The Company Car

The Corvette That Started Summit Racing

Back in 1967, a hot rodder bought this Corvette brand new as a daily driver and weekend warrior. He had lots of fun in it, and spent a great deal of time at his local speed shop, buying parts, bench racing, and talking with the owner and fellow customers.

A job relocation moved him out of town and the Corvette didn’t get to the speed shop as often. Soon, the hot rodder only made the trek out of necessity. When he complained to the speed shop’s owner that there weren’t any good parts shops near him, the owner suggested the hot rodder should just sell parts to his friends instead of making the trip back and forth. After working out the details, the hot rodder agreed.

He sold Holley carburetors to his friends… and it worked. He put a classified ad in the paper and sold some more. Then, he advertised other parts and they sold. After setting and exceeding profit goals, the hot rodder quit his day job to run his own speed shop, which he named Summit Racing Equipment.

While Summit Racing Equipment grew from a small start-up to a major speed shop, the ’67 Corvette remained a faithful daily driver and often served as a performance test car. As the speed shop was quickly growing into a worldwide business, the Corvette finally got too tired and was put away for a rebuild “one day when there was time.”

Fast-forward a few decades. The Corvette that started it all is back, completely restored from the ground up. Thanks to Bill McGhee and Wayne Krinjeck, Summit Racing Equipment employees who have been with the company for many years, the Corvette was pulled out of storage and completely disassembled. Every square inch has been remade, refreshed, or retouched.

Bill and Wayne brought the car to the shop and started the teardown, working on it in their spare time. Every nut, bolt, and rivet was refreshed or replaced, and the body was painstakingly brought back to showroom-new. The Corvette had seen a few Ohio winters and one repaint, and its trademark body lines had been rounded off. Bill and Wayne worked meticulously on gel-coating and block sanding the car by hand until its original lines were back in perfect form. After it was deemed worthy, the car received a fresh coat of its original color, PPG Marlboro Maroon.

The original 427 cubic inch Tri-Power big block purrs with the help of some performance goodies to up the horsepower ante (as if the founder of Summit Racing Equipment would settle for stock). From the Quick Fuel-modified Holley carbs and Trick Flow PowerPort® Street rectangular port heads (ported and milled by the experts at Trick Flow) to the JE pistons, COMP Cams hydraulic roller cam and Scat crank, the 427 has been brought into the 21st century with a total 496 cubic inches of displacement. It throws about 592 hp to the Muncie M-22 four-speed, which has been updated with a Lakewood bellhousing, Centerforce clutch and pressure plate, and Hurst linkage. To make the most of the power gains and get a tougher look, the two inch factory sidepipes were replaced with a set of three inch pipes whose sound that makes you look every time.

The interior got plenty of attention, too. What you can’t see may be one of the most important aspects of driver comfort. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of cruising in an old Vette on a summer day, you know how hot the interior can get. As Corvette enthusiasts themselves, Bill and Wayne knew that they had to take care of the problem, so they lined ithe cockpit with NASCAR-spec heat insulation to keep it comfortable, even on an 80° day.

Then the two got to work bringing the interior pieces back to like-new condition. The dash was chromed and painted and the restored to look as they did when the car was new. The seat belts were revamped for safety, but look stock—all the way down to the original date stamps.

Thanks to the work of a few dedicated and talented guys, the Corvette that started Summit Racing Equipment is back and better than ever. It’s fun, it’s fast, it’s loud, and it’s part of a legacy that started by chance and grew out of determination and love of the high performance hobby.

FAST SPECS
Chassis
Frame: Stock
Rear End: Stock IRS with 3.73 gears and limited-slip differential
Suspension: Vette Brakes & Products fiberglass monospring, Koni shocks, Vette Brakes & Products stabilizer bars (1" front/7/8" rear)
Wheels: Custom Wheel Vintiques 16" Rallye-style wheels

Engine and Transmission
Engine Type: Original 1967 Corvette 427 Tri-Power, built to 496 c.i.d.
Block: Stock, clearanced and deburred
Reciprocating Assembly: Scat crank, Crower connecting rods, JE pistons—assembly is balanced
Camshaft: COMP Cams hydraulic roller (242°/248° duration, .540"/.560" lift),COMP Cams lifters
Cylinder Heads: Trick Flow PowerPort Street heads, 320cc rectangular intake ports, ported and milled
Valvetrain: Trick Flow pushrods, Trick Flow valve springs, Trick Flow titanium retainers, Crane rocker arms
Induction: Modified factory triple carb intake, 500 cfm Holley carburetors modified by Quick Fuel
Ignition: MSD ignition box, MSD coil
Exhaust: Sweet-Thunder 3" sidepipes
Transmission: GM M-22 4-speed, Lakewood bellhousing, Centerforce clutch disc and pressure plate, Hurst linkage
Block Machining: Racing Products
Cylinder Head Machining: Trick Flow

Body and Paint
Bodywork: Restored to OEM specs
Paint Color: PPG Marlboro Maroon

Interior
Upholstery: Stock seats rebuilt and restored to OEM
Other Items: Rebuilt gauges, dash repainted and rechromed, NASCAR-spec heat insulation 
Special Thanks To: Bill McGhee and Wayne Krinjeck

Established in 1968, Summit Racing Equipment is the leading high performance parts and accessories company. Summit Racing offers the largest selection, lowest prices, and best customer service in the high performance industry via catalogs, Internet, and Retail Super Stores. The company is headquartered in Tallmadge, Ohio with retail locations in Tallmadge, Ohio; Sparks, Nevada; and McDonough, Georgia.