[GM_427_Racer]

Chapter 2

After leaving Fort Bragg, I get assigned to Fort Lee, Virginia, for Advanced Individual Training (AIT). After a couple weeks there, I finally get the opportunity to get home and drive the Yenko. My brother and I, also at Fort Lee, hitch a ride back home and get there after midnight. Dad left the keys in the kitchen, so me and my brother take off and pretty much empty the full tank of gas that Dad put in the car. To be honest, my first impression of driving the car was rather disappointing. I really thought that this thing would have so much power that it would break the tires loose when it was in high gear at 60 MPH, but it could not. Obviously, leaving from a dead stop, it had a massive amount of torque and just smoke those Goodyears until you let off the loud pedal.

I will fast forward to after I get back from AIT and go back to work at GM. Needless to say, the modifications started as soon as I started making money again, Hooker headers, Lakewood traction bars, Lakewood bell housing, and I had probably had the car to 3 or 4 different guys tuning on it to make it quicker. I just did not think that this car was as fast as it should be. I had been beaten by several 396 SS Chevelles and my buddy had a 68 Z28 with a cam in that 302 and he could even hang with the 427. It just did not make sense to me. In the winter of 1969, I got laid off at GM, so my plans got curtailed for a while. When I get called back in the spring of 1970, I am in a totally different plant that has just been built and not even finished yet, but they are so eager to get product, they have us working in the Body Shop building bodies from 6:30 PM until 3:00 AM, so the construction guys can work in the daytime. At this point, you are probably wondering what does this have to do with anything. Well, since the plant is not complete, nothing is very organized and at lunch time, it is just a bunch of guys sitting around shooting the breeze. One day at lunch, I am listening to this guy talk about Grumpy Jenkins and that is his idol and as it turns out, this guy has a bought a white, 69 COPO Camaro and has completely stripped it after having driven it home from the dealership with 8 miles on it. I am just listening, but it really sounds like this guy knows what he is talking about and his plans are to make his car a Super STock D stick car with the 427 that came in it. His current street car is a 62 Chevy Impala SS with a 409 two four barrel car. As I investigate a little more, I find out that this guy is one of the biggest street racers in a three county area and is very successful. After listening for quite a while, I decide its time to strike up a conversation. I tell him about the Yenko and that really perks his interest and as it turns out he has his own shop that he does performance work on the side. Since I am just learning about all this stuff, I ask him if he would be interested on working on the Yenko, he agrees and tells me to bring it to his shop. I take the car to his Warren, Ohio shop which just happens to be on a 4 lane highway that is not very well traveled. He tells me lets go for a ride, so I run the Yenko through its paces banging all the gears and bottom line, he agrees, for what it is supposed to be, it is a DOG!!!!!!!!!!! I tell him all the people that have tuned on it and he says, Well, I think the tuning is over, it is time for some hard part changes.