Bad Black 55

This story is not just about a driver and his car, it’s about a family and a quest. The family is the Storlies and the quest is to go 200 MPH in an all steel 55 Chevy. Sounds crazy doesn’t it? I thought so too. Let’s start from the beginning…

Who are the Storlies? Well for those that know the movie Two Lane Blacktop you will see some parallels:

The Driver        Chris Storlie

The Girl            Bethany Storlie

The Mechanic    Jordan Storlie

The Storlie brothers were born in Bend Oregon. They have a rich racing legacy dating back to their father Lynn and Uncle Terry who raced on the streets as well as at the track running Chevy Novas, Corvettes, wagons, and other cars including a hemi Road Runner.

In their early years the Storlies honed their skills working on a riding lawn mower which they stretched and added Honda 55 engine to. If such a thing as drag racing lawn mowers existed, this one looked like one. A common question that both Chris and Jordan are asked when they’re standing next to the 55 is “where did you get your skills” well the lawn mower was the beginning and just about everything with a motor and wheels that followed was the training ground. Chris took auto shop classes all through high school. After high school Chris spent time at Arizona Automotive Institute on a scholarship.  From there he went to work with Triplett Wellman. In his current position as a foreman for Triplet Wellman construction he does all of the metal work.

Sometimes known to Chris as his own personal full time fabricator, Jordan had other influences. Frankly,  Chris was Jordan’s main influence. Jordan was more into skateboarding than cars. As the story goes, Chris conned Jordan into working on his yellow 67 elCamino and it took off from there. Jordan learned to mig weld simply by practicing. An old timer he met in Gresham by the name of Terry Rouse from Rouse racing taught him to tig weld. Together they built a tube chassis 68 elCamino. Jordan’s first major fabrication project he took on in fact the 55 Chevy that they are currently running.

The evolution of the 55:

The 7 second 55 was bought in the summer of 2000. The initial plan for the car was to make it a Two Lane Blacktop tribute car. Chris and Jordan got the car running initially with a 454 and a Doug Nash 5 speed. Just after the car was put on the road, Jordan left for Austria to go snow boarding. Upon Jordan’s return in the spring of 2003 he found the car sitting in the shop with the entire floor pan cut out of it, a 540 BBC, Jeffco transmission, a dual disc clutch and other go fast parts sat on the floor. He wasn’t too happy about the fact that the car had no floor pan in it so he went to work fabricating a floor pan and firewall. Along with the 540 and the new tranny, they added Nitrous. This combination was never really sorted out but that didn’t stop them from towing the car to Arizona in November of 2003 for the PSCA race where they actually took a round win. At this stage the car had run a best of 9.85 @ 138.

After the PSCA event, life got in the way as Chris moved. They had discovered that the rearend had issues, the cross member was bending and the car needed to be beefed up to handle the power they were putting down. Jordan, cut out the roll bar and installed an entire chrome moly cage with a larger cross member, etc. After a cage certification in the spring of 2004 the Storlies went back for another PSCA race in Vegas. At this event they hooked up with Steve Johnson for a nitrous tune up. The result was a broken Dana 60 rearend (which had a locker…not a spool). After spending the night welding the spider gears in the locker so they could run the next day, they woke up to snow which ultimately forced the race to be cancelled.

Upon returning from Vegas Chris took time away from his own car and worked for a string of racing teams including: Top Fuel Funny Car racers Jack Wyatt and Del Worsham as well as a local TAFC racer (Ashwell racing). 

In the winter of 2006 Chris and Jordan connected with John Dewar and parts were ordered to begin the twin turbo transformation. The decision was made to get their feet wet with the turbo setup and ultimately build the car to keep up with the power later. Headers were fabricated, turbo mounts, EFI bungs welded into existing intake, throttle body, etc. were bolted on and a Big Stuff 3 was wired to light up the package. Getting the turbos set up and the car running and driving took approximately 6 months.

With a lot of tuning left to do the car ran a 9.20 at Woodburn with only 5 pounds of boost. Knowing the car had more in it, the Storlies towed it to Vegas again and ran at the 2007 SCSN. The car struggled a bit but still ran an 8.80.

Upon returning home Jordan left for Albania. Within 2 weeks of Jordan’s departure, he received a cell phone picture of the car. Shocked, he was staring at a picture of only the body as Chris had cut the entire chassis out from under the car. At this point Chris was determined to build a full tube chassis to match the car with its new found power. Chris began with two pieces of 4x4 steel which he used for  a jig. After receiving a shipment of round tube and some parts from Art Morrison he began mocking up the frame. Around this time Jordan returned from Albania and went right to work. A feature of the car at this stage was the stainless steel headers. The creation of the chassis they run today started in December 2008 and by August of 2008 they had an SFI 25.2 chassis on the road. To say the car turned out professional is an understatement. They get compliments wherever they go.

Chris ran the car at PIR but struggled to work with the new tune up, new chassis, and new tricks like the AMS 1000. Undaunted by the lack of performance at PIR Chris and co. towed the 900+ miles to Vegas to yet again race at the PSCA SCSN event. This time the car made some laps ultimately qualifying and running an 8.10 @ 181 against Billy Glidden in Round 1.

 

Returning home once again Jordan was off to Albania and Chris was left wondering what he could do to the car this time. He had been running a Merlin block and wanted to go with a Dart Big M instead. The engine was pulled and sold and a Dart Big M took its place. Fast forward to September 2009 Chris had run the car a few times and was still trying to sort out the complicated setup of clutch, AMS 1000, suspension, wheelie bars, tire pressure, and of course…tuning the Big Stuff. Before the season was over Chris had put up a best of 8.11 at PIR and on a weird half-rained out day in Woodburn Chris ran a 7.83.

 

Never being one to shy away from hard work and in standard all-of-a-sudden fashion, Chris decided to repaint the car. After some controversial color choices, a web survey, and a near full-on family feud, Chris “decided” to paint the car gloss black. Now the car wasn’t too bad but gloss black requires perfection. Chris struck a deal with Ryan Volk and the two began working literally day and night to get the car straight. Lets not gloss over that point, these two guys would get started after a full day of work doing their real jobs, they would work until sometimes 5:00AM and then start all over again. Those that know Chris probably wouldn’t call him the most chipper guy in the world, but during this time he was a zombie. (sorry man) The car was painted and waiting for Jordan along with a lengthy list of “to do” items including a hand brake installation, bumper brackets, aluminum exhaust system, etc. Jordan jumped in with both feet and got it done. The car was being worked on right up to the point it was shoved into the Walter Grosse sponsored covered trailer. Once again, off to Vegas the Storlies went with their now shiny Bad Black 55.

 

In Vegas the car struggled a bit and even had a serious lifter problem which literally took a chunk out of a cylinder head. With the help of a large rag-tag pit crew the car was fixed (thanks especially to Guy Mitchell for his expertise and to Jordan for his willingness to go borrow anything from anyone in the pits). Ultimately the car qualified and ran its best ever numbers 7.64 @ 193.9. That run was caught on video and its easy to see the car was spinning the tires early in the run. Who knows whats next for the Driver, The Mechanic, and the Girl? One thing is for sure, the 200 MPH goal is within reach and nobody thinks it sounds crazy anymore.

I wanted to add a bit of info about the Storlie family. Their pits in Vegas are a lot more like a family picnic than any other I’ve seen. Even when they’re thrashing on the car, they chat with Grandma and Grandpa or they have a cookie in one hand and a wrench in the other. Just laid back good folks with a 2,000 HP street car.

Chris and Jordans Dad Lynn is a bit of a mild mannered guy, not someone you’d ever see bragging or showing off. What does he drive for fun? A 68 Dodge Dart with a 572 tunnel rammed, twin Dominator HEMI with a 4-speed. This car screams “don’t mess with me”. I’d say Lynn is a contrast, and that’s likely where Chris and Jordan get it from.

Chris’ Mom, again a very nice person, kind of quiet and unassuming. One day I stopped by to find her busy polishing the wheels on the 55. Her hands black with the wheel polish stuff, she did a great job.
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