Our friend Ken Lingenfelter was a happy guy this past weekend. His company launched its first annual Lingenfelter Performance Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park. And just in time for the event, he also took delivery of a brand new 2012 COPO Camaro.
Note: another version of this story by MCG appears at The Block, the interactive Chevrolet Performance website.
Ken’s new event evolved from a company tradition, an annual customer appreciation day at the local drag strip. (Muncie Dragway, not far from LPE HQ in Decatur, Indiana.) This year Ken decided to kick out all the stops, moving his event to the NHRA national event-level facility at Norwalk, Ohio and transforming it into a full-service performance extravaganza.
The three-day event featured bracket racing, a car show, an eight-car Outlaw Pro Mod shootout, a manufacturers’ midway, and an Optima Challenge Qualifier autocross event presented by RideTech. While open to all makes and models, naturally the event is built around the company’s core business, GM vehicles and LS V8 engines.
Buy a car, get a coat. Ken Lingenfelter models the unique COPO jacket included with each COPO Camaro. This is fashion exclusivity.
Even with all these attractions, Ken’s shiny new COPO threatened to steal the show. Unveiled at SEMA in 2011, the limited-production model is a callback to the ‘60s COPO Camaros of song and story, and it parallels the concept of the Mustang Cobra Jet and Dodge Challenger Drag Pak cars. Shipping weight for the virtually race-ready “package car” is 3250 lbs. complete with roll cage. Ken’s Victory Red job is number 19 of the 69-car production run, and is equipped with the 327 LSX V8 with 4.0L Whipple blower, the strongest of the three available COPO engine combinations.
“It’s incredible to see all the interest and excitement the car generated this weekend,” says Ken. “And I understand it completely. I was pretty excited myself when we visited the facility and took delivery. It’s so cool to be able to buy a fully prepped race car like this straight from GM. The COPO history is magic. Everyone wants to get a look at the car.” Indeed. Chevy performance enthusiasts swarmed around the red Camaro all weekend.
Unfortunately, persistent rain messed with the schedule for much of the weekend, but it failed to dampen the enthusiasm of Ken and his crew, who promise to return next year with an even bigger and better show. Meanwhile, between the rain showers, the unlettered COPO fell out of the trailer running strong, recording a best of 8.64 seconds at 159 mph.
Now Ken and his engineering crew at LPE will draw up a battle plan for the COPO Camaro. “We haven’t decided where yet, but of course we’re going to race it,” Ken says. “Racing is what we do. You know, we were out first racing the fifth-gen Camaro as soon as we could get hold of one, developing a number of critical parts. And we’re going to race this car. It think that’s key for us as a company, and it’s key for GM, too.”
It’s running 8s as delivered from the factory? That is impressive.
Yes….well, sort of. It’s a special assembly line and the cars are far from DOT or EPA legal.