Almost immediately, the factories began looking for ways to get their cars into the winner’s circle. Chrysler’s brief run of big Belvederes and Coronets during the inaugural season would be soon outdone by dozens of 1968 Darts and Barracudas that Hurst built under contract with 426 Hemi race engines under the hoods. Ford had some rare 427" ‘side-oiler’-equipped Fairlanes that first year; these would be supplemented by a very short run of new 428" Cobra Jet Mustangs. Though Olds had introduced a very stout 4-4-2 with tri-power and race-oriented changes in 1966, the most notable package from the good doctor for 1968 was the 350-inch Forced Air-optioned Ram Rod Cutlass, as the 4-4-2 put on some pounds. Then there was Chevrolet.

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Officially ‘out of racing’ during much of the 1960s, it is now well-documented that Chevrolet used creative resources to create special cars, drag equipment that could run in the Super Stock hunt. Bill Jenkins took home the first-ever U.S. Nationals Super Stock crown in 1967, but Chevrolet knew they would have their hands full the following year.

Like today, the cars ran off a series of class indexes that was based on NHRAs formula of factored horsepower to weight. To prevent sandbagging, a variety of tricks were tried by the sanctioning body to make sure everyone was playing fair. The breakout rule was that if you were 0.10 under the current record, you were automatically disqualified. Racers tried to not reset the indexes so that they had some ‘play room’ for brake light tag at the top end of the racetrack (though, of course, this was not the smartest or safest way to slow down, brakes locked and tires screeching at 100+ mph).

Jenkins had won Indy in ’67 driving the new Camaro, but the Chevy II model he had campaigned with great success in 1966 still held promise. It was being redesigned for 1968, and the factory submitted paperwork to NHRA stating that it would be available with an optional 396/375 horse engine sometime during the year. In the middle of that process was noted Chevrolet fuel racer Dick Harrell and new car dealer Fred Gibb of LaHarpe, Illinois.

Harrell had become well-known as a diehard drag racer out of Carlsbad, N.Mex., in the mid-1960s, driving a string of ever-quicker FX and early funny cars. He and Bill Thomas (of Cheetah fame) put together a pair of Novas that wheelstood their way into drag racing history in 1965 and 1966. By 1968, Harrell was running a nitro-burning Camaro flopper nationwide and had teamed up with Gibb, a performance-savvy dealer.

Together, Harrell and Gibb saw an opportunity to give Chevrolets more exposure in NHRA’s Super Stock class by getting 396-inch big-blocks into the just-redesigned Chevy II/Nova body style. Unbeknownst at the time, this experimental program would place the new Turbo-Hydro 400 automatic transmission behind a performance solid-lifter engine for the first time; it led the way for the L72/ZL1 427 and LS-series 454 performance automatic packages found in the coming model years.

After discussing the possibilities with his friend in Detroit, Chevrolet Product Promotions Manager Vince Piggins, Gibb agreed to special-order a batch of 50 396/375-horse Chevy II models to homologate a fresh Chevy for SS/CA competition. With Piggins’ approval, Gibb used the Central Office Processing Order (COPO) system to get the special cars onto the assembly line. This COPO code, 9738, told the production department that this batch of Novas (and only this batch) would receive 396" L78 four-barrel engines, the experimental Turbo-Hydro 400 automatic transmissions, and heavy-duty Posi differentials with 4.10 gearing.

Though very basic in terms of options, they would retain the Super Sport package to allow for standard dual exhaust and bucket seats; all would be radio deleted and equipped with power drum brakes. The COPO program was primarily used for fleet work like police cars and taxi cabs, but connected dealers like Gibb and Don Yenko also used custom COPO codes to get performance packages that the factory didn’t normally offer.

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These 50 special Novas fit into NHRA rules structure, but the stylish though often heavier Camaro remained the weapon of choice for most competitors; with the new transmission, Chevrolet had cars in both SS/C and SS/CA. By the time they arrived (spring 1968), Chrysler, who had the largest investment in Super Stock vehicles among the Big Three, was writing letters to NHRA questioning whether the cars had even been built, since they had not seen any. The controversy surrounding Ford’s winning Cobra Jets of that year’s Winternationals was still fresh in their minds.

As it turned out, the Darts and Barracudas were more then able to hold their own. However, in hindsight, there never were 50 actually racing in Super Stock; the more liberal rules of the AHRA made a 427" conversion quite attractive, so Harrell’s fabled performance center down in Kansas City did just that to a portion of the 50 built before they even delivered to the initial owners.

Some did make the race scene in Super Stock. Others ended up as economical Saturday night boulevard bombers, and were modified and thrashed into oblivion. In the end, Gibb did not have a lot of trouble selling them; they simply never made the history he had hoped they would. Frankly, in the hands of their second and third owners, these hard-driving Super Sports likely had a high attrition rate. Today, very few remain active as drag cars; the interest in the collector value of the cars has put most of them away for posterity.

One Special Nova

The final car built by Chevrolet for Gibb’s 1968 effort is seen here. Moreover, it has not been subjected to a pristine, frame-up restoration; it has survived since delivery from Detroit with just about 17,000 miles showing on the odometer. That’s not surprising, since a lot of ex-drag cars have low mileage. This one, however, still sports all the original sheet metal, most of the original interior and trim, the original, un-rebuilt engine and transmission, and more. Even those super-cool vintage M/T cheater slicks on the original 14x6 steel rims are date-coded back to 1968.

The wife of Fred Gibb, Helen Gibb, is the car’s current owner, having recently acquired it from Georgia-based car builder Matt Murphy. Those of you familiar with the modern era of American performance will know that name quite well - Murphy is the point man behind Atlanta-based GMMG’s spectacular effort to put the final Camaros into the realm of serious collectibility, with high-tech 427 installations and more.

How did the car, still painted Fathom Blue with a light blue interior, survive all these years in such great shape? This Chevy II was purchased in October 1968 by a drag racer from Hopkins, Mo. named John Bridgewater. John put all those miles on it while flat-towing it in Neutral from weekend to weekend between race tracks in and around the Show Me State. By the end of 1969, the car was parked after a season of 11-second banzai runs and then it sat for many more years before being "rediscovered" by the Chevrolet collector car community. Knowing that only a handful of these cars had survived, Matt bought it in mid-2003, and then had Bill Garran of Atlanta do things like clean up the body for a repaint (no body work was needed) and detail the engine. Year One graciously stepped up with anything that needed replacement, which was not a whole lot.

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In fact, the L78 engine and TH400 were not even rebuilt; they were simply detailed and put back in the car. Among the smattering of aftermarket parts the car received back in the day are the slicks, a pair of Lakewood traction bars, Hooker headers, an electric fuel pump in the trunk, and a cool can. The exhaust system, which had been removed back then, was not replaced. The spartan vinyl interior is mostly original, with the floor-mounted GM shifter jutting through the floor.

Topping off the great condition was the pedigree paperwork: a letter from the late Fred Gibb stating that this was indeed the final car of the batch of 50 built, the original Protect-O-Plate, Gibb Chevrolet’s inspection sheet, and even a copy of the letter that Chevrolet sent to NHRA announcing the car’s new availability.