The NASCAR Units…

So it’s 1955 and Chevrolet’s Corvette has seen less than stellar sales figures since its introduction a couple of years earlier. At the same time, Bill France is all stressed out because NASCAR isn’t doing all that hot either.  One way or another Bill got together with Ed Cole at Chevrolet and the two shared their misery. In turn, that lead to a dual branding effort between the Corvette and NASCAR. You gotta believe it was a decision made over drinks in some dark hotel bar in Detroit, right?

Whatever the case, the two fellas decided to have a couple of experimental Corvettes built (one a ’53 and the other a ’55). Yes, the very first Corvette race cars were actually just the result of a marketing deal and shortly after that deal was made, two cars started showing up in battleground states and racing regional events. A number of big names piloted them – The Thomas Brothers, Junior Johnson, Johnny Dodson, etc…

Despite the talent, the Corvette failed to win. And that’s when Chevrolet got serious. In November of 1955, the cars were called back to Detroit and sent to Chevrolet’s Experimental shop. Each was retrofitted with the brand spanking new dual-four 265-inch SBC, side exhaust, 3-speed close ratio trannies, 3.27 rears, small windscreens, and a plastic tonneau cover. Then, they were sent to Smokey Yunich’s shop in Daytona Beach for final preparation.

Of course, around this time the all new 1956 Corvette was being released to the public. So when the publicity photos of the two experimental Corvettes came out, no one really paid all that much attention to them. The ’56 was the hot topic and these two experimental cars were old news. When ’56 bodied ’55 Corvettes won the sports car class at both Daytona and Sebring it only got worse.

Eventually, the experimental cars were shipped back to the Carolinas and back to the regional racing action where they first started. They raced and dominated Ford’s Battlebirds on the tiny oval tracks of the South, but not many paid attention. People were off to bigger and better things I guess. But… if you look back at the first racing Corvettes in history these days, it’s hard to argue they aren’t two of the prettiest race cars of their time.