HOT ROD Drag Week, presented by Gear Vendors Under/Overdrive
At the 2016 HOT ROD Drag Week we’ve got some big tire heavy breathers that bring a smile to all who gaze upon them and the sheer craziness of imagining them plying small-town USA’s 2-lanes. Joe Bouska’s 1967 Camaro is hard to imagine rolling down Main St., but that’s what it’s doing. Bouska and his brother Martin from Wellston, Oklahoma, are Drag Week virgins. They picked up the Camaro as a roller including the cage built by Jackie Dealers in Texas, about six years ago. It’s a back-half car certified to 6-seconds running a 40-spline, 3.89 9-inch with Aerospace Components disc brakes at the ends. Moving forward a Flipomatic Powerglide shifts the gears running a Marty Chance converter. A Smith Racecraft bolt-in front cage houses Afco front shocks.
A Texas Race Engines (TRE) 638ci Bowtie big block features a 4.75 stroke and 4.625 bore, with a Lunati crank. Mike Henson in Yukon, Oklahoma, breathed on the engine to sweeten things for the Bouska brothers. GRP rods and Wiseco pistons with Total Seal rings make up the reciprocating system, and a TRE custom cam with 1.8 Jessel rockers mystery lifters Henson is keeping a secret finish off the heads. Nitrous Solutions package controls the laughing gas. The big block dynos at 1150hp with 14:1 compression, and the first thing you wonder after reading that is how can it run on the street without pounding holes into the tops of the pistons? Well, one of the brothers’ sponsors is Boostane from Florida. They make an additive that raises the octane, which is what you have to have for that kind of compression. For every 10 gallons of fuel they tip in a quart of Boostane. Joe’s put only about 100 miles on the Camaro and in that short squirt he found the engine ran with great manners on the octane boost, so we’ll check back with him over the next few days to see how the Camaro performs on the Drag Week route.
Back to the car, a stainless floor and fiberglass dash lighten things up inside. Outside Feather Carbon front fenders, hood, doors, cowl panel, and deck lid make for a 3030-pound racecar. Holeshot wheels wrapped in 33-16-15 Hoosier slicks complete the rolling stock.
Joe says the car bogs down a little at launch, but gets on the pipe mid-track, continuing to pull in the traps. In his only pass in the car it ran 7.77 at 169 mph shutting off completely at 5.3 seconds, so the mangled run shows the potential of this green monster machine. Since he’s only licensed to 7.5 we won’t be seeing any crazy times this year, but future plans call for Joe getting a quicker license, and also a Gear Vendors unit to tame things down on Main St, where the eternal madness will continue.
See the Live Stream, Photo Galleries, Videos, and Event Coverage from Hot Rod Drag Week 2016 Here!
September 11 – Registration, Test and Tune
National Trail Raceway
2650 National Rd SW
Hebron, OH 43025
September 12 – Day One Racing
National Trail Raceway
2650 National Rd SW
Hebron, OH 43025
September 13 – Day Two Racing
Summit Motorsports Park
1300 OH-18
Norwalk, OH 44857
September 14 – Day Three Racing
US 131 Motorsports Park
1249 12th St
Martin, MI 49070
September 15 – Day Four Racing
Lucas Oil Raceway
10267 US-136
Indianapolis, IN 46234
September 16 – Final Day Racing
National Trail Raceway
2650 National Rd SW
Hebron, OH 43025
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