Dyno Don: The Cars and Career of Dyno Don Nicholson. Doug Boyce
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Even more rare than Don’s Chevy II wagon was his A/FX Chevy II sedan, captured here at Motor City Dragway in Michigan. Don hauled all three of his 1962 cars to Atlanta when he relocated there in April 1962. Like the wagon, power came by way of a fuel-injected 327. A 1961 “SS” emblem is on the lower fender. It’s unknown what became of this car. (Photo Courtesy John Marsh)
A 360-hp Corvette mill propelled Don’s Chevy II wagon to B/FX honors at the Winternationals in 1962. Don Steves supplied the car, which was built with over-the-counter GM parts. Don’s Top Stock–winning Bel Air is on the left. (Photo Courtesy Nicholson Family Collection)
Earl Wade was showing success of his own at the winter meet. Previously, Wade had pulled wrenches for John Mazmanian, helping him win AA/MSP at the 1961 Winternationals with his Corvette. Mazmanian had bought the Corvette new at Porter Chevrolet in Pasadena and the first thing he did was drive it over to Service Chevrolet and let Wade and Nicholson have at it. At the 1962 Winternationals, Wade himself won Street Eliminator while driving the A/SP injected Corvette of Mike Lenke. In total, there were eight class winners at the 1962 meet that had visited the dyno at Service Chevrolet. At a huge Super Stock meet at Fontana late in February, Don defeated Hugh “Putzel” Osterman, driving the Grassman-Osterman-Wade-Nicholson (as the records show) Corvette. Dyno, exhibiting skills that would take him far, read the track and flagman to perfection, and he cleaned Osterman’s clock with a 12.87 at 112.35 mph to a trailing 13.24 at 109.22.
There was no way that the Chevy II’s original 8.2 rear end would hold up to the injected 327, so in went a full-size housing carrying 4:56 gears. Note the class-required exhaust system. Present but difficult to see here are the metallic brake linings, a coil-over shock on the right side only, and a long traction arm. Rear wheels were 15 inches while the fronts were the original 13-inch wheels. (Photo © TEN: The Enthusiast Network. All Rights Reserved.)
Don’s dyno tuning helped at least eight class winners at the 1962 NHRA Winternationals. One was this fuelie Corvette owned by Brendan Grassman. Hugh Osterman drove the B/Sport Production class winner to a best of 12.70 at the Winternationals and took class with a 13.23 at 106 mph. Here, Osterman faces the 421 Tempest owned by Mickey Thompson and driven by Hayden Proffitt. (Photo Courtesy Robert Genat)
Within a couple of months of winning the Winternationals, Don took up a job offer from Nalley Chevrolet in Atlanta, Georgia, to run its dyno and the dealer’s speed shop. The move was a bit of a no-brainer for Don, as he looked to make a living drag racing and there was no better place than in the southeast, home of the big-dollar match races. The added bonus was that Nalley was headquarters for the Southern Engineering and Development Company (SEDCO), a front for Chevrolet’s clandestine racing program. Don’s wife and daughter waited until the end of the school year, when Cindy finished kindergarten, before joining him for the summer.
In July 1962, Chevrolet celebrated its 50th year in production. To commemorate the special occasion, it produced a limited run of 20 409-powered aluminum-nose Impalas via the Central Office Production Order (COPO). Don received one to race at the NHRA Nationals. It’s believed that either Don or Dave Strickler received the first car produced. Powering the Impalas was the late-season 409 with the good Z11 parts. Due to its limited production numbers and heavier weight, the car fell into B/FX. In the class final, Don’s yellow Impala defeated Dave Strickler’s Old Reliable III with a 12.93 to a 12.96. It’s questionable as to whether Don drove the car at all after the Nationals, instead focusing his attention on the lighter and quicker Bel Air. Fellow racer Hubert Platt, who worked alongside Don at Nalley, is known to have driven the car after the Nationals, match racing it through the end of the season.
Dyno Don’s reputation only grew greater when he moved East in the spring of 1962 and took up residence at Nalley Chevrolet, Atlanta’s largest Chevrolet dealership. People came from hundreds of miles around to have Don dynotune their car. Nalley promised Don the run of the dealer’s speed shop/tune up shop as well as a race car, which came in the form of a Z11 Impala in 1963. (Author’s Collection)
Don also drove the Bel Air at the Nationals but failed to repeat the previous year’s showing. Hayden Proffitt took Top Stock, defeating the Ramchargers’ Jim Thornton in the final. In a Robert Genat interview, Don states that Proffitt won that race because he was running at shipping weight rather than curb weight; the difference was 3,440 pounds versus 3,620 pounds.
“They cut up the dashboard, cut out the bottoms of the ashtrays, and whatever to get the weight out.„
“It took us a while to catch on. That’s why Proffitt’s Bel Air car ran so good. Bill Thomas helped build that car. It was a frame-off. They cut up the dashboard, cut out the bottoms of the ashtrays, and whatever to get the weight out. I couldn’t believe the NHRA allowed them to get away with that [aluminum] dash. [Stock] those things are heavy with that big pot metal casting.”
Earl Wade and Dyno Don have reason to be all smiles as they pose proudly with the Bel Air at Vineland, New Jersey, in June 1962. The Chevy was rarely beaten. It was torn down because of official protest 18 different times in 1962; each time it was found to be legal. (Photo Courtesy Nicholson Family Collection)
Hubert Platt left Nalley at the end of 1962, quitting to become a full-time drag racer. Before doing so, he hauled Dyno’s 1962 Bel Air down to Tampa on November 22 for an eight-car Super Stock show and proceeded to clean house, defeating Dave Heath in Dyno’s old 1961 Chevy and Don Garlits, who made a rare appearance in his new 1963 Dodge, among others. It was Garlits who fell to Platt in the final as the Dodge proved to be no match for the well-tuned, bored, and stroked Chevy that recorded an 11.77. Jerry Jardine recalled a little trick that Dyno had performed on the match-race engine; he left the two front cylinders of the 409 at stock bore and stroke while all of the other cylinders were enlarged.
Even with the aluminum front clip dropping approximately 125 pounds, and without frills such as heater or radio, the 409 Impala still weighed in at close to 3,400 pounds. Reportedly, 18 to 20 of these “lightweights” were built; only two are known to remain. Backing the 409-hp mill was a Hurst-equipped BorgWarner 4-speed. (Photo ©TEN: The Enthusiast Network. All Rights Reserved.)
“We built headers so that the way they were plumbed, it was nearly impossible to access the plugs for P & G measurement.” Topping the big-cubic-inch match-race mill were the late-season Z11 parts. In addition, the Bel Air received lightweight aluminum front-end panels. Ed Schartman, who came to work for Don in 1963, raced the Bel Air as late as the spring of 1964. Eventually, the well-worn and stripped car ran 10-second times.
The B/FX class final boiled down to the two fastest-running Chevy Impalas in the nation: Dyno Don’s and the Old Reliable III of Dave Strickler. Don took a slight holeshot lead and hammered through the 4-speed to take the win with a 12.39. (Photo ©TEN: The Enthusiast Network. All Rights Reserved.)
Under darkening Indiana skies, the B/FX class final gets under way. While Strickler’s