"Fireball" is a street-legal tribute to the legendary NASCAR driver Fireball Roberts. The car is a replica of one of his last super-speedway cars driven before his untimely death.
"Project Fireball" was intended from the get-go to replicate an actual former NASCAR racer (as opposed to an imaginary one) as visually accurate as possible, yet still be street legal. I chose to pay tribute to Fireball Roberts, starting with (ironically, or twistedly... your call) a '64 Galaxie that had previously been stolen and that the thieves had tried to torch to hide their stupidity. For the time being (and as a matter of initially saving some money), I stuck with the small block 289, yet completed a race-bred interior that further adds to the car's accurate 60s-racer appearance. Removing all of the chrome also required filling 161 holes in the body!
It's admittedly more of a show car (and it has seen its share of shows now) and not meant to run low 11s at the local strip... yet. I have a 390 block waiting to be built, but I'm leaning more towards a significantly upgraded small block so I don't have to change everything over (springs, mounts, tranny, etc.) to accommodate the larger motor. I might be in a position to upgrade the current motor this winter thanks to some new performance parts that just came available. I had no shop, no previous welding or bondo experience, and pretty much no budget. Other than exterior paint and exhaust, it just was me, a crowded garage, and a few borrowed tools. Still, the car was purchased October 1, 2006, and the project was completed on July 11, 2007; or a little over 9 months, for a total of about $4,000, and I am damned proud of it!
I also drove "Fireball" as a pace car for a charity race at the 2007 San Jose Grand Prix (yes, that is an actual 1992 Richard Petty Pontiac behind me in the pic), and it has been seen at the 2007 Reno Hot August Nights, and at the 2007 NSRA Golden State Nationals. You'll also see it on the splash page of the December 2007 issue of Street Scene magazine and its write-up of the Golden State Nationals.
Bottom line; the car is pure fun.