Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad 'Vette?

Among newer Corvette enthusiasts, thoughts of after-market performance tuners will conjure names like Callaway, Lingenfelter, Mallett, and Specter. But all of these mavens of fiberglass and speed are following in the footsteps of the original Corvette go-fast gurus, John and Burt Greenwood. The Greenwood team rubbed shoulders with the likes of Zora Arkus-Duntov and Gib Hufstader, who provided factory parts support for Greenwood's Corvette racing development in the early 1970's. This car was really the first of the famous 'wide-body' full-frame Corvette race cars, even though it carries chassis number 02, which were introduced in 1974.

Purpose-built for IMSA and SCCA, the car was raced with great success under many different names and color schemes during the 1974 IMSA season, and it's on-track prowess during the 1975 season earned it the lasting moniker "Spirit of Sebring '75". The car served as Greenwood's test bed for the subsequent wide-body cars and was the first to have the new, flared wheel wells, the Kinsler cross-ram Lucas fuel injection system, and Bob Riley coil-over suspension on all four corners. During the '74 and '75 seasons, the wide-bodied cars dominated IMSA--relegating Porsche's and BMW's to eating Corvette-induced dust.

John Greenwood himself said that the #02 car was the fastest of the early wide-bodies and is the car that he drove to victory at Daytona in the 1974 IMSA final. Other drivers to race behind the wheel of #02 were Sam Posey and Milt Mintner. It eventually was sold off and forgotten, only to be rediscovered by Greenwood aficionado Lance Smith. Smith purchased the car and restored it to its original glory. It's currently offered for sale on RaceCars.com here. You can also read about the car's history here and the wide-bodied cars in general here.