Sleepers are one of our favorite types of build, and this 1968 Chevy Nova four-door named “Sweet Pea” is a good one. It’s crusty, it appears to have been built on a budget, and it really rips!
Sweet Pea came into Ray Gardocki’s life as just another car to play with as he finished other projects. After digging into the Nova, Ray discovered the engine had no oil pressure.
A new 4.8-liter LS engine was dropped in with help from Dynospeed Racing — that engine served Gardocki well until he decided to start making more upgrades to go faster, and BOOM — a 6.0 liter LS engine fed by a single Borg Warner turbo and backed by a Powerglide transmission found its way between the frame rails.
What makes this sleeper so cool is just how unassuming it really looks. If the car didn’t’ have the 15-inch drag-style rear wheels, it would just look like a very average daily driver from a distance, but the interior sports the car’s true intentions — a full roll cage…
On this pass at Beech Bend Raceway during the 2018 Holley LS Fest event, Sweat Pea runs bottom 9’s (9.107 at 145 mph) with plenty more left in it…
