One of the most supremely compelling elements of the heads-up street car drag racing craze these days – in addition to the elapsed times and speeds these marvels are capable of – is the fact that deep down, they were all once actual, road-going vehicles purchased from a dealer. No swoopy carbon fiber “Batmobiles” here. But as both diehard classic car fanatics and drag racers, we’re often torn between doing the right thing and preserving that American iron, and hacking it up to make a badass race car out of it. That inner debate especially rings true when its an original car in well above average condition, rather than a rusted out barn find.

Lou Dreisch did exactly that one year ago, taking what to the average, non-car-collecting individual was a pristine 1968 Chevelle that looked nothing like its age and dropped it off at Dominic Cimino’s DC Performance shop in Maryland to go under the knife. But this wasn’t Dreisch’s first choice to make a race car.

With a 468 big block backed with a Turbo 400 for a drivetrain, Dreisch’s Chevelle that you see here was a running, driving car show cruiser. Meanwhile, he also owned a ’72 Nova that served as his race car. While the Nova was at an area chassis shop having some work done and only days from completion, the facility caught fire and burned to the ground, taking Dreisch’s car with it. To add insult to injury, his trailer that was parked outside of the shop was also destroyed, and his truck received extensive damage.

“He’s been through a lot. He put a lot of time and a lot of money into that Nova and basically lost it,” said Cimino.

Dreisch has owned the Chevelle for a number of years, and as an interesting fact to accompany the car, it was originally owned by none other than Hall of Fame big leaguer and car aficionado “Mr. October” Reggie Jackson. In fact, when it came into the DC Performance shop, it still had a hitch underneath that Jackson had used to tow a small trailer with his equipment inside.

Cimino began work on the project in late January of 2011, and was initially planned as a mild build with an aluminum 565 powerplant before a host of changes to the build plans were made. The original plan for a 10-point cage gave way to a 25.5 spec chassis.

“There was essentially nothing salvageable from the Nova that burned,” explained Cimino. “We were able to pull the Strange center section from it, but the rest was a complete loss.”

Powering Dreisch’s Chevelle is a 632 cubic inch Big Chief-headed big block, featuring a 15:1 COMP camshaft and a 1,400 CFM carburetor from Pro Systems, and is backed by a Turbo 400 transmission with a transbrake built by Dynamic Transmissions in Delaware. Built by Bob Mock at Mock Machine, the 632-inch bullet is expected to deliver in the neighborhood of 1,250 horsepower, and closer to 2,000 when already-plumbed nitrous oxide system is utilized at a later time.

The Chevelle also features a Moser M9 rear housing with gun-drilled 40-spline axles, star flanges, and spool.

“Lou has really gotten the itch since we started building this car to get back out and race, and we’re shooting to get it out in the middle of March or first of April to start testing it,” says Cimino.

Dreisch’s Chevelle features Auto Fab front suspension components, rear upper and lower control arms, and anti-roll bar. It’s also been converted to rack and pinion steering, using TRZ chromoly drop spindles and billet aluminum steering arms.

Dreisch is planning to compete in the always-exciting 8.50 Index category events at Cecil County Dragway and elsewhere in the Northeast. Dreisch and Cimino have retained the stock suspension and opted to go without “sissy sticks,” allowing it to run in 8.50 on 29.5×10.5W’s, or the Maryland International Raceway’s X275 heads-up eliminator on 275 Radials.

“I really tried talking him out of using this car and cutting it up, but it’s what he wanted to do,” explains Cimino.