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For decades, Jerry Bickel Race Cars has been one of the preeminent chassis builders in the drag racing industry, delivering record-setting, championship-winning race cars across the vast spectrum of the sport. While Bickel may have gained much of his notoriety through exposure in the mainstream Pro Stock category, the company has been building competitive Pro Modified cars for as long as the class has been around, and today, is considered one of the go-to names for the quickest and fastest door cars on the planet.
And it’s for that reason why Canadian racer Mike Gondziola chose JBRC when he decided to build an all-new, state-of-the-art car for PDRA Pro Nitrous racing. “They have some of the fastest cars out there. Pricing was actually less than some of the other guys, and the quality and attention to detail is impeccable. Jerry is always available and willing to talk to you, and they have a very good staff that are keen on giving you exactly what you want,” he says.
His new 2016 Chevrolet C7 Corvette features power from a 959 cubic inch Sonny Leonard monster, with six stages of nitrous oxide to help propel it into the 3.7-second zone at 200 mph in the 1/8-mile. “The attention to detail on Sonnys stuff is also very evident from the first glance on. Todd Hoerner at Sonnys has been incredible to deal with — always available to help and answer questions,” says Gondziola. The engine is backed up by a Lenco CS4 3-speed transmission paired with a Neal Chance lockup converter.
The craftsmanship and attention to detail on this car is just second to none. I consider it a work of art.
“The craftsmanship and attention to detail on this car is just second to none. I consider it a work of art. This may be the only car I ever build, so I wanted it to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Gondziola says.
Gondziola, who hails from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, tells us no expense was spared in the build, with every titanium and lightweight option that JBRC offers incorporated into it.
Gondziola competed in Pro Modified in the late 1990s, but took more than a decade away from the sport before jumping back in after the class had evolved ten-fold. “Needless to say things have changed dramatically since we raced in the ‘90s. I purchased a car in late 2012 and had a 903 engine installed at Bickel’s. It took a bit of time to get back into things, but we ended up running a 5.92 at over 243 mph in legal NHRA Pro Mod trim. This gave us the distinction of the first Canadian nitrous Pro Mod car in the fives, which is something I’m quite proud of,” he shares.
“We’re not professional racers — we only get out around six times a year. My crew are all voluntary, and we have no sponsors. Being up in western Canada, it makes for very long distances to races; it’s not uncommon for us to have to drive 30-40 hours to race,” he goes on to say.
After picking the Corvette up from Bickel’s shop in Moscow Mills, Missouri in early March, Gondziola debuted it at the PDRA season opener in Tulsa, but electrical gremlins kept him from making a representative run. He shares, however, that in the two partial runs he was able to put on it, that he could tell the new car will be significantly quicker than the 1968 Camaro that he’d campaigned previously, saying the chassis worked flawlessly.
He and his team will be back out at the PDRA event in Martin, Michigan (more than 22 hours from home) to take another crack at the always-tough Pro Nitrous field — Gondziola saying “I can’t wait to get this thing back out and all sorted out.”
Gondziola shared that it all wouldn’t be possible without the support of wife, Melody, and his crew, including Boris Kotyk, George Scott, and David Scott. I’ve got to thank the guys at Jerry Bickel’s, as well, for treating me like a rock star. Jerry himself, he never got tired of my phone calls.”
