The deep-rooted story of Josh Forbes begins in Southeastern Georgia when 17-year-old Josh had some older friends who gave him the privilege of hitting up the local drag strip.
By the time he got his driver’s license, he was hooked!
“Savannah Dragway on Wednesday nights then became a religion for me,” said Forbes.
Fast forward just 6 months and he had already bought his first project, a 1991 Chevrolet S-10 pickup, and what was his first purchase for it? A 6-inch cowl induction hood! Never mind the fact that his truck had no drivetrain, it didn’t matter, the hood was awesome!
“Within a year I had rounded up a 406 small
block and a transmis sion and that’s about the time I got the great idea to build something other than the S10.”
“One day I was mind ing my own business in Walmart and happen hear two guys in the next isle talking about drag racing. So, like any good drag racer, I began to eavesdrop on them. One of them mentioned that he had a back-halved ’68 Camaro and want ed an S10. That’s when I sprang into action. 30 minutes later we had lined up a trade, sight unseen.” Roughly a week later, Josh had the Cama
❚ Josh and his dad Larry enjoy one thing together, drag racing! They went through a lot of cars, quit the sport and sold everything more than a few times only to end up with this slick Chevy II that they campaign in no-prep, no-time small tire drags. After buying a few “less than as advertised” cars in the past, Josh says that the Chevy II roller was as exactly as advertised, and within 3 months it had his 632 between the rails and was ready to do battle.
ro put back together and a steel head ed, pump gas 496 cubic inch big block Chevy stuffed between the frame rails that would net him 6.60s in the 1/8th. Soon after, Josh introduced his dad Larry to drag racing, he explains; “We went to the ‘House of Hook’ in Jack son, SC and I made about 3 passes. I pulled up after the third pass and just left the car running, jumped out and
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Josh Forbes’ IIFly Chevy II quickly becomes a dot on the horizon!
❚ The ’65 isn’t light by any means. It’s all steel except for the hood, trunk, and bumpers, but it still hauls the mail!
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pulling in,” Josh continued, “His face had to hurt because he was smiling so big and the first thing he said was ‘oh my god, find me a car!’” The pair raced and maintained two hot rods for a short while, but it soon became very taxing and expensive to keep up with, so they decided to sell everything.
A few years later, the itch to go fast returned. The pair came across a tube chassis Toyota pickup truck, scrounged up a 434sbc with a Powerglide and Josh began learning everything he could about nitrous oxide and installed a plate system on the engine.
The first pass was just on the motor and the truck went 5.98 in the 1/8, but stopping was a little sketchy. “Like any smart drag racer with no brakes, I pulled into to the pits and went straight for the nitrous bottle. Against everyone’s advice, I put the bottle in and set the timing and she was almost ready. Now there was just that pesky stopping issue. I did have a parachute but had never packed one. My good buddy Richie Burns was with us and I asked if he knew how. He said ‘no, but I saw Ron Capps do it one-time.’ I replied, perfect, let’s send it. Richie
❚ The Forbes’ 600+inch big block Chevy mill is a pump-gas street motor so, while it probably isn’t the most powerful combination on the property, it loves nitrous oxide and wins races… ‘nuff said!
An Ohio Crankshafts billet 4.750 stroke crank swings Oliver billet rods pinned to Diamond nitrous pistons. A Bullet custom camshaft is paired with Howards Pro Max lifters, and Brodix BB2xtra heads sport T&D shaft rockers. An Edelbrock Super Victor intake, 2 inch spacer and Holley Dominator XP 1250 carb top things off. Nitrous is brought into the mix via a PKRE Racing single direct port system with NLR NMS 1000 Nitrous Controller and Nitrous Outlet 15lb bottles.
❚ This was the 5th carb I tried on the car and it ran better than any of the others, right out of the box.” Is what Forbes said about his new Dominator XP1250 carb.
❚ Check out the flames as the Chevy II lights the candles off the hit. You can find Josh grudge racing in the small tire category throughout the Southeast. Needless to say, we do not have any data to share with you about performance numbers; “HAHA. It’s faster already than we ever anticipated the car would go,” was his answer when we asked about elapsed times.
packed the chute and we were off. The next pass was 5.30s on nitrous, with sketchy brakes and a late parachute deployment.”
Eventually, the truck would get to a point where the cost to make it go any quicker would far outweigh the benefits, so the pair pulled out of racing for a second time.
A few years passed and realizing it was the one thing the two did together, yet again Josh and his dad went in search of another race car. This time a small tire/stock suspension 1993 Mustang hatch with a 632bbc nitrous motor was on their radar. “As usual the car wasn’t near as nice as it was supposed to be, and the owner couldn’t even get it to crank. We ended up making one of those ridiculous ‘I don’t really want the car’ offers and he accepted it!” A week later, Forbes had the Stang rewired and running, only to find out it handled terrible on the strip due to a cobbled up suspension.
“I still managed to wrestle it to a 4.92 at 146mph after only one small altercation with a concrete wall. We quickly realized we had too much power for this car to handle and found a 25.2 spec 1993 Mustang coupe for the 632.”
❚ Josh kept some of the Chevy II’s original interior and added the necessities of racing including a cage, full array of gauges, twin nitrous bottles, a PPP shifter and located the electronics on the passenger side floor area. You might notice there are still two seats… it’s not uncommon to see Forbes out for a cruise around town, yes even with those massive front exhaust exits! Currently, the cage is certified to 8.50 with plans for a 25.3 upgrade in the near future.
Any way you look at it, this is one fast pass!
As you might guess by now, that didn’t last long either, and both cars were sold, except for the 632. “I kept the motor as a just in case…one day…type of thing,” Forbes laughed.
After starting a family and spending about 7 years out of the game, Josh was getting fed up of watching the keyboard racers talk trash, and it was game on… again! Josh reconnected with his father to do the one thing they enjoyed so much together, and the pair vowed to get back into racing. It wasn’t long before they came across this ’65 Chevy II roller and for once, it was as exactly as advertised.
Josh swapped out the big wheels and tires for 15x12s wrapped with 28x10.5s and stuffed that 632 incher between the rails. “With the help of my good friend Mark ‘Big Money’ Edwards, we had the motor together in a couple weeks and we started assembling the car. After about 3 months of long nights and thrashing, Josh and the Nova were ready, but then the problems started. The car had full exhaust and was street
Even though we had the same suspension setup and were 1000 pounds heavier than all the Mustangs running in those classes
Josh Forbes’ big block nitrous 1965 Chevy II
Chassis Type & Mods:
Back half chassis with cage. Front K member. All chassis work by MattFab in Guyton, Ga.
Suspension:
Rear is Innovative Racecraft Black Ops coilovers. Front K member with Innovative Racecraft Black Ops coilovers, TRZ tubular control arms and rack and pinion steering.
Wheel/Tires:
RC Component Retro front wheels, Keizer Rear Wheels with 28x10.5 slicks.
Body & Paint:
Mostly steel with fiberglass hood, trunk and bumpers.
Engine:
634ci pump gas big block. 10.9:1 compression. Ohio Crankshafts billet 4.750 stroke crank, Oliver billet rods, Diamond Nitrous pistons. Bullet custom camshaft with Howards Pro Max lifters. Brodix BB2xtra heads with T&D shaft rockers. Titan copper head gaskets. Edelbrock Super Victor intake. Moroso steel oil pan and Moroso Billet oil pump. ATI Super Damper and ATI flexplate. Engine build by Josh Forbes and Mark “Big Money” Edwards of Guyton, Ga.
All parts bought through John Mercedes of Southeast Performance. Custom Headers built by MaccFab of Guyton Ga.
All machine work completed by Tom Strouse of Engine Supply Machine in Savannah, Ga.
Induction & Fuel:
Holley Dominator XP 1250.
Power Adder:
Single nitrous direct port system by PKRE Racing. NLR NMS 1000 Nitrous Controller and Nitrous Outlet 15lb bottles.
Electronics:
MSD 7531
Transmission & Converter:
Winner Circle TH400 w/Pro Tree trans brake. Cameron torque converter. PPP shifter.
Rear Differential:
Moser bolt-through aluminum case, 3.89 Richmond gears, 40 spline Moser axles.
Thanks to:
My dad Larry Forbes, Mark Edwards, my brother-in-law JR Ashdown, my sons Matt Morgan and Evan Forbes, my stepdad Chuck Evans, Friends Joe and Joey Stegin, Bo Smith, Jesse Walker, Matt Ryan, Jeff Stapleton. John Mercedes of Southeast Performance, the best performance parts dealer I have ever dealt with. Tom Strouse of Engine Supply Machine in Savannah, Ga. He’s retired now but is the best machinist.
legal so they wanted to run any type of street cruise class, but were not allowed to because the Nova was backhalved. “Even though we had the same suspension setup and were 1000 pounds heavier than all the Mustangs running in those classes,” Forbes said. The old headers and full exhaust were quickly tossed in favor of some slick big tube front exits and Josh and Larry decided to go racing, and had instant results. In their first outing, because the nitrous wasn’t yet installed , they entered the all-motor class and made the finals, only to get rained out in the staging lanes. A few weeks later they entered their first no-prep event, and knowing some heavy hitters were in the house, the nitrous was armed and ready. Four rounds later they found themselves
in the finals again, however, a broken lifter would end their day.
“We were blessed and cursed…2 events...2 finals... no final passes made!” Josh added.
Next up was Rockingham’s Dig or Die no-prep where the best of the best would be battling it out. Although Forbes got his feelings hurt quickly when he drew one of the best no-prep racers in the country first round, he says the event couldn’t have been any better; “We learned a lot and had more fun than you can imagine and we even outran NovaCaine from Street Outlaws.”
“This has also turned into a fam-
ily affair,” he continued. “My son, Evan Forbes, who is 9 years old has his very own JR dragster and has the most competitive drag racing spirit I’ve ever seen. It is a full-fledged production now for us to go racing, but we love it and it’s something for the entire family to do together.”
After all these years and so many cars, Josh Forbes along with his dad, family and team are right where they want to be; they’ve got a serious player that runs hard and straight and are looking to make as much noise as possible in the world of outlaw drag racing. “We are ready to chop heads off in the small-tire no-prep and asphalt world!”, Forbes added with a smile RPM
