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This issue's member spotlight is on Mike Norman. Mike lives in the Noblesville area with wife Nancy, whom he's been married to for 25+ years. Mike was born and raised in Parkersburg, W.Va., graduated HS there, and worked in local factories. He then got married and moved to Columbus, OH, where he obtained a degree in accounting. He moved to Florida in 1973, then divorced and remarried in Florida before moving to Indiana in 1990.
Mike has messed with cars since a kid and has owned three '65 Chevelles (four counting the recently acquired convertible). First was a Madiera Maroon SS which was stolen and never recovered. He then bought another '65 Malibu with the insurance money and put 144,000 miles on it before selling it in Florida.
In 1995 his boss decided he wanted to get into some form of motorsports and at the time sprint cars seemed to allow the most seat time. Mike was the crew chief on a World of Outlaws sprint car for four years. They raced with the tour when it was in the area and traveled to Florida in the spring for Race Week. A bad crash at Eldora, OH, in 1999 ended his boss's driving career and Mike's as crew chief. Mike says it was a lot of fun but many late nights and long weekends. He was glad when it stopped.
Mike had helped many guys work on their cars, both racing and street, but had never built one the way he wanted and figured it was his turn. He found via the internet a '65 Malibu in Spokane, WA, and had it delivered in September, 1999. The car was a rusty mess. The floor pans, cross braces, trunk floor, and quarter panels all needed fixing but the car was worth it. On April 29, 2000 it debuted at the Spring Fling Car Show at Bud Wolf Chevy in Indy. It has gone through many changes as the need for speed kept increasing. It started with a mild 355 cu in small block and thanks to Dave Himes it now sports a highly modified 383 small block. That engine propels the car to the 10.90's on motor and 10.60's with a 100 hp shot of nitrous.
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