This 1966 Chevy Biscayne looks like it belongs in an old lady's garage, not making mid-10 second passes on the dragstrip! Year One is a restoration parts manufacturer and retailer that likes to get involved. We recently attended the Year One Experience, a weekend long motorsports party with something fun to do for everyone. We brought Nick Scavo's buddy "Big Steve's" 1966 Biscayne to play with on the drag strip.
Nick has been tuning his buddy’s 1966 Biscayne to be a true street sleeper… a car that doesn’t look anywhere near as fast as it is. They let us make a few exhibition passes on the drag strip at the Atlanta Dragway. You see, this stock-looking sled is hiding its share of secrets. By all rational thought, it shouldn't do what it does.
After the first pass, the big Biscayne ran in the high 10's in the low 130's for MPH... imagine this blue sled beating a new LS7 ZO6 Corvette in the quarter mile by 2 seconds! Nick claimed the tires spun as soon as he hit the first stage of nitrous oxide.
He did say “the first stage of nitrous”. This Biscayne is powered by a 540 cubic-inch Big Block Chevy built by Fast Times Motorworks , and it takes multiple hits on the bottle. The first stage comes on immediatly to get the car out of the hole, and then the second stage comes on to keep the party going. The combination of big-block power, a good shot of juice, and a suspension system that works make this car launch this hard.
Part of the fun of the car... besides going fast... is that it so un-assuming. There are no obvious tip-offs that this car is capable of going as fast as it does. Inside, there are no gauges beyond the stock sweeper speedo and the gas gauge. The bench seat is original, and Nick shifts the TH400 with a modified column shifter! And don't look for a roll cage, that would reduce this car's... um... "profit potential" on the street!
Look in the trunk and you'll find nothing unusual there, either. The rear wheelhouses have been widened to accomodate bigger drag radials on widened stock appearing wheels, but there's no nitrous bottle out back. It's hidden in plain view... under a towel on the floor of the back seat!
Mid 10 seconds in the quarter mile is very respectable, and the Biscayne caught the eye of Car Craft Magazine’s Jeff Smith. Look for this car in an upcoming issue of Car Craft Magazine.
One of the tricks Nick used to increase the Biscayne’s traction was to shorten the Instant Center length. Instant Center is the imaginary point where the lower and upper rear control arms would meet if they were long enough. By elevating the upper control arm mount, you change the geometry and shorten the Instant Center length. It basically makes the triangulation shorter. This reduces the control arm’s leverage and plants the tires in a more aggressive manner on the track.
The only problem with this car is the safety factor... any car going 11.99 seconds or faster in the quarter mile is required to have a roll cage, according to NHRA rules. So this car is one of those that usually only gets one full-tilt pass on the strip before getting sent home for bad behaviour. If you see it on the street, don't say you weren't warned.
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