Camaro Racing

Racing




A Vintage Trans-Am event featuring a Penske SCCA Camaro.






Camaro Cup race car


The Camaro was one of the vehicles in the SCCA-sanctioned Trans-Am Series. Chevrolet worked with Roger Penske to operate their unofficially factory-backed Trans Am team, winning the title in 1968 and 1969 with Mark Donohue. Jim Hall's Chaparral team replaced Penske for the 1970 season. Warren Agor of Rochester, NY, was the series' leading Camaro privateer, his orange #13's o, 1993, 1994, and 1998.
There was also another SCCA Trans-Am Series Camaro that was not popular because of racing but because of its body modifications. This Camaro, number 13, had been built and driven by Henry “Smokey” Yunick. Smokey Yunick was a car builder who worked to reduce the weight of his cars by acid-dipping body parts and installing thinner safety glass.
Camaro-styled cars also race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, with all Chevrolet teams having used the body since 2013.
The Penske/Donohue Camaros also had the front sheet metal dropped, all four fenders widened, the windshield laid back, the front sub-frame “Z’d” to lower the car, the floor pan moved up and even the drip-rails were moved closer to the body. This Camaro had always kept its stock look and had a 302 engine that was able to produce 482 hp (359 kW; 489 PS). One part that had come out of his testing was the Edelbrock Cross-Manifold.
Bob Jane won both the 1971 and 1972 Australian Touring Car Championships at the wheel of a Camaro.[41]
The Camaro was the official car of and used in the International Race of Champions starting in 1975 and lasting for 12 years until 1989. It was the first American car of the series succeeding the Porsche Carrera RSR.
Camaros are a favorite in drag racing, having won many championships, and can be currently found in several series from the National Hot Rod Association, International Hot Rod Association, and United States Hot Rod Association. Road racing Camaros can currently be found in the Sports Car Club of America's American Sedan series. They have also been the vehicle used in the Swedish Camaro Cup series since 1975.
The Camaro was the Indianapolis 500 Pace Car in 1967, 1969, 1982, 1993, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2016. The Camaro also paced races at Daytona, Watkins Glen, Mosport in Canada, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The Camaro was also a regular in the IMSA GT Series.
The fifth-generation Camaro took to the tracks in 2010 in the GT class of the Grand Am Road Racing Championship. Stevenson Motorsports announced that it was seeking to run a two-car team of Pratt & Miller built cars, based on the same spaceframe as the Pontiac GXP-R.[42] The team also competed with Camaros in the Grand Sports class of the Grand-Am's Continental Tire Challenge.[43]
The Camaro ZL1 was introduced in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018, replacing the discontinued Chevrolet SS.[44] On February 18, 2018, Austin Dillon won the Daytona 500 in the ZL1's debut. In the 2020 season, Chase Elliott won the Camaro's first NASCAR Championship in the last race of the season.
In 2023, the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will join the Australian Supercars Championship to replace the Holden Commodore ZB.[45] The prototype will run demonstration runs at all rounds of the 2022 Supercars Championship