Summit Racing is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary in 2018.

Summit Racing’s first ‘shop’ was in the basement of a doughnut shop in Stow, Ohio. The coffee and pastries were nice, but the location didn’t get a lot of traffic. A year later in 1969, they moved to their proper shop next door to a Midas Muffler and a pizza shop in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. It was 1500 square feet and just 20 feet wide.

Summit Racing built its first project car in 1980. The Elite Enterprises Lazer 917 kitcar had a Buick V6 drivetrain pirated from a front-wheel drive GM X-body. The Lazer was featured in the February 1981 issue of Car Craft magazine.

They’ve printed nearly 200 editions of the Summit Racing ‘Big Book’ catalogue since the first one appeared in 1974. The catalogue was an annual publication until 1987 when they went to the six per year frequency.

The 1967 Corvette that kick-started Summit Racing was restored in the mid-2000s. The L71 was punched to 496 cubic inches with a SCAT rotating assembly, a COMP Cams hydraulic roller cam, Quick Fuel-modified carburetors, and Trick Flow PowerPort® Oval aluminium heads. The big block now makes about 590bhp.

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