It’s a daily driver, it’s raced hard enough to place in the Optima Ultimate Street Car challenge and to hang with the serious builds during the LS Fest autocross and 3S Challenge, and if it weren’t for a couple of minor touches, one could be convinced that it was just a stock 5th generation Camaro with wheels. Casey Woodside has the concept down, but the fact that the Camaro is not just his only car, but his first car, just makes the deal that much sweeter. We saw him rip up the track at LS Fest, and I got a special view of him making mincemeat out of the Angry Grandpa 300C at a Track-X day at NCM Motorsports park earlier this year. The Camaro is a real-deal performance player, and Casey is a wild child compared to most of the drivers you’d encounter in the paddock. While everyone else is buttoning down and suiting up, Casey would roll in, fresh from the night before, shrug, and with a “Let’s do this” attitude, charge hard onto the track.
Woodside’s automotive fixation goes back to childhood, like most of us. He watched movies like Days of Thunder, Smokey and the Bandit, shows like The Dukes of Hazard and like most of us, was influenced to actually race. He really wanted to race go-karts, but his parents just weren’t having that. Instead Casey rode around their farm on ATVs and by 2002 was racing a Honda 400EX. He did that for a few years, but bowed out in 2009 after getting sick of being out on the road all of the time. With the racing itch still lingering, his focus switched over to cars. He had worked at a local Chevrolet dealership when GM killed off the fourth-gen F-body, but at the time was unable to purchase one due to one reason or another, but in 2010 the stars aligned and this Camaro found itself a new home. He explains, “The next few years I just did some car shows and was just staring at it. That got boring, so I went to a Goodguys Super Sunday, entered in the autocross, and got third. I was completely hooked after that. Did a few things to help it handle better, then GM said they were coming out with a Z/28. Tried to get a silver, no A/C car, they would not give me the allocation for it. So I called up Mike Norris and had him and the Ramond’s Performance crew start the build.”
A Texas Speed 418ci short block with ported and polished heads was called in for service and fitted with a Melling high-volume oil pump, a Comp Cams bumpstick, a Callies Performance Products forged crankshaft and H-beams, Wiseco pistons, and an Airaid cold air intake. The stock automatic was chucked in favor of an RPM Stage V TR6060 six-speed manual with a Quarter Master clutch, and the rear differential was upgraded via a HammerHead IRS filled with 3.91 gears. Detroit Speed JRI shocks, a belt bar with Impact harnesses, HEX hood vents, and Forgeline wheels on Bridgestone tires round out the package. 505 RWHP keep the Camaro moving along very nicely.
If it weren’t for the sponsor stickers, this could be just about any Camaro SS out on the road. It’s got a bark, but it’s no louder than any other fifth-gen with an exhaust. It’s perfectly drivable, but when called up can compete with the best of them. Casey and the Camaro are currently hanging onto the 10th spot on the Optima Ultimate Street Car GT Class list…not bad for the first car.
