Turbo Terror: Steve Turley's 1998 Camaro runs 7.59@197MPH
Posted at 10:38 PM / August 31, 2009
"Neither of them had any idea what they were getting themselves into..."
Anyone that is into drag racing has to get their start somewhere. The majority of those people have their primary street cars, which see an occasional track day. Of course, some people take their racing operations more seriously than others. There comes a point in time, where beating a street car to death every weekend at the drag strip doesn't make much sense anymore. In 2001, Steve Turley and Mike Brown found themselves in that exact situation. Tired of running their personal street cars at the track, the two decided to put their heads together, and construct a purpose-built race car. Ohio Boys Racing was born.
Before long, the duo had won an eBay auction, and were heading to Iowa to pickup their new project, a 1996 Formula. The newly acquired car was immediately torn apart, and rebuilt to better suit their needs. Once the car was finished, a turbocharged LS1 sat neatly between the frame rails. The Ohio Boys focused on having fun with this car, and seeing just how fast they could push this setup. Turley admits, "We had to go back and change a lot of things that were under-engineered, but we were learning a lot." The Ohio tandem proved to be quick learners, as they pushed their Formula to bottom eight second track times over the next couple of years. Unfortunately, in March 2006 during the final round of a street car shootout in Clay City, Kentucky, the unthinkable happened. The Formula blistered the tires halfway down the track, and made a hard 90 degree move into the wall. Thankfully, Steve walked away from the accident without a scratch. The car sustained some pretty serious damage, but was not necessarily a total loss. Turley and Brown pondered over different routes to go from there, and eventually the decision was made to start over fresh with a new chassis.
These guys have proven to be quick on the track, and they didn't waste any time finding a replacement car either. Before the summer's end, a 1998 Camaro rolling chassis had made it's way into the Ohio Boys' stable. With plans to go much quicker than before, the car was immediately stripped down and sent to Wheel2Wheel for chassis work. A custom roll cage was fabricated and installed to 25.5 certification. Once the car was back in Ohio, the real fun began. Since projects like these are never ending and are always being tweaked, this article is at best a snapshot. Given Steve and Mike's penchant for trying new things, you never know what trick they have up their collective sleeves.
A reliable powerplant is a key component for any competitive racecar and for that task, some of the best names in the industry were summoned. An ERL Performance Superdeck II LS2 block was chosen because of its proven track record and weight savings over the iron competition. Utilizing a Callies crankshaft, Carillo connecting rods, and Wiseco pistons, Billy Briggs began assembling a virtually bullet proof bottom end. Then, All Pro LSW 12 degree cylinder heads were set atop the short block, yielding an 8.25:1 compression ratio.
Exhaust gases scream out of the 427 cubic inch monster through a custom turbo kit fabricated by the Camaro's co-owner, Mike Brown. The headers feature two inch primary runners, merged into three inch collectors running forward. The exhaust gasses from each cylinder bank meet at the Camaro's front bumper, where they are rammed through a billet 106MM Precision turbocharger. Exhaust gasses are then finally dispersed through a five inch downpipe, but not before 30LBS of boost is compressed, and heading through a custom air-to-water intercooler. Once chilled, the intake charge travels just a couple of feet before passing through a massive 105MM throttle body and intake elbow combination from Wilson. Finally, this obscene amount of air is finally dispersed through a Performance Inductions intake manifold. There, VP Q16 race fuel is introduced to the mixture from a set of 212LB fuel injectors. As you can probably imagine, the stock computer was thrown out, and replaced with a far superior unit from BigStuff3. This engine management system not only keeps the engine running safely, but also regulates horsepower going down the track, to help keep the tires planted to the racing surface. Data logging, real time air-fuel calibration and the ability to control big low impedance fuel injectors are just a few reasons why Steve and Mike selected this powertrain controller.
Punishing the pavement with 2000HP is impressive enough, but putting that power to the ground is a task in itself. Torque is transferred to the tires via a Midwest converter, Rossler TH210 transmission, a Denny's Nitrous Ready driveshaft, and finally delivered to a Moser nine inch rear end. With a logbook full of timeslips in the mid seven second range, suspension setup and tuning becomes a crucial element to getting down the track. For help with that, the Ohio Boys rely on suspension components from BMR Fabrication. Mickey Thompson 315-60-15 ET Street Radials are the weapon of choice, wrapped around Weld Racing Alumastar wheels. When upgrading a car's straight line performance, all too often people forget about the stopping aspect of racing. Turley has no problem getting his Camaro stopped safely from speeds of 200MPH, thanks to Strange brakes up front, twin caliper Aerospace brakes in the rear, and a Simpson parachute.
Since the car's debut in April 2007, the Ohio Boys have been terrorizing the drag-radial racing scene across Midwestern America. Over the last two years, Turley and Brown have dominated the competition in Milan Dragway's Drag Radial class, winning the event championship in 2007 and 2008. Just recently, en route to winning an event in Norwalk, Steve piloted the Camaro to a blistering 7.59 @ 197.50MPH, a new personal best! Even with just a couple of months left in the racing season, the Ohio Boys still have plenty of goals in mind. With two races remaining in Milan's Drag Radial Series, Turley will attempt to defend the Ohio Boy's crown, and hopes for a three-peat as the series champion. With plans to run in the 7.40 range, at over 200MPH, the Ohio Boys Camaro will also be a formidable contender at the upcoming third annual LSX Shootout, which will be held again October 15 - 18 at Memphis Motorsports Park.
Please click on the More Details tab to learn more about the build of this car.
*9.19.09 Update*
Steve ran a new best of 7.44@198.76 at the Ultimate Outlaw race held at MIR on September 12th, 2009.
