Little Hoss Story

[1stGenFan]

I am one of the previous caretakers of the Fred Gibb Chevrolet 1967 Z28 known as "Little Hoss". I met Helen Gibb at the 1st Fred Gibb Memorial Car Show in 1999.

I put together a history of the car for Helen, around 2002, using her personal dealership archives. Most of the articles are from either the local paper, the Quill, or the AHRA weekly publication DragWorld. The pictures are from Helen Gibb, and the Fred Gibb Chevrolet Race Cars Album. Enjoy! Ken Boje

[1stGenFan]

Continued story. Helen was pleased when Lane Automotive selected Little Hoss as one of the 1967 Camaro models they made in the early 2000's. I worked with Lane Automotive with the details required to make an exact rendition of Little Hoss when 1st run in 1967.

A funny story about page 10 of the story. Helen said Herb Fox lost her Mink stole when he red-lighted at the World Finals in Kansas City in October 1968 during the semi's. The page of the Banquet shows the winner of the stole, Mrs. James Bowman. About 35 years later, when Herb launched Little Hoss with me riding shotgun at the 2002(?) Super Car reunion in St. Louis, he red-lighted again! His last 2 time running Little Hoss.

[AnthonyS]

pretty cool!

[dykstra]

WOW! Thank you for posting!! Incredible history!!

[SS427]

Fantastic job Ken. We know you have put in many years of time, money and effort into the history of the Gibb family and Little Hoss. Thank you for that!

[copo-2]

I agree that Ken has been a true asset of knowledge in the past history and to share this with many who are interested in their involvement with high performance Chevrolets.

[RPOLS3]

Wow - how cool is this!

[Mr70]

Thank you for sharing these photos and memories with us.

[1stGenFan]

When Helen and I first met, she said this was their "fun" car. They ran Little Hoss from June 1967 through October 1968. She commented how after winning on almost all weekends during this time, the mood at the dealership was light and easy. When the ZL1 arrived, the competitiveness of the scene and the move to Super Stock increased the seriousness of the efforts. It was not as much fun, with a more business type approach.

This is the 1st World Record won by Herb Fox driving Little Hoss. I obtained all of the original World Records from Helen Gibb when I owned the car, she gifted them to me. She insisted they remain with the car, and they do.

The picture within this post, was received from Dennis Cumby when I owned Little Hoss. He found it in a school report when attending a local school function. I believe this picture was taken during the 1st record setting. I want to thank him for being so supportive of my efforts when I was involved with the many events, I attended regarding the Fred Gibb memorial car shows.

The technical inspection sheet was given to me by Jerry Burford, of LaHarpe. If you notice the class is FS/X, and I think this was also completed during the 1st record run. Jerry grew up in LaHarpe, worked at Fred Gibb Chevrolet, and still resides there. He helped immensely with my maintenance efforts to keep Little Hoss drivable. I was able to run the car down at least 4 of the tracks from the 1967-1968 season. Beardstown, Wentzville, St. Louis and Kansas City International.

[dykstra]

This is so damn cool!!! Thanks for posting all of this!!

[dykstra]

Ken, do you know who’s idea it was to put the mid year “knock-offs” on Little Hoss?

[69M22Z]

Thank you for putting all that together. Very interesting!!

[earntaz]

And there was Johnny Lopers "Lil Hoss" A/G Angelia (sp) ...

[Eck]

Great memories thanks.

[1stGenFan]

Ken, do you know who’s idea it was to put the mid year “knock-offs” on Little Hoss?

That is a good question! I asked Herb Fox the same question, and he replied it was his idea. He owned multiple Corvettes when he worked for Gibb Chevrolet and decided they would look good on Little Hoss. I think he indicated they were off his '66 coupe.

When researching the different modifications performed early on during the 1967 season, such as a modified hood scoop, (see 3rd picture dated Aug 67), (4th dated Sept 67 from the Gibb Archives) the addition of the stinger less corvette style hood (during the 1st World Record attempt picture), lift bars, and the addition of knock-off Corvette wheels, it was somewhat of a challenge determining when the wheels were added to the car.

I believe the car was repainted red during the December/January timeframe, when the rear spoiler was added, along with fiberglass inner fenders, but only after receiving these photos (1st-3rd) provided by Dennis Cumby, from the Herb Fox archives did I realize the "knock-offs" where added prior to the repaint, sometime probably in late October or early November 1967.

I also remember Herb and others telling me they hauled Little Hoss behind the dealership wrecker, which is apparent in the 1st photo. The car had around 5700 miles on the odometer when I purchased it, and Herb Fox told me these miles were mostly placed during street racing during the summer of 1967, as the car was hauled by the wrecker to the tracks.The car otherwise was never driven on the street. He did alot of his street racing in Burlington Iowa, about 25 miles from LaHarpe.

[dykstra]

Man these pics and history are so cool! Thanks again for posting.

[JoeC]

nice job Ken .

A lot of great drag racing history there

[copo-2]

Ken,

What history would you have of "LIL HOSS" after leaving the Fred Gibb dealership & your purchase?

[1stGenFan]

Ken,

What history would you have of "LIL HOSS" after leaving the Fred Gibb dealership & your purchase?

I have more history that I will assemble and share in the near future. The second owner renamed the car "Mighty Mouse" as you are aware Ray. Thanks for asking, as I was wondering if I should start a new thread to review the exploits of Little Hoss after being sold by Fred.

The car was competitively raced until 1978 in both AHRA and IHRA, setting additional world records with the original 302 engine. I'm going out of town for the next couple of weeks and will start a new thread titled Little Hoss as "Mighty Mouse" when I return.

Here is a picture I received from Lloyd Kirchhoff, the guy lucky enough to have bought Little Hoss from Gibb Chevrolet on November 6 of 1968.

[olredalert]

I have more history that I will assemble and share in the near future. The second owner renamed the car "Mighty Mouse" as you are aware Ray. Thanks for asking, as I was wondering if I should start a new thread to review the exploits of Little Hoss after being sold by Fred.

The car was competitively raced until 1978 in both AHRA and IHRA, setting additional world records with the original 302 engine. I'm going out of town for the next couple of weeks and will start a new thread titled Little Hoss as "Mighty Mouse" when I return.

Here is a picture I received from Lloyd Kirchhoff, the guy lucky enough to have bought Little Hoss from Gibb Chevrolet on November 6 of 1968.

----Not surprised, but the KO's are gone. Wonder if that was before or after the sale? Also wonder where the KO's went, but that's just my KO addiction!....Bill S

[1stGenFan]

----Not surprised, but the KO's are gone. Wonder if that was before or after the sale? Also wonder where the KO's went, but that's just my KO addiction!....Bill S

I believe Herb put them back on his Corvette. Lloyd told me the car was sold with factory steel wheels.

[1stGenFan]

Since this post has been helpful for others, regarding understanding Fred Gibb Chevrolet's initial racing efforts, I thought it would be important to post additional documents I received from Helen Gibb regarding Little Hoss. These are historical Fred Gibb Chevrolet records as well as a letter from Bill Porterfield written to me when we first became acquainted. And finally, the NCRS documentation showing the date of production and ordering dealer, Fred Gibb Chevrolet I obtained to complete my own file on the car.

It was tough decision to part with Little Hoss, as we had such fun times meeting so many neat and incredible individuals at the many events attended, however, raising a family of 4 children and managing a career took priority over my hobby interests. I can't thank Dana Mecum enough for his interest in helping us when this decision was finally made between myself and my wife, as this was a mutual partnership decision. He personally visited us and was excited to help us find a new steward for this important piece of Chevrolet and Camaro drag racing history.