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At the outset, America's Sports Car was more for show than
go. It was, after all, the brainchild of Harley Earl, GM's
larger-than-life head of styling. In truth, the Corvette was
little more than an admittedly sleek plastic body on a sedanderived
frame and suspension, powered by a 150 hp
straight-six through a two-speed automatic. The car looked
great, but its performance would certainly be no threat to
thoroughbred European sports cars, especially in competition.
Two patriotic enthusiasts from Chicago were among
the first to challenge that assumption.
The 1954 Carrera Panamericana was the last of the
treacherous international endurance races contested in
Mexico. (See AUTO Aficionado Vol I, No 2) A little known
footnote in American motor racing history was the appearance
there of a white Corvette entered by Chicago speed
shop owner Bill von Esser and co-driver Ernest Pultz. Sans
grille, headlights taped over, sporting Dayton wire wheels
and emblazoned with the number 12, it certainly looked the
part. Reality set in early — on the first leg of the race when
the Blue Flame-six threw a rod, possibly aided, in fairness,
by a bad batch of fuel.
Regardless, it was an inauspicious international debut for
America's sports car, but already forces were in place at
General Motors to radically change the Corvette. The
newest and most voluble of those forces was a clever and
ambitious 45-year old European émigré of Russian origin,
Zora Arkus-Duntov. Having been captivated by the
Corvette at GM's 1953 Motorama, the engineer/sports car
racer got himself hired at Chevrolet, where he soon got the
ear of then chief engineer Ed Cole, father of the small-block
Chevy V-8. With Cole's increasing support, Duntov
embarked on a quest to transform the Corvette from a handsome
boulevardier to a genuine high-performance sports car.
And, it must be said, to establish himself as the resident
guru when it came to that car's future.
For 1955, in addition to the stove-bolt-six and
Powerglide powertrain, one of Cole's compact and lightweight
V-8s (43 lbs less than the six) was offered with a
three-speed manual. Straight-line performance was much
improved, but the first Corvette that really benefited from
Duntov's influence (a power increase to 240hp and real
chassis development) came in 1956, along with a fresh new
look from Harley Earl's styling department.
September of 1955 Duntov's record-breaking dash up
Pikes Peak, in a disguised V-8 powered '56 model Chevy
sedan, garnered publicity and a whole ad campaign for
Chevrolet. After a round of testing a new camshaft and a
few other tweaks at the GM proving grounds, Duntov took a
slightly modified Corvette to Daytona Beach and in early
January 1956, went 150mph in the Flying Mile. That news
broke at the '56 Vette's unveiling in New York.
A month later, at the Daytona Speed Weeks, three
Corvettes appeared; two relatively stock models and the
modified car that had gone 150. Duntov drove the faster car,
with sports car racer John Fitch and airplane stunt woman
Betty Skelton in the production models. All set records –
another triumph for Duntov and more ammunition for
Earl and Ed Cole to fight for the low-selling Corvette
program at GM.
Flush with success, Cole authorized the entry of four
Corvettes to run in the 12-hour race at Sebring. Duntov
made a critical and rare misstep, arguing that the cars were
nowhere near ready and couldn't possibly be prepared
before the race, just five weeks away. Cole turned the program
over to John Fitch, whose racing savvy had been touted
by Briggs Cunningham. "Duntov obviously didn't want
to run the cars," remembered Fitch, "He didn't think they
could be competitive, so Ed Cole had me do it. You know,
the logical person to run it would have been Duntov, run it
as a high-dollar team. But, no, Ed Cole told him to stay
away. He didn't," Fitch added with a smile.
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