cast block. On top of the engine, you’ll find a set of CFE billet heads, along with a Wilson billet intake topped with two inline billet Accufab throttle bodies.
The small block has been filled with top-shelf parts that include GRP rods, a Bryant billet crank, Manton M62 lifters, half-inch pushrods, and a Jesel valvetrain. Keeping the engine lubricated is a Dailey dry-sump system.
PMC, the CNC business Brian partnered with Gabby Labiosa to start, handled the heads with their port layout, valve locations, and sizing. Paul Klyczek at PKRE designed and flowed the three-stage dry nitrous system.
Behind it is a Turbo 400 three-speed lockup transmission from Aaron Ginn of Bubba Ginn Racing Transmissions, shifted by an M&M shifter and matched to a Neal Chance lockup converter. A PST carbon-fiber driveshaft sends power rearward, while Strange carbon brakes handle stopping duties.
The cockpit has a DSP pour-in seat, helmet pads, carbon pieces, and Holley/Racepak electronics, including a Holley Lightweight Dominator, Pro 600 box, coils, sensors, and Racepak data. Matt Lunsford at Holley helped Brian choose the system, Bob Bales of Race Systems Inc. tunes it, and Abdulah at ProWire wired the car with a clean layout that still lets it be serviced.
Carmen Damiani painted the Nova in Florida using a green hue that shifts to gold in sunlight. He also airbrushed the grille and front end, giving the car the look Brian wanted. Brian spent the final week of the build working alongside Carmen in the Florida heat, which he made up for with ice cream.
The Nova has been tested at XRP while Brian worked through new-car gremlins. More testing at Tulsa and Thunder Valley in Noble, Oklahoma, is next before Robert Medley’s small-block nitrous no-time race. Yellow Bullet or Duck X Productions races could follow, and a blower combination may come later.
Like most no-time cars, Brian figured it needed a name, and he says “McLovin” seems to fit. The Nova may be beautiful enough that people tried to buy it before it raced, but Brian built it to do much more than sit under the lights. The next step is finding out what it does when the button comes up.
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