By Ian Tocher - 03/08/07

hen the American Drag Racing League (ADRL) announced its new Extreme 10.5 class would allow full tube-chassis entries with no minimum weight, Outlaw 10.5 purists decried the move, saying the class would attract nothing more than Pro Mod-type cars riding on 10.5W tires. Well, somebody forgot to tell AMS team owner Dave Wood, who showed up for the inaugural Extreme 10.5 event early this month in Houston, TX, with a steel-bodied, stock front-clipped ’57 Chevy Bel Air.

Chad Wilson, a longtime crewmember on Wood’s NHRA Pro Mod and ADRL Pro Extreme teams with driver Troy Critchley, got the nod to wheel the big Chevy in ADRL action. He qualified sixth at 4.85 seconds over the Houston eighth mile, but fell as a victim of traction woes in the opening round of eliminations.

Wilson, 33, cut his racing teeth as a crewmember with Del Worsham’s two-car Funny Car team a few years back, then crew chiefed Zach Barklage to a third-place finish in the 2004 NHRA AMS Pro Mod series before joining Wood’s operation the next year. He also owns a ’67 Camaro powered by a 565 with a single-stage nitrous that he raced in the True 10.5 class at Ozark International Raceway at Rogersville, MO.

Wood watched Wilson run the Camaro in a race at Houston Motorsports Park last year and though the rookie driver recalls, “he didn’t say a whole lot,” the boss apparently liked what he saw.

“My first reaction was just really excited, I guess,” Wilson says of his unexpected new role. “Dave didn’t really talk to me, but he had a meeting (last summer) with Troy and said, ‘I want to build a 10.5 car and I want Chad to drive.’ So Troy came back to the shop and told me and it came as a total surprise.

“I mean, I’ve always liked to drive,” the Lake Ozark, MO, native continues, “but I’ve never really looked for a driving job. I just couldn’t believe Dave was going to give me the opportunity.”

Wood initially got involved with the ’57 in 1998 through giving another employee the chance to drive competitively. Chuck Taylor had been dabbling with the car as a street machine project for more than 10 years when Wood asked him to haul it into his shop for a look-see.