1963 Corvette
History
Special Articles
The construction of this car started in 1986. Paul designed the chassis from a bunch of welding rods. He
then took his design to Ed Quay , who is a famous chassis builder. In Ed's shop is where the design
went into reality. Built on a jig specifically for race cars, Paul, Ed and Paul's son Scott went to work,
bending and notching chrome moly tubing to exact measurements. With Ed welding the chassis as the
pieces came to him. Once the chassis was completed, it was brought back to Paul's Repair service for
the mounting of the body. After the body was mounted Paul had Meatball come in to do part of the
aluminum for the interior. As the aluminum work was nearing completion the body work started. Kevin
Andes a good friend of Paul's worked every night getting all the Thunder fiberglass body lines straight.
Once the body was ready for paint, it was taken off the chassis. Outside Paul's shop the chassis was
painted with yellow emron paint. The body was then placed back on the chassis and taken to
Douglassville auto body where the standard yellow pain was put on. The car was originally built for
super comp 8.90 index, with a Paul Reinford built 350 Chevy engine. Behind the engine was a 3 speed
Lenco transmission, The car was also equipped with Lamb stuts and brakes, a Holley Carburetor, MSD
ignition, Mark Williams axles, Weld wheels, and hen Firestone front runners and Firestone rear slicks.
Paul debuted the wheel standing car in 1987 at Maplegrove Raceway. In 1992 Paul's son Scott took
over the driving duties. I 1994 Paul decided to change transmissions, he took out the clutch and put in a
Powerglide transmission with a transbrake. This seemed to help the cars consistency, and by changing
classes to supergas which is the 9.90 index. In 1995 the now Hilborn fuel injected Moose entered the
Pioneer Nationals at Maplegrove and drove it to a semi-final finish. By the year 2000 The price of racing
had rocketed and the car was put in storage. With some encouragement from a good friend Todd, Paul
decided to get the car out of storage. Todd and Scott worked to get the car back in racing condition.
Working with the same engine and transmission combination, they had to update the computer system,
they added a new data logger to give them real time information for each run down the track. 2003,Paul
made the decision to sell the car, he gave me first crack at purchasing it. I took on that chance, with the
help of Scott. It was tough, but we were able to handle it, till our engine started to have problems. We
found out that our engine was hurt bad. We purchased a used engine from our good friends the
Dolansky Bros and ran that engine till the end of the 2005 Season the end of the season 2005, as we
took the engine out for it bi-yearly overhaul Paul decide to let us use the big block engine out of the
older moose. We fitted the engine, made all new mounts/headers, a new was needed as well as a new
hood scoop. The 2006 season started with us gather new information and the car started coming
around toward the end of the season, we runner upped at Cecil County, lost 5th round at Englishtown.
The 2007 season started in March, we took our transmission to ATI for an overhaul, they recommended
putting in a new Vasco shaft due to the high horsepower the engine puts out. We get the car ready for
the opening day of racing. The first run out of the trailer was an 8.62 166 mph. The second run the car
leaves the starting line and that was it. Back to ATI to have the fresh tans looked at.
We broke the pump gears in the trans.. The 2nd time at the track, the track was slippery, so the 2 runs
we had were not full passes. Now comes the 1st open race combined with a divisional race at
Maplegrove May 25th week/weekend. The first pass again out of the trailer was a 8.62 165 mph. It was
a very nice straight pass. On the 2nd run of that day was one that every racer fears. After leaving the
starting line and heading down the track, the car was at about 1200 feet, and their was a puff of smoke
and the car took a hard right turn and rolled over on its roof. The car was almost at top speed, i am
guessing about 158 mph. The car slid down the track on its roof for another 5-600 feet. By the time I got
there the safety team already had Scott in the ambulance checking him out. Luckily he came out of the
crash with some minor bumps and bruises. The car itself was on fire when i got there. More concerned
about Scott I went back to the ambulance where they let me in to talk to him. When returning to the car,
they rolled it over onto the 4 wheels and towed it back to the trailer. 1 week later back at Paul's repair
we stripped the car down to the chassis, had NHRA come out and tell us what needed to be fixed and
how they wanted it fixed. Once they told us how, we put the body back on and took it to Auto Pro Shop,
the Shop is owned by non other than the Dolansky Bros. They actually were able to fix the roof and the
body, but the front end was a total loss, the new front end arrived a few weeks ago and was rough fitted
at Auto Pro Shop. We brought the car back the our shop to make new panels and extend the foot area,
weld the new bars in etc.. Now it is time to take the car back to Auto Pro to have the rest of the body
work done and come up with the new paint scheme. 2008 will be a new beginning for the "MOOSE" alot
of new parts and a new setup to get use to, but our outlook will be very high.