Dream Garage: “Big John” Mazmanian’s ‘61 Corvette Drag Car

When it comes to 1960s Corvette performance, most of us tend to picture Chevy’s sports car mixing it up with the likes of Cobras, Porsches and Jag E-Types on road courses around the globe. Considering the amount of research and development that went into taking the C1 from a cool looking runabout to a world-class sports car that certainly makes sense – after all, that engineering legwork was just as much about making the Corvette stop and turn as it was about making it haul the mail in a straight line.

Over the course of about five years, the Corvette had been transformed from a good looking roadster that lacked the hardware to back up the image into a world-class sports car that could take on the best of Europe in virtually any performance metric. By 1961, the Corvette’s 283ci V8 was dishing out 315 horsepower in “Fuelie” guise and was mated to a four-speed manual gearbox, a combination that made the diminutive two-door very quick right out of the box. It didn’t come cheap though, and for most straight line racers, the corner-carving Corvette’s steep price tag quickly turned them toward more affordable options for drag racing projects. Image: Mecum

Yet the Corvette looked to be a compelling option for drag racers as well, due its diminutive size and light weight, along with the fact that it was engineered from the factory to be motivated by V8 power plants. But the ‘Vette’s price tag versus the more affordable, sedan-based production coupes kept it off the short list for most competitors. Most… but not all.

Born May 18th, 1926 in East Los Angeles, John Mazmanian got his start in hot rodding at the ripe old age of 14, building a 1930 Model A coupe he’d procured for $25.00 in his junior high school auto shop class.

Standing at 6-foot-5, it’s no surprise that John Mazmanian was better known as “Big John” in racing circles. Though he was an accomplished racer in his own right, his contributions to drag racing as a team owner and iconoclast during the early days of Funny Car racing proved to be an indelible influence on the sport as the cars would get dramatically faster throughout the course of the 1960s and into the early 1970s. “We were breaking the 200 mph barrier back then, and under six seconds, which was very fast for that time,” said John’s son, Vic Mazmanian, during an interview with the LA Times.

By the time he was in high school he’d moved up to a chopped ’39 Mercury, and after graduating and heading off to college for a mechanical engineering degree, John had already established a name for himself in the drag racing world, taking his ’32 highboy roadster up to 118 mph at El Mirage dry lake in early 1942.

After serving his country in World War II, Mazmanian returned home and took over the family business, a successful waste management and removal company, and got married. Though drag racing was starting to take a back seat to his other responsibilities, Mazmanian still found time to fuel his passion for performance, picking up a new ‘57 Ford Fairlane with the supercharged 312ci V8 off the lot as a family car and tuning it for competition use on the weekends.

By 1960, John was ready to step things up. Late in the year, Mazmanian would purchase a brand new ’61 Corvette with the express purpose of turning it into a formidable weapon at the drag strip. But converting a sports car into a record setter at the strip isn’t simply a matter of bolting on a set of slicks, so Mazmanian and his team got to work transforming his new Corvette into a bonafide quarter mile terror.

Big John Heads To The Strip

Equipped from the factory with a fuel injected 283ci V8, four speed manual gearbox, Positraction rear end and a removable hard top, it wasn’t long before Mazmanian’s little red Corvette was running in the high 12-second range. With his nephew Rich Siroonian behind the wheel, Mazmanian’s team would take home the class win at the 1961 Winternationals and set an AA/SP class speed record of 109.96 mph in the process during a 12.94-second pass.

Though Mazmanian’s Corvette got its start in drag racing in relatively stock form, running low 13s and high 12s in the NHRA’s C/Stock and AA/SP classes, after winning their class at the 1961 Winternationals and setting a speed record in the process, Big John’s aspirations for the little red Corvette kept growing, and the car would keep seeing additional modifications during the down time between races and moving up the class ranks in the process. Image: Jalopy Journal

But this would prove to be just the beginning of this Corvette’s drag racing history.

The following year they’d return to the Winternationals and though the car was still largely stock, they were placed in the CM/SP class due to some modifications done to the car versus the year prior. They’d promptly set a record there too, this time clocking 113.84 mph.

Though they wouldn’t find their way to the podium at the strip that year, Mazmanian’s Corvette would end up taking third place honors at the Winternationals car show that NHRA held just before the racing got underway, due to its new 24-coat Candy Persimmon red paint job by Junior Conway, along with the car’s new tuck and roll interior and the gleaming brightwork found throughout.

Seen here in its CM/SP class configuration in 2009 after a meticulous restoration by collector Steve Hendrickson, by 1962 Mazmanian's Corvette was a supercharged, 600+ horsepower beast of a drag racing machine, replete with hacked up rear fenders to provide room for the big racing slicks and a parachute to slow it down from the low 11-second passes it was regularly dishing out at the time. Images: RM Auctions

The next time the Corvette head back the garage, Mazmanian had far more dramatic modifications in store for it. First, the Corvette’s four-speed gearbox was swapped out for a B&M two-speed Hydromatic, then the team turned their attention to the small block. The motor received a Crank Shaft Company stroker kit that bumped displacement up to 316 cubes, while a host of Edelbrock and Iskendarian go-fast internals were added as well. Placed atop this reworked mill was a 4-71 GMC supercharger with a Hilborn injector. All in, the combination was said to make in excess of 600 horsepower by Mazmanian’s estimate.

Seen here in the last configuration ran by Mazmanian's team in early 1963, this 327 cubic-inch small block V8 was supplemented by a 6-71 GMC blower with a four-port Hilborn injector. By then the four-speed manual gearbox had been swapped out for a race-spec two-speed B&M Hydromatic as well. Images: RM Auctions

The body saw some significant tweaks as well – up front the grill was removed and a polished Moon gas tank was put in its place, while the rear fenders saw some impromptu bodywork at San Gabriel Raceway one afternoon so the team could make room for the 10.00×16 Dragmaster slicks they wanted to use, and the suspension was reworked to send as much of the weight to rear end at launch as possible. According to team’s crew chief Dick Bourgeois, Mazmanian had invested more than $10,000 modifying the car, though Big John himself would only admit to $6,300.

Despite being purpose-built for racing, the Corvette’s interior was rather plush, as the Mazmanian had given the Corvette a new interior treatment when outfitting it for drag duty. The big the column-mounted Sun tach made the Corvette’s intended purpose clear though. Image: RM Auctions

It was clear where the money had been invested when glazing up Mazmanian’s gasser Corvette – both at rest and in motion. The car could now dispatch a quarter mile in 11.11 seconds at 129 miles per hour, a feat proven for the crowds at Fontana Dragway during an AHRA championship in the summer of 1962.

Due to its polished brightwork, deep candy red paint and “distinctive: rear fender modifications, Mazmanian’s Corvette received as much attention at the track for its style as it did for its performance. Image: Jim Dillon / Corvette Forum

It would catch the attention of editors of Rod and Custom at the event, and later grace of the cover of Hot Rod Magazine as well. Mazmanian still wanted more from the car though, and between the 1962 and 1963 seasons the Corvette’s mechanicals underwent surgery once again. By the time the 1963 Winternationals rolled around the motor was now displacing 327 cubes thanks to a 3/8-inch stroker crank while the original blower was swapped out for a 6-71 GMC, upgrades which bumped the car into the BM/SP class.

1963 would prove to be a period of change for Mazmanian’s team though. His driver, Rich Siroonian, would end up in the Army that year so co-driver Bones Balough took over piloting duties, and while Mazmanian had initially expressed interest in building a new dragster based off the new Stingray Corvette, he would instead change focus to the Gasser classes and build one of the first supercharged Hemi-Willys for the 1964 season. It wasn’t long before the Corvette was sold off to fund other racing projects.

Legacy

“Big John” Mazmanian’s 1941 Willys would prove to be his most potent drag race project yet, posting a 9.77 second time at 149 miles per hour in the A/Gas class in the 1964 season. Mazmanian and his team would go on to become early pioneers of both the Gasser and Funny Car movements in the mid-to-late 1960s before Big John would retire from racing in 1972.

By the latter part of the decade John was involved with what would prove to be the early incarnation of Funny Car racing, campaigning a 426 Hemi-powered ’68 Barracuda outfitted in the team’s trademark red and gold livery. The team would score their biggest win at the 1968 Manufacturer’s Funny Car Championships at Orange County after beating Don Schumacher in the final.

As for the Corvette, it would end up in Minnesota where it was raced briefly before changing hands several times and its whereabouts became unknown. Then in 1989, after years of pursuing the Mazmanian Corvette, collector Steve Hendrickson acquired the car and began an exhaustive total restoration on the car.

The project was completed 1998 and just in time for the NHRA’s Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield, where Mazmanian was being honored for his place in drag racing history and was reunited with the car for the first time in more than three decades.

In the years since its racing career ended, Mazmanian’s Corvette has become an icon in drag racing circles due to both its record-setting performance and eye catching looks. Not surprisingly, its value has risen substantially in turn, as evidenced by the car fetching nearly a quarter of a million dollars at auction back in 2009. Considering the substantial economic shift that was occurring at the time, we can only assume the car is worth even more today.

Though Mazmanian’s team would move on to race a Willys, an Austin Gasser and a Plymouth Barracuda after selling off the C1 at the end of the 1963 season, this ’61 remains one of the most iconic Corvette drag cars in racing history. Image: Jalopy Journal

When interviewed for the 1962 Rod and Custom feature, Mazmanian’s team mechanic, Dick Bourgeois, was asked why John would go to such an expense to build a Corvette “that’s only good for quarter-mile drags, when John could have the fun of driving this car anywhere for half the expense. Is it because he’s only out for records?”

“No,” Bourgeois replied. ““He likes the sport and likes to see it grow. He enjoys improving the breed.”

While Mazmanian’s contributions to Corvette performance lore are undeniable, perhaps the most compelling motivator was revealed when Bourgeois added that, “The money isn’t as important as the satisfaction of knowing he has an untouchable Corvette.”

About the author

Bradley Iger

Lover of noisy cars, noisy music, and noisy bulldogs, Brad can often be found flogging something expensive along the twisting tarmac of the Angeles Forest.
Read My Articles

Hot Rods and Muscle Cars in your inbox.

Build your own custom newsletter with the content you love from Street Muscle, directly to your inbox, absolutely FREE!

Free WordPress Themes
Street Muscle NEWSLETTER - SIGN UP FREE!

We will safeguard your e-mail and only send content you request.

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

streetmusclemag

We'll send you the most interesting Street Muscle articles, news, car features, and videos every week.

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

Street Muscle NEWSLETTER - SIGN UP FREE!

We will safeguard your e-mail and only send content you request.

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

streetmusclemag

Thank you for your subscription.

Subscribe to more FREE Online Magazines!

We think you might like...


fordmuscle
Classic Ford Performance
dragzine
Drag Racing
chevyhardcore
Classic Chevy Magazine

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

Thank you for your subscription.

Subscribe to more FREE Online Magazines!

We think you might like...

  • fordmuscle Classic Ford Performance
  • dragzine Drag Racing
  • chevyhardcore Classic Chevy Magazine

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

streetmusclemag

Thank you for your subscription.

Thank you for your subscription.

Street Muscle - The Ultimate Muscle Car Magazine

Thank you for your subscription.

Thank you for your subscription.

Loading