Rene Gagner's engine design
Mark & Melissa McGuire's 64 Nova
Mark McGuire has been a truck driver for over 40+ years, currently he hauls heavy equipment. In the past he did a 10-year stretch driving a transporter for Dick Simon racing and he was also on the pit crew. Mark was just a child when his father was drag racing and said that's how he got hooked on racing.
Mark was just 19 years old when he bought his first race car, it was a 1969 SS Chevelle dirt track car. He was lucky enough to land a sponsorship from a local California radio station 99.1, which helped with expenses.
He had fun, but after three races he realized that asphalt was for racing. He went on to race circle track cars for the next 30+ years, from street stocks to super late-models.
The Nova wagon didn't start out this pretty, this is a before photo of what this killer looked like in a previous life.
With help from Gilbert "Mel" Meltvedt the car was transformed, the Nova was named "The Little Insane Wagon ".
When the wagon was rebuilt and customized even further, with a larger engine and custom paint job it became "The Mamba".
The Mamba features an impressive power plant under the hood, or should I say taller than the roof. A look inside you can find a Steve Schmidt 565 cubic inch big-block Chevrolet.
For induction, an BDS 8-71 supercharger blows through a Super Chiller water cooled intercooler that's mounted to a polished tunnel ram manifold. The fuel is burned up by a pair of RHS aluminum cylinder heads. The exhaust exits through a huge set of side pipes.
The shifting is handled by a Turbo-400 automatic transmission equipped with a 4,000 RPM stall torque converter. The Mamba's best time in the quarter mile was 9.3's at 143 MPH, but that's in the past, since then the Nova has been retired and travels the show circuit.
The body features an extremely chopped top, suicide doors & the rear doors were molded in.
The interior was filled with a set of racing seats and a jungle gym of a roll bar that keeps the chassis from twisting. Everything is either painted or upholstered.
Mark has received many awards for his craftsmanship, like first place at The World of Wheels show in the Pro-Street class and Outstanding Engine at the same show. At the 2024 Indy Pro-Street invasion he won Outstanding use of color and design, he's also won ten or so best of show and best of class awards with the Nova.
Mark thanks his wife Melissa for her support, she goes to all the shows with him, she also keeps the car detailed & polished making it ready for the next show outing.
Mark & Melissa's plans are to continue to make improvements to the car and share it with others. Mark also said that he has two amazing children that he passed the racing bug onto, during their childhood they raced go carts and Jr. Dragsters. Mark hopes his grand kids get the racing bug as well.
Photos courtesy of Mark & Melissa McGuire And KK Media 2024
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