His interests involved increasing power and speed, but he didn’t wish to see his handiwork straddling the guardrail at some backwoods bullring. He took to drag racing as a more refined, mental exercise in physics and science.

Pete soon enrolled as a student at the Georgia Institute of Technology… Georgia Tech. At ‘Tech, Pete’s analytical personality readily embraced the available formal training in the disciplines of physics, engineering, mathematics and science. He also found ways to apply this knowledge to his hot rodding.

An Atlanta boy, born and bred of old-school, Germanic heritage, Pete’s Teutonic pedigree was pleasantly contrasted by an easy-going Southern persona tempered by a stubbornness that sometimes grated friends and fellow Atlanta hot rodders.

Pete Robinson never collected a Georgia Tech diploma for his studies, but ‘Tech served him well as he applied his studies toward increasing the performance of his 1940 Ford Deluxe coupe. The ’40 Ford was powered by a Buick “Nailhead” V-8, to which Pete soon added a GMC 6-71 supercharger. Supercharged street vehicles were rare, but Pete saw this as the most effective means of gathering cash during clandestine, late-night contests on the suburban roads of Atlanta.

Pete’s Ford acquired enough street cred that finding opponents became increasingly difficult. Seeking new horizons, he towed the ’40 north, to Detroit Dragway, where he competed with minor success at the NHRA Nationals of both 1959 and 1960. He returned home after the ’60 Nationals determined to build a faster racecar.

Atlanta pal and fellow hot rodder Bill Word told Pete of a local fellow who had a new Dragmaster dragster chassis that might be available. The owner’s dad thought the pipes of the car’s frame represented his son’s steel coffin, and he made his son an offer too good to refuse if he would rid himself of the dragster. The Dragmaster was purchased by Pete and Bill Word in a package deal that included all parts plus a couple of welders thrown in.

Pete’s friend and now racing partner, Bill Word, was an equally skilled craftsman, albeit in another field. Word’s “day job” involved working in his family business, refinishing and selling fine antique furniture! This required absolute attention to detail, a skill necessary in building a racecar. During his after-hours away from the antique business Word was a serious hot rodder.

“We were both involved with building hot rod cars and engines. We knew that our street racing was bound to get us into trouble, and we wanted to build something that would be faster… a lot faster. What we really wanted was a dragster, so when that Dragmaster chassis and parts became available we made the deal,” Word remembered.

Meanwhile, Pete had recently started a small business manufacturing drive components for converting GMC 6-71 diesel superchargers for use on V-8 automotive engines, and modifying these blowers for racing. His first handmade drive had been for his ’40 Ford’s Buick V-8, but his first production kits were designed for the small-block Chevy, 265-283. Pete correctly envisioned a large and growing market for the SBC, especially since it had been reported that Chevy was enlarging the 283 to 327 cubic inches for the 1962 model year. He also eyed the little Chevy to power their new Dragmaster chassis and promote his new Pete’s Engineering Co., blower drive kits.

Bill and Pete began assembling the car with the best components of the day. This included laced cycle front wheels and American Racing magnesium rear wheels that mounted M&H Racemaster 8.90 x 15”, 148 compound slicks. Sporty for their day, the tires were ordered with optional whitewalls. Fitted to the rear half of the chassis was a simple sheet aluminum body. A high-gear-only, Logghe direct-drive unit with a pedal-operated lock-up clutch would power the car. Obsessed with making the car as light as possible, Robinson and Word removed anything not needed for performance or safety. Every item on the car served multiple functions.

During the winter months of 1960 Pete and Bill began gathering the engine components they needed to assemble a blown, small-block Chevy to power their new dragster.