What the heck is Pro Street anymore? Is it simply a narrowed rearend, regardless of straight-line performance? What about cars that run 9- or even 8-second elapsed times on just a 10-inch tire? Shouldn't they be considered part of the Pro Street build style, too?
The original intent of Pro Street was the emulation of narrowed-axle drag cars that performed on the street and strip. If that's the definition, then Richard Bondy's '72 Chevelle "540 SS" doesn't strictly fit the mold, but it just might just be the embodiment of the idea anyway. Built to show car standards by Jerome Plunkett, who regularly builds SCCA Trans-Am-series and other race cars, Bondy's Chevelle incorporates all the chassis, interior, and engine attributes of a modern drag car. That's because, despite the five-figure paint job and pounds of engine polish, Bondy plans to put the bright-blue A-Body on the track.
"It ought to run 8s," says builder Plunkett. And it'll do it on its 13.5-inch Mickey Thompson ET Street tires.
This ultimate Chevelle, however, had more humble beginnings. Started as a father-and-son project between Bondy and his boy, Jacob, the barn-found car was initially chopped up by the pair. Starting from a green SS 454, the Bondys had visions of a high-horsepower street-strip car, but after the installation of a Ford 9-inch, they figured their vision for the car couldn't be achieved with their level of building experience.
Eventually, they were turned onto Plunkett's shop, JP Race Cars, in Portland, Michigan (www.jpracecars.com). Plunkett knew the chassis would be the key to safe and consistent quarter-mile blasts, so the first thing he did was cut out the floor from the firewall rearward. The shell was then fitted to a jig table. After that, he fabricated a 4130-chrome-moly chassis. He also fabricated the axle housing for the slightly narrowed 9-inch rearend (which is filled with Strange 35-spline axles and 4.29:1 gears). It's located with a drag race-style four-link suspension, with an adjustable wishbone locator and torsion bar. Koni double-adjustable shocks help hold it up, too. The 13.5-inch tires are housed in mini-tubs.
Plunkett's attention to detail on the chassis is outstanding. The welds are perfect and the car's deep-blue hue was applied carefully to the parts that weren't otherwise polished. Plunkett handled the basic bodywork, including stretching the rear fenders, but the paintwork was handled by Nyle Wing. The gorgeous blue contrasts nicely with the painted SS stripes, especially on the monster cowl-induction hood.
Under that hood lies the power to push the Chevelle into the 8s, a 540ci big-block with enough squeeze to pump out more than 1,000 hp and 1,000 lb-ft of torque. It's a simple formula that centers on the axiom "Too much is just right." The big-inch engine's foundation is a sturdy four-bolt Bow Tie block that's filled with a forged Lunati crank, Eagle H-beam rods, and forged JE pistons. A pair of Dart aluminum heads, boasting 320cc intake runners, draws plenty of breath from the big Holley 1050 Dominator sitting atop a polished high-rise, single-plane intake manifold. An adjustable NOS Pro-Fogger nitrous system helps the big-block put out up to 1,400 horses. A Barry Grant fuel system helps ensure that all those expensive parts don't scatter or melt once the nitrous system is on "full fog," and an MSD ignition system makes sure that the fuel system "lights up". Exhaust exits through custom headers (built by Plunkett's shop) and out Borla XR-1 collectors and mufflers. Channeling all 1,000-plus ponies to the 9-inch rearend is a built Turbo 400 that features a billet trans brake. It's connected to the rearend via a 3.5-inch-diameter polished aluminum driveshaft. The tranny is controlled inside the Chevelle's cabin with a B&M Pro Stick shifter.
The rest of the interior bears no resemblance whatsoever to the plastic- and vinyl-covered appointments installed by Chevrolet. A multipoint cage snakes around the interior's perimeter, while a pair of nicely padded Sparco racing seats serves as furniture. The original dash was ditched in favor of a scratch-built carbon fiber piece that stretches the width of the interior. It's stuffed with eight Auto Meter Phantom gauges and a Painless Wiring control panel. An Auto Meter Monster tach is lashed to the A-pillar rollcage tubing.
Not even the steering column is original. It's an adjustable column from Flaming River, capped with a carbon fiber wheel from Grant. Look beneath the trunk lid and you'll find more non-original stuff, such as a polished nitrous tank, more rollbar tubing, a Triangle Engineering 20-gallon fuel cell (polished, of course), and an Optima battery housed in a polished Triangle Engineering battery box. Some of the car's other details include Wilwood disc brakes, custom-built front upper and lower control arms, Weld Aluma-Star wheels, a Be Cool radiator and electric fans, and a custom blue-tinted K&N air filter element. The list goes on and on--we simply don't have the space to list all the car's fine points.
Although at the time of our photo shoot, the Chevelle hadn't tickled the timing beams, it had garnered plenty of first-place attention. Bondy and Plunkett debuted the car at the 2002 Detroit Autorama, where it promptly grabbed first place in the 1970-'79 Late Street Machine class, as well as earning Popular Hot Rodding's own Most Streetable Street Machine award. We hear it wowed 'em at last summer's "Chevelle-abration" convention, held by the ACES Chevelle club, too.
The creation of such a versatile, eye-catching hot rod didn't come cheaply, but we think you'd be hard pressed to find a more detailed Chevelle, or one that runs harder. Pro Street may have gotten a bum rap in recent years, but Richard Bondy's Chevelle appears to be the real deal. We'd, uh, just like to see a timeslip for verification.