G-Thang

With a sprayed LS and 8-second timeslips, John Dodson’s G-body kicks ass on the dragstrip

- Stephen Kim

To slightly modify a rather politically incorrect expression, if you throw enough stuff against the wall, some of it’s bound to stick. With less than-inspiring machines like the Galaxie, Falcon, and Fairlane, FoMoCo’s product development department evidently took this expression to heart. Nevertheless, while the Blue Oval brigade has manufactured plenty of turds, it definitely got things right with the Fox-body Mustang. Thanks to its notchy good looks, low mass, easy hp potential, and hook-and-book four-link suspension, no single vehicle platform inspired a new generation of drag racers like the Fox. Even so, GM by no means fell asleep at the wheel. People in the ’80s weren’t smart enough to realize it at the time, but The General had its very own notchy, lightweight, four-linked, drag strip-ready platform called the G-body.

Truth be told, few hot rodders in the ’80s had enough vision to look past the G-body’s wheezy 305- and 350ci small-blocks and see their true drag potential. Had they been able to do so, they would have realized that all the G-body needed to stick it to the Fox Mustang was an infusion of horsepower and some sticky tires. Interestingly, the turbo Buick guys most definitely figured this out, but the Chevy boys didn’t. Although John Dodson wasn’t old enough to drive back then, he saw the potential. “When I was a kid, whenever my dad saw a G-body he said they’re the best platform to build a drag car out of because they were the last full-frame Chevys. Ever since then, I’ve always wanted to build a G-body,” John recalls.