Unfortunate Setback for Canadian Super Chevy
Last weekend’s Canadian Street Car Nationals at Cayuga included a rather dubious debut for what certainly is one of the most creative cars ever built in Canada….
Mike Carrabas, the owner of Mustang Alley (Brampton ON) unveiled his latest car – a truly revolutionary turbocharged Yenko-themed 1969 Camaro destined for Outlaw Super Street class stardom.
The all Canadian built car, which features a LJ Chassis and a “one off” body by Joe Van Overbeek, was clearly the buzz of the pits after Carrabas rolled it out of the trailer.
Driven by Jerry Mitrovic, this new Camaro is oozing with potential and fully capable of more record smashing performances. Mitrovic had driven Carrabas’ previous car – a turbo charged Ford Mustang — to a 6.45 secs and over 243 mph – both standing Canadian records for Outlaw Super Street racing.
“We found some things that were holding us back in the Mustang,” said Mitrovic. “So we made those improvements to this car. It is really radically different — the position of the 4-link and aerodynamically. It also has some things that have never been seen on a 10.5 car. We did take the drive train out of our Mustang (536 CID Chevy with twin 88mm turbochargers) and put it in this car. I sit differently in it and it is a lot lower. On our initial hit – I left the starting line with the same power I used to with our Mustang – but in this car it pulled the motor right down to a stall.”
Based on that occurrence, on a subsequent run the team made a decision to leave the starting line more aggressively.
So Mitrovic “spooled” the car higher for its next attempt. Unfortunately that did not turn out well because the car made a sudden and violent hard turn and hammered the right side Cayuga guardwall, about 200 feet out. While the damage was restricted to the front end and is mostly cosmetic – the car will be returned to LJ for evaluation and repairs.
“First and foremost we will work to get the car sorted out and running right,” Mitrovic added. “We are in a test mode. Once we have it consistently fast, then we will think about entering races. In the end this car will be very capable once we get it figured out.”
Incredibly Mitrovic predicted that the car, which is also 100% Pro Mod legal, could run upwards of 260 MPH – on 10.5 inch tires (!)
With that this Canadian team could be entering some previously unknown territory in the sport of drag racing. For drag racing fans it will most certainly be a very interesting story to monitor and watch.
Posted by: Bruce Biegler
Photos by: Bruce Biegler & Rob Potter