After Sitting on the Sidelines for 5 Years, This Camaro Nearly Won It All at Roadkill Nights
Life can throw you curveballs, whether it’s work, family or in most cases, finances. In the case of Adam Wright, his curveball came when he inquired about adding a nitrous system to his 2001 Chevrolet Camaro.
“In 2018 I wanted to add nitrous and change up the muffler for Hot Rod Drag Week,” said Wright. “But after taking it to my good friend Chris Bishir, he said ‘the only muffler I’m putting on it is a turbocharger.’”
Needless to say, the nitrous was left to the dental offices, and Wright started his path toward turbo town.
In a way, it was just the latest curveball to come for Wright considering how he bought the Camaro, his first car out of high school in August of 2006.
“I wasn’t really looking for a car, I was looking for a truck,” said Wright. “But when I started thinking about what features and options I wanted, I kept coming back to a Camaro. So, I found this red one, and it was the only one in town, went and looked at it and bought it.”
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Not really familiar with a Camaro or having much in the way of automotive background, Wright was instantly reassured about his purchase by the dealer’s writing on the windshield. “At the time I bought the Camaro, it said on the windshield ‘LS1 Corvette engine’ so I thought ‘this could be fast,’” said Wright.
It didn’t take long before he dove into modifying the Camaro to suit his tastes. “I started with appearance stuff: wheels and tires, a different hood, and then different suspension,” said Wright. “Then a friend suggested some engine modifications, so I got another LS1 engine with a stock bottom end, but ended up with quite a few changes added to that base.”
Those changes included a different camshaft, cylinder heads and a few other choice modifications.
Nearly three years after acquiring the Camaro, Wright made his first drag strip run, an 11.65 at 118 mph. It would be the start of a lot more modifications in the name of speed. “In 2011 I attended my first LSX Shootout,” said Wright.
“The following year at the same event, I broke the rear end. At that point I sold off the 18-inch diameter wheels and went to a Moser 12-bolt, and at that point I started getting more serious about racing.”
That seriousness led to changing camshafts, a converter, different suspension, and Wright even started lightening the car.
He continued racing with the National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) series until 2015, when he decided to attempt his first drag-and-drive, Hot Rod Drag Week. “I blew the engine up on the third day,” said Wright, after a pair of 10.8-second passes and an 11.20 pass on day three before the damage ended his week.
After spending time to build a new engine that didn’t last two weeks in his Camaro, Wright went to Plan B with a stock LS1 engine to compete in Drag Week 2016, and completed the week with an 11.91 average.
For the 2017 edition of Drag Week, Wright stepped up to a stock bottom end 6-liter aluminum block-based engine, and completed his second-straight Drag Week with an improved 11.05 average. He backed it up one year later with an 11.16 average for his third Drag Week finish, his last event for what would be quite a while.
“In 2018 I wanted to add nitrous and change up the muffler for Drag Week,” said Wright. “After taking it to my good friend Chris Bishir, he said ‘the only muffler I’m putting on it is a turbocharger.’”
After a few days, Bishir and Wright agreed to exchange landscaping at Bishir’s house by Wright for the turbocharger install done by Bishir. That led to a lot more being done on the Camaro by both Bishir and Adam Hodson at Mid American Kustoms (MAK), which kept Wright off the track for nearly four years.
When Wright returned to the track in June of 2022, the revamped Camaro clicked off an 8.42 at 171 mph. “After those two days of racing in June, I found a lean issue on the street,” said Wright. This led to a complete teardown of the engine trying to figure out the issue, which ended up being fuel injectors.
A new set in place and a return to the track in October of 2022 led to a new best eighth-mile time of 5.38 at 134 mph, but also to more headaches. “We were getting after the tune up, and it did a big wheelstand that not only smashed the oil pan but cracked the block,” said Wright.
Luckily for him, Wright had already been buying parts for his next engine, including a Dart block and Callies rods. He added Wiseco pistons and a Dart crankshaft to the mix, and that 388 cubic inch bullet is what sits between the frame rails today, fed by a pair of Borg Warner S366 turbochargers. Dylan Bodigon of Bodigon’s Performance and Fab came in clutch with the necessary fab work to get Adam ready for his first event of 2023.
Wright’s first event after all the damage would be MotorTrend’s Roadkill Nights one week ago. “It was my first event of 2023, as well as my first time ever racing on a street,” said Wright.
Leaning on fellow Team 260 members in attendance at the event, including Hodson and Travis Martin, as well as Shawn Fensler of Bumper Wilson Tuning, Wright made two passes quick enough to get him into the top eight Small Tire cars, moving the Camaro to eliminations for a $10,000 purse that afternoon.
Wright started his afternoon by dismissing the Ford Falcon of Johnny Hopewell in round one, then lined up with fellow MAK runner Alan Robinson’s Mustang in the semifinals. Robinson did a wheelstand, while Wright made a straight A to B pass to earn a spot in the finals opposite defending class champ Mikael Borggren.
The final round found Wright getting a slight advantage at the start, but Borggren muscled his way around Wright to take the title.
With a successful debut to his 2023 season, what does Wright see in his future plans? “I’m considering the ‘Back to the Streets’ no-prep drag-and-drive next month in Michigan,” said Wright, who thanked Bishir, Hodson, Fensler, Martin, Mick Bodigon, Joe Haines and Northwest Auto and Machine for their role in getting him to this point.
“I’m not 100-percent sure what’s next, because I want to get the car ironed out. But Roadkill Nights was an amazing way to come back to racing my first event in five years.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Adam Wright.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com