John Uzbasic's 1937 Chevy Coupe

 

 John Uzbasic was raised in Northern Wisconsin , then in 1979 he moved to Hawaii,  where he worked multiple jobs just to afford to live there. Even back in 1979 it was expensive.  So basically all he did was work with really no outside life.  

John said that some years passed when he met two individuals that ended up to be good friends,  Roy and his wife Edie.  They were friends for some time and it was a surprise that after a number of months he shown John his race car.  At that time, he didn’t give it much thought because he wasn't really interested in racing at that time in his life. 

 Fast forward about 2-3 years,  Roy asked him a number of times to  check him out Drag Racing, John finally agreed to meet him at the track.  He said he got to the track early and jumped on the bleachers and waited for the event to start.                      

He waited and waited as cars came in but no one going down the track.   His anticipation was starting to build and finally, it started . He watched one pair of cars go down the track, then another pair of cars and then after the 5th pair of cars John was hooked!!  The words that came out of his mouth were…. I gotta get me one of those!!  He was so super excited about the opportunity to try this sport out.

John looked high and low for a car and with Roy’s help he finally found someone who was selling their car.  The first ever race car John owned was in 1984 when he bought a 1973 split bumper Chevy Camaro with a 350-cu. in. S/B Chevy engine.  

The ET's were 12.20 range . He raced it in the Super Street class, and owned it until 1990 .  Then he sold the car to a guy that ran it for another 20 years, then lost track of it

In 1990 John moved and relocated back to the main land with a company he worked for at that time.  Now in Fresno California, John said he stepped away from Drag Racing even though he enjoyed it so much.  This lasted all of 6 months before it drove him crazy, he couldn’t Drag Race and wanted to do it  again.  So, he went out to find another race car. 

 

He looked for about 2-3 months and found a 1977 Chevy Vega  roller for sale out of Bakersfield California from a family named the Clark’s.  After he bought the car he talked to Larry Clark and his wife Janet , who ran the car in NHRAS Super Gas class and they agreed that Larry would build him a big block for the Vega. 

 

John stated this was his first opportunity to run a big block and he never looked back since ,It was big block Chevy power from that point on!

He campaigned this car from 1990 until 2010 , John had a chassis builder by the name of Rob Mathis who owned  RPM Chassis out Portland Oregon build a 25-4E chassis for it,  for Super Gas.  It was certified to run 7.50 or slower. John stated he ran that car in Super Gas/Super Pro out of Washington State all the way up until 2017.  

 At that time he  bought their current car which is a 1937 Chevy Coupe Pro Mod from a gentleman out of Shepardsville , Kentucky . 

                                                                     John in his office !

 

John's current race car is a double frame railed 25-1E certified car with a 532-cu. in. big block Chevrolet on a single shot of Nitrous, built by Applied Nitrous Technology producing 1300 horsepower.  He also runs a Mark Williams floating rear-end with 4.56 gears. 

 

 Big 33.5x17/16 Goodyear tires are the only traction control . A Coan Transmission and Convertor back up the big block built by Davidson Engines. A Holley Dominator 1350 CFM Carb. & a Magnafuel fuel system supplies the go juice. Auto-meter gauges for the vitals with an MSD ignition system. A Peterson Dry Sump oil System keeps the oil flowing & Stroud Chutes bring it to a stop.  John campaigns it in Top Sportsman & Super Pro once in a while, as well as Good Guys and other nostalgic events. 

 Uzbasic Motorsports Race Team is also involved with a number of charity events locally in the State of Washington and are always available to bring out the car to support charity type events as well as the communities within Western Washington. They are involved in opportunities to speak at events and local Tech School’s both college’s and high schools.  Just reach out to them to schedule your event or charity event.                                         
They recently started an e-commerce parts business called Uzbasic Motorsports Performance Parts.  John specializes in Drag, Circle Track, Open Wheel, Street Rods, Hot Rods, Classic Cars, Late Model Muscle, Truck and Engine Builders.  Their website is uzbasicmotorsports.com, go and check it out. Tell them you heard about them here !

 

John States :

We feel very strongly about our Mission Statement, 
We provide an online option for everyone interested in motorsports. The team believes in the importance of providing fair market parts at a fair market price for everyone to enjoy. 

We also will continue the organizations strong relationship with various charity events that we have been associated within the past. We will work hard on partnering with our Western Washington communities in order to try and give back to those less fortunate. We are looking forward to everyone’s success and being part of the success of our company and organization.

 

 Please go to our website at uzbasicmotorsports.com and you will find a number of “Brand” name manufactures at discount pricing.   Not to mention we will be giving away a“FREE” Gift Certificate as well as swag to lucky winners throughout the months of 2021.  

If you should have any questions please contact us at support@uzbasicmotorsports.com, info@uzbasicmotorsports.com or thru our other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest also check us out at YouTube as well.
 

Enclosing you always leave the best for last.  John wants to give a special thanks to his wife, Adriana and family for all of their hard work and putting up with all his crap throughout the years!!  This isn’t as easy as you may think, or it looks, but well worth the ride.  Thank you and I hope you enjoyed this journey down memory lane…..  

          Thanks John for sharing your story , we look forward to updating your story in the future.

                                   Photos and videos courtesy of Uzbasic Motorspors 2021