Kevin Smith Pushes Stock Block LS Camaro ‘Soccer Mom’ To The Limit From Grudge To Drag-And-Drive
It’s not uncommon for class racers to make the change to a grudge / no-time-shown format. Buck the rules, the limitations, and go back to a simple first-to-the-finish-line format.
But it is uncommon to see a grudge car make the change the opposite way, and even more so for one to convert to a drag-and-drive ready operation. KSR Performance and Fabrication did just that, as shop owner Kevin Smith, along with Kimber Jones and Will Stevenson, made Kimber’s ‘79 Chevrolet Camaro known as ‘Soccer Mom’ ready for its drag-and-drive debut at Sick Week 2022.
Will Stevenson and Kevin Smith competed on their first drag-and-drive at Sick Week 2022.
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“When we ran no-time, it was because the car didn’t have another place to race,” said Kevin, as he pointed out the car would be outclassed in some heads-up class racing, or didn’t fit the rules in other organizations. “But when Sick Week was announced, we decided to make the changes to compete in our first drag-and-drive.”
The punch list the team tackled included a change in converters and rear end gearing, while the Camaro gained about 300 pounds of weight along the way. Despite the changes and limited test time, Kevin and Will completed the week, clocking a seven-second pass at each stop to produce a 7.89 average, and earn a third-place finish in the Unlimited Iron class.
Although 2022 marked the car’s first time in drag-and-drive competition, Kimber’s Camaro had seen plenty of street miles before this season. Prior to the LS-swap, the Camaro sported a nitrous-huffing Gen-1 small block, and saw nine-second time slips and some heads-up class racing. Then the car sat for a period of time, but when Will sold his potent Outlaw Drag Radial ride, a plan was hatched.
“Kimber’s car was sitting with no drivetrain, and he was considering LS swapping it,” said Kevin. “We used to always help Will when he went racing, and the idea of converting the Camaro for a shop car was around the time I wanted to learn the Holley EFI.” The car sported a trio of stock block 5.3-liter LS combinations, the final one being a Gen 4 aluminum block with a single turbocharger that got them consistent four-second time slips on the eighth-mile.
Kevin Smith made the track runs with the ‘79 Camaro at each stop, including this one at Gainesville Raceway.
With the change to drag-and-drive, the car could no longer compete in no-time format, as most event rules state a vehicle can’t show elapsed times for a year. So, with plenty of time between events in place, the team decided to make some changes, including a complete wiring update.
“We used Holley’s complete factory harness originally, and there was a lot of add-ons we did after the initial wiring,” said Kevin. They wanted to make it cleaner, adding in quick disconnects for the firewall and transmission, as well as additional sensors for more data to better the tune up.
Next on the punch list was a change to the fuel system. The Camaro was running the popular twin injector set-up in 2022, with one set of injectors for pump gas and a separate set for alcohol. But it required changing connectors and changing the tune up at each track, so in an effort to streamline things for the 2023 season, the fuel change will happen via the Holley Dominator system, using a trigger point based on boost settings. They also removed the air-to-air intercooler, and upgraded to bigger injectors to feed the methanol to the hungry LS-engine.
“We’re pushing the stock block to its limits,” said Kevin, who has since improved the Camaro’s best times to the 7.3-second range. “I’m hoping we have a chance at running a six-second pass someday, but our Sick Week 2023 goal is a 7.50 average.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of KWS Images