1958 Echidna Racing Special

The Echidnas were created by Ed Grierson, John Staver, and Bill Larson. All three of these individuals had experience racing, mostly with Corvettes and Jaguars, when they decided to form a team. Their approach to building the cars went against the mainstream belief of using technology and modern components such as space frame chassis and disc brakes. Instead, they began with a mid-1950s Chevrolet sedan frame which they shortened from around 20 inches to 93 inches. It was narrowed in the front and in the rear with many other significant changes and additions where needed. It was strengthened to support the demands of racing and modified to accept a roll bar.

Initially, braking power was by Chevrolet drums but these were later replaced with finned drums made by the Echidna team. A live axle was used in the rear and the front consisted of an independent setup. All three cars would be given a Chevrolet steering system, however, the first car would later be converted to rack-and-pinion. The bodies were fiberglass created by Devin and finished in the same light-blue paint scheme.

All three cars were fitted with Chevrolet V8 engines that displaced 283 cubic inches. The first car would later be bored out to 339 cubic inches so it could qualify for B-Modified. The other two cars ran in the C-Modified class. Grierson's car had a Rochester fuel-injection system plus several other modifications bringing its horsepower output to 340.

The first car was finished in 1958 and used by John Staver. This first car served as a great test mule, helping to identify its shortcomings and the areas that needed improvement. One of these areas was with the axle setup. The following two cars were given single-radius rods for axle control to rectify the problem. The first car was later modified with a Watts Linkage.

The cars were named by Grierson's wife, suggesting the car's long front end resembled a long-nosed ant-eater.

by Daniel Vaughan | Feb 2008