Supreme Chevy: Kyle Kirker’s Classy X275 BelAir

KIRKER

Many in the racing world catch the speed bug at a young age through their family, and that bug can grow into a life-long obsession. For a lucky few<,> they’re able to turn their love and passion for racing into a career and get to build awesome cars<,> or even be a wheelman for a living. Kyle Kirker got a taste of racing old school Chevy muscle with his father and parlayed that into a career that’s led him to build one of the most insanely clean small tire race cars you’ll ever see. Kirker’s journey was not easy and hasn’t come quickly, but has paid off with a monstrous race car that is a four-second, supercharged piece of art.

_MG_7373Kirker’s radial tire weapon of choice is a stunning 1955 Hugger Orange and black Chevy Bel Air that could easily win any car show. The selection of car is very symbolic for Kirker because his father had one almost exactly like it that he raced when Kirker was growing up. Where things get interesting for this Bel Air and Kirker is the journey they both took to get where they are today.

For Kirker, the adventure began back in 1989 when he was browsing the Chicago Tribune want-ads and found his ride. “I bought the car from Kevin Fram in Danville, Illinois on December 9, 1989. It was my first car, and I bought as a senior in high school,” explains Kirker about the origins of his ride. The car was far from stock when it was purchased — it was rocking a fiberglass tilt front end, slot mag wheels, a Turbo 400, 12-bolt rear end and a 427 cubic inch engine that needed some work. Kirker reminisces about the car by saying, “I thought I had a race car.” But little did he know that exact thought would come true in a big way in the future.

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Now that Kirker had his hot rod, it was time to get to work making it his own and getting it road-ready. The path to go-fast glory, however, is never a smooth one, and Kirker found out the hard way. “I saved my lunch money and worked at Kmart to rebuild it so I could drive it to high school graduation. It dropped a valve the day of graduation and never made it.”

Like anybody raised around racing, Kirker wasn’t going to allow a simple valvetrain catastrophe stop him, so it was back to the grind to get his ‘55 running how he wanted even though he was still learning. Kirker got the car fixed and tried to get more seat time street driving (and racing) the car but was still having issues. As a result, the boosted Bel Air would see its first major changes in 1991, when he cut down the 12-bolt, added coilovers and ladder bars with a set of sportsman 29 x 12.5 tires.

After high school, Kirker went off to college and the Bel Air had to sit due to a lack of funds. Unsure of what he wanted to do with his future, Kirker made the choice to serve in the armed forces. “I joined the Army and went to boot camp in February of 1992 to become a machinist,” he tells us. And with that choice Kirker laid another stone in the foundation of his future in business and racing.

When he finished his service with the Army, Kirker joined the reserves and used his new skills working at The Chassis Shop in the state of Michigan. While honing his building and fabrication talents, Kirker earned a degree in CAD and technical drafting to further grow his skill set.

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The Bel Air is more than just a pretty face in the crowd — it can hang the hoops and roll out.

Kirker was able to save up some cash and get back to work on his Bel Air, but ran into some problems. “When I got deeper into the project, I sheared the body bolts and discovered the car was rusty and scabbed together by the previous owner.” Kirker had to do some major surgery to try and remedy the issue, but it became too much, so he put the project on pause once again to race dirt bikes.

The only thing things that give away this Belair are the funny car cage and if you look close enough the F1X peaking out at the bottom of the grill.

The only thing things that give away this Belair are the funny car cage and if you look close enough the F1X peaking out at the bottom of the grill.

In the winter of 1997 Kirker helped a friend build an NMCA Easy Street car — a process that rejuvenated his drag racing desire — and the Bel Air project got a large shot in the arm. Kirker began building the car to run Easy Street and used a nitrous-huffing 447 cubic inch mill that he borrowed from a friend. The car got back on the track and went 9.005 at 150 mph before it did a devastating, bumper dragging wheelstand that caused major damage, forcing him to park the car yet again.

The car sat while Kirker started his own shop, New Era Racecraft. In 2004, Kirker built another nasty nitrous motor and mounted up a pair of 29 x 10.5 slicks to run NMCA Extreme Street. Competing for the entire season, Kirker finished in the top 10 in points. The following season<,> the Bel Air would see its boosted birth when ProCharger supplied Kirker with an F-1R and turned him loose. “I put this combo together and ran a best of 8.40 with a blow-through carburetor combo. We broke a bunch of parts, but we learned a lot.”

After the 2005 season, things changed for Kirker. He spent time with his family, becoming a father for the first time and growing his new business significantly. But he wasn’t done racing, nor was his ’55 going anywhere. In 2011, he needed a way to show off some of his business’ new products, so he pulled the car back out and gave it a top-to-bottom makeover.

er the hood you can see Kirker's handy work on display from the headers to the piping for the Procharger.

er the hood you can see Kirker’s handy work on display from the headers to the piping for the Procharger.

To kick off the new version of the ’55, Kirker built a nasty motor centered around a Dart block, measuring 400 cubic inches all said and done. The motor was built in-house at New Era using a Callies crank, MGP connecting rods and Diamond pistons. Curtis Boggs at Race Flow Development worked over the All Pro 245RR heads the engine wears. This combo has helped propel the heavy Chevy to a 4.77 at 147 mph in the eighth-mile.

The unique induction system includes a Mopar intake manifold that Kirker modified to fit his engine and a C&S Custom blow-through 4150 carburetor feeds the fuel from the Magnafuel ProStar 750 fuel pump and regulator. Kirker tunes the car himself using an MSD Grid Controller and the Bel Air gets ignition from an MSD 8 Plus, HVC II coil, and MSD distributor.

To help the Bel Air compete in heads-up racing, Kirker bolted an F-1X ProCharger to the ’55 and made his own gear drive to get the blower to spin. The supercharger makes a stout 25 psi of boost with the current 1.56:1 gear ratio. All of that boosted air gets cooled by a Chiseled air-to-water intercooler. To expel the exhaust gases, Kirker built a set of stainless 2-1/4 x 2-3/3 x 2-½ to 5-inch collector headers that work in conjunction with a pair of SPD Stainless mufflers.

Finishing out the driveline on this X275 bruiser is a TH400 transmission matched to a 4500 stall speed PTC bolt together torque converter. The power travels through a 5-inch aluminum driveshaft as Kirker hits his shift points with the aid of a Precision Products shifter.

Owning a chassis shop allows Kirker to really do some trick stuff with the Bel Air, and that starts in the rear of the car. A full fabricated 9-inch rear end built by New Era Racecraft puts the power to the track and is filled with gun drilled and lightened Strange 40 Spline axles that rotate on a Strange spool and 3.73 gears. Kirker also built a custom Panhard rod, sway bar, and ladder bars to go with the rear end. Dampening duties are taken care of by Santhuff rear shocks and Hypercoil rear springs. A Wilwood braking setup sits on the outside of the rear end.

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Up front, Kirker converted stock spindles to a spindle mount setup using all kinds of New Era Racecraft suspension goodies, Santhuff shocks and springs. A Pinto Rack by Flaming River helps Kirker keep the Bel Air going straight during each eighth-mile pass. To assist with the braking duties, a set of Strange Calipers and rotors with customer caliper brackets by New Era are used.

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The interior of Kirker’s 55′ is just as clean as the outside with the original dash still in the stock location.

The appearance of Kirker’s Chevy is what really sets it apart from most small tire race cars. You don’t see many big-body, 50s era cars in heads-up racing, let alone one that has this much original steel on it. Yep, this beauty only has a VFN fiberglass hood and a fiberglass trunk lid — everything else is all steel. Even the interior is pretty well stock, save for the Kirkey seats and 25.2 certified roll cage build by Kirker.

The voyage Kirker and his Bel Air have been through has lasted nearly 30 years, encompassed untold long nights, and just as many trips down the drag strip. Kirker’s attention to detail and love for his ’55 shows end to end on this beauty, and all of that hard work and dedication has culminated with one of the most clean and unique X275 cars ever built.

About the author

Brian Wagner

Spending his childhood at different race tracks around Ohio with his family’s 1967 Nova, Brian developed a true love for drag racing. Brian enjoys anything loud, fast, and fun.
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