Dyno Don: The Cars and Career of Dyno Don Nicholson. Doug Boyce
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to wear GM Golden Yellow. Note the OEM steel wheels; aftermarket wheels were just coming into vogue in 1962 and still weren’t class legal. (Photo Courtesy Mike Strickler)
After the Nationals, Hubert Platt took over the controls of the Impala. Working alongside Don at Nalley, Platt had stated that “sometimes we’d drive each other’s cars.” Platt raced the Impala through the remainder of 1962 as the Bounty Hunter before getting a 1963 Z11 Chevy and striking out on his own. The 1962 was sold to a wealthy businessman in Atlanta, and its whereabouts today is unknown. (Photo ©TEN: The Enthusiast Network. All Rights Reserved.)
Those Mopars back East had nothing on Don’s Chevy. Dyno’s move East in 1962 was based on economics. The West Coast–tracks were paying $25 war bonds (worth $17 according to Don) to the Stockers. In the East and the South, he could make $600 and up for a match race. Great money, considering maintenance on the car was next to nil. (Photo Courtesy Robert Genat)
At the NHRA Nationals in 1963, the aluminum front clip and Z11 engine parts put the Bel Air in B/FX. This photo was shot at the 500 Shopping Center in Indianapolis, where pre-race inspection was carried out. Cut rear coils and stiffer springs up front gave the Chevy its stance. Don used a stiffer coil spring on the left rear to help load the right side upon acceleration. (Photo Courtesy Jack Bleil)
Ken Simpson became the new owner of the Bel Air when Don finally parted with the car sometime in 1965. The historic piece was wrecked by its third owner in Alabama and was scrapped around 1974. The Chevy II wagon was sold and raced out of Florida for a couple season’s before disappearing. What became of the Chevy II sedan is still unknown.
Ken Simpson became the second owner of Don’s Bel Air, seen here in 1965. All indications are that Don last drove the car at the Nationals in 1963. By its third owner, the Chevy was wrecked; it was finally scrapped in 1974. (Author’s Collection)
Ed Schartman is caught coming hard off the line at Cecil County where, in the spring of 1964, the Chevy was competing in A/Modified Production. At this point, the Chevy was running Z11 parts and aluminum front body panels. Note the body relocation, long traction arm, added hood blister, and aluminum 1963 front bumper. (Photo Courtesy John Durand)
1963
Between December 1962 and January 1963, Chevrolet produced in the neighborhood of 57 lightweight Z11 Impalas. Built specifically for drag racing, the heart of the $1,240 Z11 package was the 427-ci engine. Conservatively rated at 430 hp, the 427 was a stroked 409 fitted with large-port heads, 13:5.1 compression, and a camshaft featuring .556 lift. A two-piece aluminum intake manifold mounted twin Carter carburetors that drew fresh air plumbed in from an opening in the cowl. To save weight, the Z11 cars were produced with aluminum parts, 149 in total, including front-end panels and front and rear bumpers. In addition, the cars were delivered without the front sway bar, heater, radio, sound deadener, and sealant. Backing the 427 was a BorgWarner 4-speed transmission, and even though it was delivered with 4:11 rear gears, Don ran 4:56 or 4:88s. With Nalley Chevrolet’s close ties to the factory, it’s believed Dyno received the first Z11 Impala produced. Originally running A/FX, by the end of January 1963 Chevrolet had produced the required number of Z11 Impalas, thus allowing the car to run NHRA Super Stock.
This (yellow) Biscayne was campaigned by Hubert Platt, an employee of Nalley Chevrolet in 1962. Hubert’s son Allen believes that Don may have initially campaigned the car. What’s known for sure is that Don did drive the car at least on occasion. The 409 helped push the no-frills Biscayne (no radio, heater, or rear seat) to low-12 times. (Photo Courtesy Tom Schiltz)
By 1963, Don was one of the most feared racers in the nation; his Chevys were nearly untouchable. Dyno Don figured that if the Mercury deal hadn’t come along for 1964, he could have had another successful year with his Chevys. (Photo Courtesy Nicholson Family Collection)
Modifications that Don made to the Impala included a thorough blueprinting of the 427. Starting with the Carter carbs, the primary jets were drilled out from .101 to .104 while the secondary jets went from .068 to .073, or larger. On Don’s existing 409 Bel Air, jets were drilled to .104 and .067. The distributor was reworked giving 34 degrees total advance between 2,000 and 3,000 rpm. To prevent movement, the breaker plate was welded to the housing. The heads were resurfaced and Don reamed out the ports below the seats, per NHRA rules of the day, but no additional grinding was done. All valves were checked and seated to the same depth. As required, shims were placed under the valve springs to restore pressure. Replacing the factory Delco spark plugs were hotter, extended-tip Champion J61 Ys. The plug change was said to be worth 10 more horsepower on the dyno. As far as headers go, Don built his own Tri-Y fenderwells. As for the suspension, a half of a coil was cut from the rear springs and Don fabricated square tube track bars that ran from the rear end to a pivot point on the chassis ahead of the transmission crossmember. With 40 to 50 pounds of air in the front tires and as little as 20 in the rear, the Impala left the line at 3,000 to 3,500 rpm.
Caught on Detroit’s return road during a June 1963 match, Don’s 26-gauge aluminum-nose Impala is looking a little worse for wear. Note the high-low stance and 10-inch M&H slicks, standard wear for 1963. Don’s Chevy was one of the tops in the nation. (Photo Courtesy Robert Genat)
This decal on the window warned competitors what they were up against. Nalley opened its Atlanta doors in 1955 and remained in business until 2004, when it was sold and renamed Airport Chevrolet. During the 1950s and 1960s, the dealer had a direct line to Chevrolet that included all of the rare and one-off performance goodies that the manufacturer had to offer. (Author’s Collection)
On May 12, Don took the Impala to Tampa, Florida, where he claimed the number-9 position on the Drag News Top Stock list by defeating Ed Garlits in a best-of-three match. Ed, brother of “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, was a respected driver in his own right and was driving the Dodge sedan of Don’s on this day. Nicholson went on to win the Super Stock Eliminator the same day by beating the Z11 Impala of Bob Tucker in the final round, setting the track record in the process with an 11.96 at 119 mph.
The Drag News Top 10 Stock list was started in 1962, bringing some organization to the match-race scene and boosting racers’ status. The way the list worked was that anyone could challenge those in positions 2 through 10, but to challenge for the number-1 spot, you had to be in the top 10 already. Once he was challenged, the spot holder could shop for a venue, and then take the challenge to any drag strip he chose for the two-out-of-three match. Obviously, money mattered and the racers went to the track that paid the most. Don grabbed the number-1 spot on the list July 7 by defeating the Chevy of Frank Sanders in two at Ohio’s Dragway 42 during the Drag News Invitational. By this point in the year, Don’s Chevy had already been hitting 11.80 times. Prior to the race, Don was protested and, upon inspection, found to be legal. In the match against Sanders,