Goliath 2.0: Daddy Dave’s New Nova is Built from the Wreckage of Last Year’s Crash
The battered remains of the first car are still parked behind his shop, Comstock Auto Service, in Edmond, Oklahoma. Whether it serves as some grim memorial to the crash that nearly killed “Daddy” Dave Comstock in August 2015 or simply to be used as a parts car to scavenge from while Goliath 2.0 was being built, its contorted shape hangs around like an eerie presence you don’t want to see but can’t look away from.
Just weeks after being completed last July, Dave drove the first version of Goliath at a no-prep race in Amarillo, Texas. Video footage of the crash is easy enough to find, and the damage was as bad as it looks. Dave suffered a serious concussion as one of the nitrous bottles came free of its mount and shot out the side window of the car, propelled by a nearly full charge of the escaping gas. The bottle struck Dave in the head on its way out the window. His helmet most likely saved his life, and to this day, Dave has no memory of the crash. In fact, has no recollection of the few hours prior to the crash. That chunk of time is just gone.
Waking up in the hospital, he had other injuries to contend with: a separated shoulder that left his right arm immobilized for several weeks, a bruised lung, myriad other bumps and bruises, and a wrecked car. The good news was that the drivetrain survived the crash undamaged, and he and his crew just needed to find a new home for those parts, so why not build another Nova? That’s just what they did. Friend and Northern California racer Boddie actually sent Dave this 1963 Nova, and refused to take a dime for it. It was on the transporter heading to Oklamona before Dave was discharged from the hospital. A rolling chassis, Dave sent it to Larry Larson for chassis modifications, and installation of the Smith Racecraft front subframe. The engine is the same as before: a 632 big-block built by TRE Racing Engines with a Brodix block and heads, R&R connecting rods, SRP pistons, and valvetrain components from Jesel. RPM Transmissions built the Powerglide, and it’s paired with a PTC torque converter, sending power to a Moser M9 fabricated 9-inch axlehousing. The rear four-link is from Chassis Engineering, and QA1 adjustable coilover shocks are installed front and rear. Josh Brooks, of The Pond OKC, built the headers with tubing from Stainless Works.
