Justin Cavazos isn’t shy about admitting where his obsession with race cars started. As a teenager in Texas, he found himself at local car meets with his brother, who was into the show car scene. Justin, however, was hooked by the street races that broke out after the sun set. “I was into lowriders before, but after I saw some cars racing on the street, I was like, ‘wow, this is really cool, I want to do something like this one day,’ ” he says. Imports were his first love — that was until the night a Mustang crushed them all before his very eyes. “I said right then, ‘I need a V8.’ That’s it. End of story.” From that moment forward, his path was set.

Photos by Brady Floyd

His racing story follows that of many other grassroots racers, just turned up a notch. At 15, he was sneaking his mom’s Mustang out of the driveway, running it in street races — until the inevitable happened. “Yeah, I got my butt whooped a couple of times, but what do you expect? I was only 15 and stealing my mom’s car to go out racing.” Soon enough, he started hanging out with racers and transitioned into his own builds: a V6 Camaro, then a Z28 with a 383 stroker, and later an LS-powered Trans Am that went deep into the 4-second range. Even a two-year stint in a wheelchair after a serious oilfield accident didn’t sideline him for long. Each step built knowledge and purpose that shaped where he’s at today.

That journey led to his new weapon that’s been turning heads on the internet: a sleek 1966 Chevrolet Nova purpose-built with an SFI 25.1-cert chassis to compete in a variety of venues and categories. He bought it as a roller that had sat untouched for more than a year after changing hands from noted street and no-prep racer Shawn Wilhoit. “He built the car, raced it for a little bit, and then sold it. The guy who bought it stuck it in the corner and didn’t do much with it, Cavazos notes. He stripped it to bare bones and rebuilt it in four months, transforming it into a show-quality, race-ready platform.

Under the hood is a Texas Speed-built 427 LS with a Dart iron block, PRC LS3 260cc, a Texas Speed Titan intake, and a TorqStorm centrifugal supercharger mated with a crankshaft gear-drive. The powerplant is fed by a Waterman 16gpm gear-driven fuel pump paired with a Waterman fuel filter and Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator.

On the engine dyno, it produced 1,900 horsepower, and Cavazos expects around 1,600 at the wheels. With a 200-shot dry kit onboard from Nitrous Outlet and Flo Supply, the package should crest 2,000 horsepower. Supporting hardware includes Santhuff double-adjustable shocks, a two-speed Powerglide from Winner Circle Transmission with a Circle D converter, a Gulf Coast carbon-fiber driveshaft, and a full FuelTech electronics suite, including a new FT600 ECU, coils, and FT Injectors. There’s even FuelTech’s six-point driver safety harness onboard.

Justin’s performance goals with his Nova are ambitious. “My goal e.t.-wise with this car is a 4.30. I’m going to do radial racing but also no-prep stuff. I’m going to be doing a lot of different things with this car,” he explains. Cavazos has enlisted trusted allies to help achieve those numbers: Duane Biddle from Biddle Motorsports handling the tune and Jason Flores of Straight Line Performance dialing in the chassis and suspension geometry. Both have strong résumés in the sport and bring a wealth of capability to this new machine.

This Nova is the logical next step of a racer who had outgrown the limitations of past builds. “I went balls to the wall and said if I’m going to go in, I’m going all the way. So I bought a full-on double framerail chassis car.” The steel roof and quarter panel car sports a fiberglass nose, doors, and other exterior components, bringing it in at a light-weight 2,200 pounds with Cavazos strapped in the seat.

From the feather-light weight to the potent blower-plus-nitrous power adder combination, everything about the car is designed with the intent to run at the front in multiple racing formats: no-prep, no-time, and even radial class racing. Cavazos has the hardware, the knowledge, and experience in his corner, and for a driver who has already tasted mid-4’s on small tires, the next step is to go quicker, faster, and assume a seat among the heavy hitters.