Drag Racing Online: The Magazine

Probably more ink has been spilled
and pixels transmitted in articles about
first-generation Camaros than any other car in
the doorslammer genre. That’s because since making its
debut in 1967, Chevrolet’s pony car has been a favorite of street machiners and racers alike. It also helps that there are always new variations of this great American classic making the scene, as happened last month at Huntsville Dragway when Stephan (pronounced “Steffen”) Stringer showed up with this brand-new ’68 version.

In its first full trip down Huntsville’s eighth mile, Stringer qualified the Garret Race Cars-built Camaro third for the inaugural Automatic Pro Mod Association event with a 4.496-seconds pass at 159.07 mph. He then made it as far as the semis, where an improved 4.481 fell just a little short of advancing. Still, the Somerset, KY-based driver was encouraged by the early performance.

“We’re happy with that. Not only is this a new car, but it’s the first time we’ve ever raced with a Lenco so I’m having to learn how to drive that, too,” said Stringer, who builds and maintains racing Powerglides for a living. So why make the switch to a Snyder Motorsports Lenco? “Three gears instead of two,” he answered. “It’s as simple as that. We would definitely have gone faster today with our old set-up, but we had to make the change sometime and it just makes sense to do it now with the new car.”

In order to make room for it, Stringer sold his previous ride, another Garret-built ’68 Camaro, to his younger brother, Tom. “It was a good car, still is, but basically this one is a little heavier-duty, double framerail. My other one was a Pro Stock-style and this one is a Pro Mod chassis design, so this one will take more horsepower. And also this one has a little longer wheelbase (113.5 inches vs. 109 inches),” he explained. “Really, they both drive similar. They both drive good and I don’t have a problem with either one of them.”