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Here's the story:
Illustrated Corvette Series No. 58 - John Greenwood's 1976 IMSA Racing
Corvette
"Batmobile IMSA Racer"
John
Greenwood was described as "the perfect Corvette guy." He was well
financed, blue-collar, and liked getting dirty working on his race car.
Also, he was good at building very powerful big-block Chevy engines. In
a field of factory-supported SCCA A/Production and Trans-Am cars,
Greenwood was a classic underdog the Grumpy Jenkins of road racing.
John had been beating up Porsches and BMWs since the early '70s with
his homemade, 8,000 rpm ZL-1 Corvettes. His "Spirit of Sebring '76"
Corvette was to be the wildest ride of his career.
Although the car was called a "tube framed" car, John started with a
stock Corvette steel birdcage frame that was first gusseted for added
strength, with the tube frame then welded on. The front suspension used
stock mounting points, but was lowered using 25 percent stiffer
springs, adjustable Koni shocks, and various size anti-roll bars. The
rear suspension used 2.73: 1 gears, coilover shocks, twin A-arms, and
anti-rollbars to eliminate squat. Hurst-Airheart NASCAR disc brakes
with dual master cylinders provided excellent braking. With the huge
factory-option pontoon fenders, John was able to use Sterling alloy
wheels 11" x 15" in the front and 17" x 15" in the rear, with Goodyear
Blue Streak tires 24.5 x 10-15 on the front and 28.0 x 17-15 on the
rear.
Greenwood's ZL-1 engine was bored to 467 cid and made over 700 hp
@6,800 rpm and 620 lb-ft of torque at 4000 rpm. The engine used a stock
crank, Carillo rods, Isky roller rockers, a dry-sump oil system, and a
Lucas fuel injection on a magnesium cross-ram manifold. Transmission
was a blueprinted M22 "rock crusher."
John wanted to make a street version of this car. But federal
regulations, safety, and liability concerns of the day prevented him.
In '76, Greenwood and Dick Smothers won Sebring and took the pole
position at Le Mans, but engine trouble took them out of the race.
John's Corvette hit 211 mph on the Mulsanne Straight! Not bad for a
street racer from Detroit.
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