[LGAFF]

pure stock nationals

1. Chevrolet
11.66 @ 122.13
1969 Corvette
Jimmy Johnston
Engine: 427 L88
HP: 430 @ 5,800 rpm
Trans: M22 4-Speed
Axle: 4.56 Positraction
Weight: 3,408 lb

Running a very hot L78 Nova for years, Jimmy Johnston was always a force to be reckoned with, but moving to an L88 Corvette in 2005 vaulted him to the front of the pack. Johnston is the Pure Stock Drags low e.t. record holder at 11.43 seconds at 125.50 mph, and with the 11.50 cutoff rule now in force, he probably always will be. Johnston’s Corvette is the only manual transmission car in the 11s. That says it all about his skill with the clutch and shifter.

Other than the 427 L88’s extraordinary power, there’s nothing heroic or extreme under his Cortez Silver hood. Johnston has one high-tech trick up his sleeve though, an AEM air/fuel-ratio monitor.

“The gauge tells you how to make the car optimum, no matter what the weather,” he says. “I shoot for a 13:1 ratio, which is lean.”

A PerTronix Ignitor lights the fires reliably, and Jimmy has switched from NGK spark plugs to Denso. They don’t foul and have excellent reliability.

“I haven’t changed plugs in two years,” he says. “The car runs so clean.”

Jimmy revs the big 427 like a small-block. “I shift at 7,000, and have a rev limiter set at 7,200.”

Quick-shifting the four-speed is tough on a driveline, especially channeling the massive torque of an L88 at full throttle. “I’m lucky if I get 15-20 passes on a clutch,” says Johnston. He wisely used extra-heavy-duty parts when building the rearend and has never had a half-shaft or U-joint failure.

When you’re the top gun, you’re the target for all other gunslingers. This year Johnston had his hands full with a 1970 Hemi ‘Cuda. “He was ahead of me all the way,” he says. “I didn’t think I was going to catch him, but I barely did at the end.” The difference: 0.004 of a second, 11.694 to 11.698.