The name Mickey Thompson probably brings images to your head of tires. That might be a drag slick or an off road tire ready to shred the earth. But Mickey Thompson got his start by being a racer himself, which fueled his company.

The video above is showing a very special 1963 Corvette that was owned by Mickey Thompson. This car was a prototype, and was heavily modified specifically for the high banks of Daytona International Raceway. Even though the Corvette was born a light car, this one had many modifications to it to lose even more weight. These modifications include having plexiglass windows with retainer clips in case the excessive speed decided to push them out. The dash was in tact, but the factory glove box, gauge cluster and radio were all removed and replaced with lightweight aluminum sheeting.

The suspension was left stock, except NASCAR mandated that each wheel have two shocks instead of one. One of the biggest and most unusual modifications the car has is the addition of the NASCAR roll cage, which is rarely seen is sports cars from this era. Another interesting addition with the roll cage is a brace that goes from behind the driver all the way to the front right. This was installed to keep the car intact during the sustained G’s pulled on the banks of Daytona.

The engine bay use to house a special 427 CI powerhouse, but has since been replaced with a 327 small-block configuration, which was original to this car to begin with. While the car is a museum piece that shoots you straight back to Mickey Thompson in 1963, the current owner isn’t afraid to to take the car on the track either.

Watch the full video for all the interesting tweaks to this car!