RIP Verle Stevens

GarysZ24 · 06-06-2022, 10:40 PM

Since today's the day those lucky enough to be able to be at Verle Stevens Celebration of Life service in Denver were there, although I'm 860 miles southwest of you all, I have my own reason(s) to celebrate knowing him and benefit from his precise work on engines for street and strip.

When I first started going to the drags in the mid-70's and started following Stock and Super Stock Eliminator's, there were four names that seemed to be very popular in the Colorado racing area (especially for Chevrolet products). Verle Steven, Herman Chapman (for racing engines), Val Hedworth (Rochester Carburetors), and Marv Ripes (A1 Transmissions and Torque converters). Many cars I admired growing up from Kansas and Nebraska to the West Coast states, featured something from these four men, and they were always formidable opponents for other racers. Every time I think of going out to Dragway Denver off of 96th and Buckley Rd., I think of my favorite pre-racing song from the 60's "Keep on Dancing", by The Gentrys. I would remember seeing Verle and Bob Stevens in matching plaid shirts, while getting ready to race their (then) '69 Chevelle and the song being introduced by "The Boogie Man", prior to any racing going on, or during down time between categories. What great times those were!

Fast forward to the mid-late 80's, and I bought a '67 Chevelle 2dr coupe with a 283 in it. I approached Verle about the cost of building a 327 engine to upgrade from the 283. When I was given his price and that of a shade tree mechanic who did cylinder head work on my D5 Street Eliminator winning '73 Pontiac Ventura, I took the cheaper route ( mainly because I didn't have the facilities or the equipment, or smarts to remove my engine to deliver it to Verle, and at that time Dave Lockridge wasn't able to help me as he was nearly 10yrs later, so I kind of had to take it to that guy), and lived to regret it with a constantly hot running 327 that could only cover the Bandimere Speedway track in the mid-18's! I finally learned my lesson and vowed to seek Verle out when I got my next ideal race car....Sharkbait.

After dealing with computer issues that tried to negate everything Verle and Dave Lockridge did to improve my cars performance (and Marv Ripes as well), that and some assistance from other friends through the years, has Shark Bait running over 2sec. quicker than my Chevelle did with a bigger more powerful engine. Difference being Verle built the V6 I still run today, and not the V8. I will add more to this.

06-06-2022, 10:40 PM	#8
GarysZ24 VIP Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Tempe, Az. Posts: 1,268 Likes: 906 Liked 237 Times in 93 Posts	Re: RIP Verle Stevens Since today's the day those lucky enough to be able to be at Verle Stevens Celebration of Life service in Denver were there, although I'm 860 miles southwest of you all, I have my own reason(s) to celebrate knowing him and benefit from his precise work on engines for street and strip. When I first started going to the drags in the mid-70's and started following Stock and Super Stock Eliminator's, there were four names that seemed to be very popular in the Colorado racing area (especially for Chevrolet products). Verle Steven, Herman Chapman (for racing engines), Val Hedworth (Rochester Carburetors), and Marv Ripes (A1 Transmissions and Torque converters). Many cars I admired growing up from Kansas and Nebraska to the West Coast states, featured something from these four men, and they were always formidable opponents for other racers. Every time I think of going out to Dragway Denver off of 96th and Buckley Rd., I think of my favorite pre-racing song from the 60's "Keep on Dancing", by The Gentrys. I would remember seeing Verle and Bob Stevens in matching plaid shirts, while getting ready to race their (then) '69 Chevelle and the song being introduced by "The Boogie Man", prior to any racing going on, or during down time between categories. What great times those were! Fast forward to the mid-late 80's, and I bought a '67 Chevelle 2dr coupe with a 283 in it. I approached Verle about the cost of building a 327 engine to upgrade from the 283. When I was given his price and that of a shade tree mechanic who did cylinder head work on my D5 Street Eliminator winning '73 Pontiac Ventura, I took the cheaper route ( mainly because I didn't have the facilities or the equipment, or smarts to remove my engine to deliver it to Verle, and at that time Dave Lockridge wasn't able to help me as he was nearly 10yrs later, so I kind of had to take it to that guy), and lived to regret it with a constantly hot running 327 that could only cover the Bandimere Speedway track in the mid-18's! I finally learned my lesson and vowed to seek Verle out when I got my next ideal race car....Sharkbait. After dealing with computer issues that tried to negate everything Verle and Dave Lockridge did to improve my cars performance (and Marv Ripes as well), that and some assistance from other friends through the years, has Shark Bait running over 2sec. quicker than my Chevelle did with a bigger more powerful engine. Difference being Verle built the V6 I still run today, and not the V8. I will add more to this. __________________ Gary Hampton '86 Z24,173 V6 CF/S #5824 (#78 in 2021) Last edited by GarysZ24; 06-09-2022 at 10:40 PM.