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Video: Victor Cagnazzi Owned, Dave Connolly Driven, Grumpy Jenkins Tribute COPO Dive Bombs The A/Stock Auto Record in Testing


Video: Victor Cagnazzi Owned, Dave Connolly Driven, Grumpy Jenkins Tribute COPO Dive Bombs The A/Stock Auto Record in Testing

Pure COPO porno, that’s what this is. A gritty, short, no nonsense video shows Dave Connolly, the multi-time NHRA national event Pro Stock winner at the wheel of Victor Cagnazzi’s new COPO Camaro at a test session on the strip at Rockingham Dragway. The car is dressed up as a tribute to Grumpy Jenkins and it looks fantastic, working headlights and all. While we cannot see the scoreboard at the end of the run, multiple sources are reporting that this car ran between 9.38 and 9.45 in testing. This is with (we assume) the 427ci naturally aspirated LS combo offered with the car. If you listen closely, you’ll hear the car shift twice so we know that it has a three speed automatic in it. That is notable because we’re thinking the majority of these cars will have a ‘Glide in them.

Why is a high 9.30/low 9.40 impressive when Cobra Jets are going into the 7s? Easy, those CJs are highly worked up Super Stock cars, not stock eliminator machines. The numbers (if they are true) from this COPO are impressive because the existing A/stock automatic record is 9.89 as set by Adam Keir in April of this year. That means the COPO (if it is in legal race trim, and with the US Nats coming in days, we’re thinking that it is) will annihilate that number by a margin larger than a half a second. That’s pretty much unheard of in the world of stock, where incremental improvements are the order of the day.

The car leaves like a dream, pulling a perfect wheelstand and it sounds meaner than hell at idle before Connolly drops the hammer.

Press play below to watch an awesome COPO rip of a potentially record shattering run. The US Nats are going to be fun!


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10 thoughts on “Video: Victor Cagnazzi Owned, Dave Connolly Driven, Grumpy Jenkins Tribute COPO Dive Bombs The A/Stock Auto Record in Testing

  1. Anonymous

    “Stock” has definitely “jumped the shark.”

    This “stock” (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) Camaro weighs about 900 lbs less than a street SS . . . packs a “Strange 9” [read: aftermarket Ford] beam rear axle instead of the “stock” IRS . . .and could only pass an EPA emissions test on a trailer.

    Whatever happened to “stock” being about actual production cars, not crazy-expensive ringers like this heap?

    However, the Jenkins reference is fitting because he ruined Pro Stock with that tube-frame Vega . . . .

      1. 69Chevelle454

        Actually he sounds about dead on to me. If you want to run stock it would be the stock Camaro SS vs the Challenger 392 vs the Mustang period. That would be superstock for sure.

        1. nxpress62

          apparently anonymous hasn’t been to a NHRA stock eliminator race, ever. There isn’t a single car there that would pass an emissions test.

    1. Anonymous

      There hasn’t been a “stock” (wink, wink) NHRA Stock Eliminator car in about 30 years. NHRA has ruined the sport, not the sportsman racers.

  2. jack pine

    I’m sure the car is fast but there’s no reason why he needs to go out and beat the national record by a wide margin. Those of you with any knowledge of NHRA policies will know that move will cause NHRA to increase the rated HP of the car, which means racers have to add weight. Everybody running (or hoping to run) a COPO combo will be penalized. It actually shortens the competitive life span of the vehicle combination because NHRA makes you add weight. It weeds out the smaller guys who don’t have a $200,000 engine program, which is what Super Stock has become.

    1. nxpress62

      surely he’ll short shift to keep the margin tighter? the video was just testing, like the 8 sec stock eliminator mustang that claimed to be underweight..

  3. Dave

    Good for them! Glad to see the COPOs putting down more than competitive numbers. But Brian, please… all the Cobra Jets are “highly worked up Super Stock cars, not stock eliminator machines”? Are you forgetting that just this past April, Don Fezell drove his Cobra Jet to the first ever 8 second pass ever in Stock Eliminator history?

  4. Hippy

    I must agree with most of the above posts. Stock Eliminator is no longer a SPORTSMAN class when the Cagnnazi’s build race cars.

    The National Record concept is a non-factor as these autos are run off of THEIR dial-in (Bracket Raceing).
    The Showroom autos ane no longer competitive because of the $$$ as These “STOCK/SUPER STOCK” autos have more $$$ in motor,chassic,transmission setup than I paid for my Mustang.

    Nuff Said

    Jim

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