Is This White Hot Camaro Ready Be a Contender in Super Street at Sick Summer?
It started with a 3rd-generation Camaro and a desire to participate in the Hot Rod Pump Gas Drags for Scott Klepinger. The Pump Gas Drags was an event that would pre-select and qualify rides, and allowed them to only run spec 93 octane pump fuel during the duration of the event.
A 30-mile cruise to Memphis Motorsports Park from Comp Cams preceded the racing, and for several years a lot of single-digit cars proved you could run fast on pump gas.
By the time Scott was ready to hit up the Pump Gas Drags, it was no longer an option. “The year I had intended to go to that event, Hod Rod canceled it,” Scott said. “Then I found Drag Week in 2009.”
And based on Scott’s resume, you can guess what happened next.
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That 2009 Drag Week event found Scott finishing third in Modified Power-Adder class, using a turbocharged Buick 6-cylinder to motivate it to a 10.83 average.
It would be the first of several Drag Week events Scott would participate in, but before the next one he’d participate in, he made a change to a 1988 Mustang, also with the turbocharged Buick 6-cylinder swap.
At the 2013 edition of Hot Rod Drag Week, Scott would average out a 10.93 tally for the week, and decided for 2014 to bring the Camaro back, adding a couple more cylinders to the mix, but keeping the turbocharged influence.
The 2014 edition of Hot Rod Drag Week had Scott bringing the 1986 Camaro back out, this time sporting the popular LS-swap. Combined with a single turbocharger, Scott ran significantly quicker than before, average out at 9.27 and finishing fourth in the Street Race Small Block Power-Adder class.
He’s steadily improved on that average over time, participating in several drag and drive events. At the 2022 edition pf Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive, Scott dipped into the seven-second range twice , surviving the week and posting an 8.03 average.
Getting Scott and the Camaro that he refers to as ‘3rd Gen Jet’ to those times is a Billy Briggs-built 427 cubic inch LS engine. The RHS aluminum LS block is topped with a pair of Mast Black Label CNC LS7 Heads, and get fed extra air from a Precision 98-millimeter large frame turbocharger, after it passes through the Ron Sheerer Fab 6-inch-thick Air/Air intercooler.
A Holley Dominator does all the work to control the functions and relay feedback.
A Rossler 4L80E overdrive transmission with a ProTorque converter get the power sent to a Trick Chassis outlaw Fab 9-inch rear end with 40 spline gun drilled axles, spool and a Motive Gear 3:25 ratio ring and pinion set.
Scott normally takes friend Chris Jacobson or his wife Heather with him on drag and drives as his co-pilot. Scott had planned to return to Sick Week this season, but his wife fell ill and he stayed home to figure out plan b. “I decided to move to Sick Summer instead,” Scott said of his new adventure.
“I recently had the engine freshened, and my goal is to complete the week and test out the fresh engine and ball bearing turbo. I've had very little time to drive it with the poor weather this spring; For once, I'm going in fairly untested.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Motion Raceworks, 1320 Video and Scott Klepinger.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com