What's In The Garage

What's in The Garage? with mark francis !

Last month we posted the story of Mark and his Monza named "Louie the Lizard", a big tire street & strip car powered by a hot small-block Chevy.

In this edition of What's In The Garage, we are going to showcase some of Mark's past and current build projects. As we learned he has a passion for the Chevrolet Monza, either in sedan or hatchback form Mark has owned a few of each and he has a few in his stable now . Each one is in a different stage in the build process . Buckle up and hold on as we take a look into Mark's Garage!

One of Mark's first builds was this 1978 Monza. Mark said that he bought while he was in high school (1986) from his best friend.

Mark tells us in his own words about his new purchase. It was a V6 roller that he blew the up before I bought it. I bought a 307 from a guy that worked in a machine shop, he built it for the NHRA Super Stock class but he went a different direction.

I bought a tunnel ram with two 600 cfm carbs & a turbo-350 transmission. I worked while I was in high school but got into some trouble so I went off to the Army at 17.

When I came home from basic training I finished the car. It was not pretty but I was happy just to get it going. My first trek out was on a weekend that nobody knew about. When I had it finished I drove to Lincoln to meet my dad who had been cruising our infamous "O" Street with my mom.

They were in his 75 Camaro, it had a 355 SBC in it. As I pulled into town I had a 427 Corvette pull up alongside me and we went at it. I blew the Vette away in good fashion. I pulled into the hangout where my parents were sitting and everybody's eyes were like "What is that " with astonishment !

Mark sat there while people were pulling in to check the car out and ask questions about it. As we decided to take a lap my dad pulled out first and then myself. My dad down-shifted his Camaro so I knew he wanted to see what it could do. Man, he took off on me, but I caught him with no problem !

I blew by his Camaro like I was on a mission. We always laughed about it for many years thinking "What would the police say if they pulled us over?" What would the media be saying "Father and son caught drag racing down " O" Street against each other !

I knew the car was fast but never knew how fast it was until one day I raced the buddy that sold me the car. He had a Ford F150 that was fast. He said his speedometer was pegged trying to catch me and I was still pulling away with no problem.

Now my first time at the track was with another 78 Chevy Monza 2+2 hatchback. This one had a 355 in it with a hydraulic flat tappet cam, a mild-built turbo 350 transmission, and now this car actually had good gears. It was okay but it only ran 12 seconds in the 1/4 mile.

I raced it for a couple of years on Friday nights but still showed the car and cruised with it and an occasional street race. By that time the local cars were getting pretty fast.

One day in 1996 I decided to up the ante! I went and rebuilt the 355 but put on some worked over double hump heads, then installed a solid flat tappet cam, Victor Jr intake, and bought a cheap NOS Power Shot kit. I installed an 8-point roll bar and lost a little weight in the car. I put the biggest slicks I could find on it and my first set of 15" wheels.

I had the turbo 350 rebuilt with a competition valve body and we now had 4.56 gears. I wanted to see what it did before I debuted it again so a friend, cousin, and I took it all the way to Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, CO. I had it tech'd for the 12.00 class because the old setup only ran high 12s. I decided that Mile High Nationals were there just five days prior so I figured if I was to hit Nitrous for the first time it was the best moment.

I did my burnout and it looked like John Force was doing it. I was foot braking the car but when the light dropped I hit that Nitrous button and the car caught the guy in the other lane by the 60 ft mark and I was off !! What a rush !!

I got my time slip but didn't look at it until I was at my pit. I thought I had gotten the wrong time slip. I walked back up to the shack and asked, the gal said no that is your time slip and pointed to my time. I looked at it and started screaming all the way back to the pit. I had
just run a 9.83. I had then heard my car number called and I had to go get re-tech'd for the faster class.

Unfortunately, I could not back that time up. I started having issues with the battery and well you can imagine how bad the day could get. This car was known as "T-Devil".

Over the years I had owned over half a dozen Monza hatchbacks that I built into fast street cars. I had a white 76 Monza Spyder I bought off my Aunt, so they could film the Movie Too Wong Fu on her property. Bought it for $40. I still have that one but it has been
tubbed and after many issues, I am finally working on it again.

I continued to race the 78 Monza until my near divorce over the car made me sell it.

Some time in the early 2000's is when I bought the green 1975 Monza Coupe. I only bought it for seat time while my 1976 Spyder was getting tubbed. I actually hated the 75 Coupe and that body style but it was the only car I could afford at that time. This green Monza coupe is where I realized my passion for drag racing. It has become a family thing for years.

I had gotten a lot of friends and family in the sport. Now many of those friends resort to street racing again as our closest 1/4 mile track closed in 2006. We have a 1/8 mile track some 60 miles away or our closest 1/4 mile track is at least two to four hours away. I personally do not care for racing 1/8 mile, I prefer 1/4 mile racing, it may just be me.

Almost the way I bought it. Roller but it had butterscotch colored primer with black SS stripes going down the center of the car. Those wheels were on it !!