Here's a few others. Reading all of them gives one a better feel for what dealing with Chevy was really like in the good 'ol days.
Chevrolet = Racing?
By Paul Van Valkenburgh. He worked in Chevrolet R & D in the ‘60s. In the 320 pages there is virtually no mention of drag racing. It is briefly noted: “In the field of drag racing Chevrolet has been even less concerned with any specific individual or team activities.” They did do some evaluation on one of Jenkins cars but didn’t learn much from it. Chevy had tremendous involvement with stock car racing, T/A racing with Penske/Donohue, sports car racing with Jim Hall/Chaparral.
The author had some involvement with Tony DeLorenzo, at the time an amateur racer. Never mind that his father was a GM VP, he had to buy his L-88 Corvette from a Chevy dealer. Their normal parts source was junkyards. For the ’71 season they bought a pair of Bud Moore Mustangs. Quoting the book: “Just how much Chevrolet racing support can there be when two such insiders buy Fords to race?”
Best Damn Garage in Town
By Smokey Yunick. The consummate insider, Smokey was there at the birth of NASCAR and was involved with R & D well into the ‘70s. There are some amusing comments about the Hemi 302. A constant theme throughout the book is how cheap and difficult Chevy was to deal with.
The Unfair Advantage
By Mark Donohue. There is no better source for perspective on what dealing with Chevrolet was like. The Penske/Chevrolet relationship was so bad by the end of ’69 they switched to AMC Javelins for the 1970 season, a ballsy move considering Penske was a Chevrolet dealer. Same theme as Smokey: cheap and difficult to deal with. When their ’67 Camaro race car was damaged in a trailer wreck it was rebuilt with junkyard parts. When they wanted Chevy to air freight improved engine parts direct to a track Piggins refused stating “We aren’t involved in racing.” All they did was win back to back championships for Chevy but couldn’t get someone to send them some parts.
