How to Build a Nine-Second Camaro in Ten Weeks
It’s been nineteen years since the first Hot Rod Drag Week was first held, and thousands of new participants join the drag-and-drive community each year because of that landmark event held in 2005.
After several years of growth, Hot Rod Drag Week was live-streamed for the first time, and Eric Bjerketvedt is one of many that can relate watching online to ratcheting up his need to participate on a drag-and-drive.
“Drive and drive stuff has been on the bucket list forever,” said Eric. “About 6 years ago, I’m watching Hot Rod Drag Week, and I start surfing eBay. I found this 2000 Camaro as a rolling shell but with some good parts. I said ‘I can make this work’ and build a drag and drive car.” He made the purchase, rolled it into his enclosed trailer, and it sat there for a little over a year.
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After the first year elapsed, Eric started to put together a plan of how he wanted to build the car. “At first I wanted to do a 25.3-spec chassis, but then I thought it might not be easy for anyone else to just hope into. I started thinking ahead, what if my daughters wanted to get into this?”
That caused him to rethink the plan, and a simplier 8.50-legal roll cage was decided upon. JT Raceshop got the call to install the 8.50-cert Midwest Chassis roll cage.
“I slowly started to collect parts, and ended up replacing a lot of questionable stuff,” Eric said. That chewed up the next four years, until eventually Eric faced reality knowing Sick Summer Presented by TBM Brakes, the closest drag-and-drive event to his home, was just a couple months away.
"Like many, the months leading up to the event were a thrash,” he said. “I worked on the car every night and every weekend for 2-1/2 months to get it done enough. The biggest issue I ran into was a programming glitch with the Racepak Smartwire PDM where I couldn't use voltage triggered switches.
Still not sure what is going on there, but the Tuesday before the event, I bought all the relays and connectors O'Reilly had, and turned my voltage input switches to ground inputs. It looks like Frankenstein f'd an octopus and the babies are living behind the dash, but it got me through the week.”
The mad thrash continued until June 2nd at 3 a.m., when Eric loaded the car up and towed 2-1/2 hours for a test and tune event. “I went to shake the car down and get my NHRA license,” said Eric. Unfortunately for him, it rained out before making a single pass.
“So, I took a basically untested car that had never made a pass down the track, nor driven more than a half-mile on the street, loaded it up, and towed seven hours to Cordova. Seems typical, I know, but was definitely not my plan.”
To do battle, Eric loaded the Camaro with a GM Performance Parts 376 cubic inch LSX long block, upgraded with better main studs, head studs, a bigger camshaft, valve springs, and trunnion kit. A Holley low ram manifold base combines with a Shearer Fab non-intercooled upper lid, with the air entering through a Motion Raceworks 102-millimeter throttle body.
Twin Precision Gen 2 68/75 turbochargers provide the boost, Rock Solid Motorsports constructed the turbo headers, and ‘the Charlie Daniels of the TIG torch"‘ Jared Albers tackled the hot and cold side tubing. Holley 160 lb/hr injectors deliver the E85 fuel.
A BTE Powerglide transmission and convertor pass the ponies with a QA1 carbon fiber driveshaft to a 9-inch rear end housing with Strange Engineering internals.
A slew of stock-style Midwest Chassis components and Viking double-adjustable shocks get the power to the ground, with Weld V-Series wheels and Mickey Thompson tires providing the grip.
“Part of the motivation to compete at Sick Summer was also to experience it with my youngest daughter, Brianna,” said Eric. “Let her see what all the hard work was for. I made a week full of memories with my daughter. We completed the event, drove an untested car 590 miles and made passes at four drag strips I'd never been to before.”
Without a NHRA license, Eric was limited to running 10.00 and slower laps at each track, but completed his first drag-and-drive with a 10.33 average, and knows there is a lot more potential in the car.
“We loaded the car up in one piece with all the internal parts still internal,” said Eric. “We met a lot of fantastic people throughout the week. It was so refreshing to be in that atmosphere, with people going for similar goals, who all understood what it took to get there, and what it meant to be a competitor in the event. It was awesome.”
With his first drag-and-drive event completed, Eric is looking to add another to his schedule soon, so he can take his older daughter Amelia with him. “I have two daughters, and Amelia gets the next trip,” said Eric. “It’s another thing that’s been on our bucket list, experiencing fun stuff and making those stories with the kids that hopefully they can tell their kids.
I’m on the waitlist for Rocky Mountain Race Week 2.0, and hopefully my oldest daughter and I can do our first event together. If not, we still have Rocky Mountain Race Week 1.0 and Sick Summer next year before she leaves for college.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine and Eric Bjerketvedt.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com