1957 Chevy Black Widow Replica: A Real NASCAR Outlaw
The legendary Black Widow 1957 Chevy dominated stock car racing until it was ultimately banned two years later.
It might seem hard to believe today. But there was a time when the rules of racing were, well, a little loose. With a little effort, folks could build machines that could just come in and dominate even the most established motorsports entities. That includes NASCAR, which was invaded by a series of 1957 Chevy examples back in ’57 and ’58. These somewhat factory-backed cars, ultimately dubbed “The Black Widow,” went on to win 80% of the races they entered.
Today, you rarely see one of these slices of racing history come up for sale. And when they do, they sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, as car #47 did at the 2016 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction. Mainly because these aren’t just interesting pieces of racing history, but also because only around 12-20 were ever built.
NASCAR racer Jack Smith was an original, having competed in the series’ very first race in 1949. But he didn’t get his first taste of success until he finally won a race in 1956. But things would change drastically the very next year. Smith was gifted a fuel-injected 1957 Chevy from Nalley Chevrolet in Atlanta. Thanks in part to the efforts of Chevrolet themselves.
Chevy performance engineer Vince Piggins then got to work modifying the car for track use. The lightweight 150’s 283 was balanced and blueprinted, upping horsepower to 315. A Saginaw close-ratio three-speed transmission and 3.90-geared rear end rounded out the drivetrain. He then installed heavy duty springs, a 6-lug rear axle, heavy duty brakes, four extra shocks, and a larger radiator and gas tank. And that was just the start.
Smith went on to dominate NASCAR in 1957, winning four races that season and finishing fifth in the standings. The Black Widow 1957 Chevy was so dominant that the series banned it from competition after only two years. Today, very few of these groundbreaking machines still exist. Thus, we have zero problem with anyone building a replica of the car that was too fast for NASCAR!
