Lucas Bell 
For the die-hard drag racers among us, there are few events that bring as much cache as Hot Rod magazine’s Drag Week. The annual event sees a number of the country’s fastest streetable drag cars compete in five races in five days across four different states. The 1,000-plus miles of road driving during the event is just as important as the drag passes, which is what makes Drag Week such a unique event. Thanks to BigKlieb34 on YouTube, we have an in-depth look at one incredible first-generation Chevrolet Camaro that took place in this year’s running.
This 1969 Camaro was built by Mark Urban of Urban Racecars. According to their Facebook page, Urban Racecars specializes in turbocharged LS-swapped projects, and this first gen Camaro is no exception. Under the hood of this sinister looking drag machine sits a twin 85mm Borg Warner turbocharged 427 cubic inch LSx block with a 4-inch stroke and a 4.25-inch bore. A stock LS3 intake manifold helps to feed the motor, while stock C5 Corvette exhaust manifolds dump out behind the front wheels. Other performance upgrades to the motor include a hydraulic camshaft, and a 5-inch air-to-air intercooler. These fairly normal parts come together to produce a ludicrous total output of 1520 horsepower. In order to get that power down, the Camaro was fitted with a Powerglide automatic transmission and a home-built 3.25 rear gear.
Any car that has a comma in its horsepower figure is a serious machine, and in the video Urban’s Camaro shows us just how much speed it can bring. Despite its steel construction keeping the weight near 3,460 pounds, this first gen Camaro ran the 1/4 mile pass in 7.83 seconds at 178.4 mph. That is a very fast run at the strip, especially when you consider that this car was driven to the track. If that isn’t enough to impress you, consider that this first-gen Camaro can outrun the current iteration of the NHRA-ready COPO Camaro. Not so bad for a steel bodied car from the late 1960’s if you ask us.
