Michael Pritchard’s ’57 Chevy

The cockpit is all business...        read full caption The cockpit is all business with two big blue bottles riding shotgun.

The 509-inch Rat abused the...        read full caption The 509-inch Rat abused the dyno to the tune of 885 horses and 735 lb-ft of torque. The Pro Race Fogger puts the “Brick” deep into the 8s.

Mike back-halved the Bel Air...        read full caption Mike back-halved the Bel Air when moving from the PSCA’s True Street class to Real Street, replacing the leaf springs with HAL coilover shocks and Performance Engineering ladder bars.

The Ford 9-inch houses 4.11...        read full caption The Ford 9-inch houses 4.11 gears and a Strange spool.

“That car will never go that fast.” Such comments often provide the inspiration necessary to turn a mild-mannered automobile into a no-holds-barred, four-wheel race car, and that was all Mike Pritchard needed to hear to embark on a mission to turn his ’57 Bel Air into the mid-8-second rocket you see here.

Before the challenge was laid down, Mike’s father owned the ’57 Chevy and had hoped to turn it into a nice street cruiser. Life happened, and the senior Pritchard was forced to sell the Bel Air. Mike quickly snatched it up and dragged the rough, but complete, carcass home where the transformation took place. Dad’s plans included a warmed-over small-block, but Mike was thinking Rat from the start.

The 283 resting between the framerails was deemed way too small to hurtle the behemoth down the quarter-mile with any enthusiasm, so Mike enlisted the services of a local shop to machine the Dart block and rotating assembly. Mike assembled the 509-inch mill himself and topped it with QMP-ported Dart 320 heads and intake and a 1,250-cfm Dominator prepped by Northridge Carburetor (where Mike works). The valves are tickled by a big Comp solid-roller grind, and the Ross pistons bring the compression to a lofty 14:1. The big-block was buttoned up and carted to a bout with the dyno, where it spit out 885 horses at 7,600 rpm and 735 driveshaft-twisting lb-ft of torque. Keep in mind that Mike fogs an additional 300 horses worth of laughing gas on top of this potent combination, which results in trap speeds approaching 165 mph. Mike’s Transmission of Lancaster, California, was commissioned to build a Powerglide to withstand the brutal power produced by the pumped-up Rat now residing under the hood. Continental Torque Converters supplied the torque multiplier.

Meanwhile, John’s Customs of Chatsworth, California, was tasked with ironing out the bumps and slathering on the Wild Cherry Metallic paint. VFN supplied the fiberglass cowl hood and front bumper, while Performance Engineering provided the rear wing.

Two and a half years of build time later, Mike was competing in local Fastest Street Car Association races prior to that organization’s demise. Shortly thereafter, he got wind of a new sanctioning body known as the Pacific Street Car Association (PSCA). Mike promptly joined and proved competitive in the True Street class, running in the 9.20-9.30–second range. Eighteen months later he stepped up to run in the Real Street class, necessitating back-halving the big Chevy. In 2001, Mike met with success and ended the season as the points runner-up, winning the final three events of the year. To date, the crimson Bel Air has turned a best e.t. of 8.44 at 163.96 mph.

This year Mike plans on feeding his Rat even more nitrous in hopes of improving his standings (he’s currently third in points). We’ve heard that a couple of turbocharged cars in Real Street have him eating dust, but knowing Mike Pritchard, that’ll just inspire him to make his old Chevy even faster. Mike loves to prove people wrong.