Summer Sizzle – Doug Cook’s Nova Returns to the Track After a Year With New Rear Suspension, a New Engine, and Immediately Sets a Personal Best!
A car with a lot of history in drag and drive, Doug Cook and his storied 1972 Chevrolet Nova has done a lot over the last decades. After a couple years getting a full rebuild, Doug wrote a big chapter in his comeback storybook with his performance at the 2024 edition of Sick Summer presented by Motion Raceworks.
Doug set a record for a leaf-spring car in drag and drive competition on Day One, clocking a .04 at 206 mph at Byron Dragway, in route to setting a 7.32 average and winning the Super Street class.
Now, after a year of making some major changes to the Nova, Doug made his first track appearance with some test runs at South Georgia Motorsports Park (SGMP) on Friday, July 24th. And despite the warm summertime temps (both in the air and one the track, the revamped Nova showed plenty of promise!
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Doug will admit he didn’t have the best 2025 season, and it led to some discussions about some possible changes for the Nova to be a better performing car. The first came from ditching the leaf spring suspension, and a call to fellow drag and drive runner Matt Moore at Moore Race Chassis meant the Nova would leave the shop with a different rear suspension.
Doug said “chasing a more consistent race car to become more competitive overall” was the reason for the change, so he employed the shop behind Motion Raceworks’ own Brett Lasala’s ‘Snot Rocket 3.0’ Ford Mustang. The result was an aftermarket 4-link suspension for more adjustment, linked to a Mark Williams Enterprises rear end.
The car came back in June, where Doug and Brett got to work installing a new engine from ACE Racing Engines. The LT-based engine from Stefan Rossi is based on a Noonan billet block, wears CID cylinder heads, and employs a Fluidworks oiling system. The car continues to wear twin turbos for the additional boost in atmosphere.
Once the engine was in the car, Brett and Doug handled a re-wire and replumb job, before heading for the chassis dyno for a session with Job Spetter from Turbopeople. The next step would be a track visit, and a trip to SGMP was planned.
With Job on the tune-up, and Brett and Mike Pryka on hand for assistance, the Nova made a best run of 6.76 lifting at the 1000 foot mark. With the track warm and a reasonable curve employed to keep traction attainable, a 1.22 60 foot paired with eighth-mile numbers of 4.45 at 173 mph.
“It felt good to be back,” said Doug. “And with a car that is a different world of better.” Doug hasn’t detailed out his plans for what event the Nova will debut the new upgrades in competition, but rumors are he might try something different with the car.
Check out the Nova’s track video from Motion Raceworks below:
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick The Magazine, Motion Raceworks and ACE Racing Engines.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com