“How far can the envelope be pushed?” “How many events can one car handle in a year?”
“The ultimate endurance test for home builds”
Written by Jim Fox Photography by Jesse Fox (3G Video)
Drag Cars Turned into Street Car
Twenty years ago an idea was born, taking drag cars, turning them into street cars, driving them hundreds of miles from track to track for a week and making it a competition. In 2005 Hot Rod did just that and for the next decade, one week out of the year the street legal drag cars hit the road, racing at each of the designated quarter mile dragstrips, enduring the stress, wear and tear on the car to see who could have the lowest average time for the week. The ultimate endurance test on a car meant for the dragstrip but being ran on the street. Thank you Hot Rod for the beginning of a tradition.
A Good Thing Made Better
Why not push it a little farther, take the same type cars and do the same thing only drive through the mountains. Thus Rocky Mountain Race Week (RMRW) was born in 2015. The interest in this competition continued to grow and in 2019 Midwest Drags was created to accommodate more drivers and give more choices. 2020 arrived and everything came to a halt or at least that was what many thought. With all the restrictions that came out Hot Rod decided not to hold their event in 2020 and this opened the door for Rocky Mountain Race Week to start Race Week, yet another event, located in middle south of the country. So in 2021 there were four week long drag-n-drive events with more than enough interest to support all of them. With harsh winters in the off season for most of the country it stood for reason why not go to Florida in the winter and in 2022 Sick Week was set into motion and sold out 350 spots in minutes. The interest in drag-n-drive events escalated dramatically going from 5 week long and a few regional events utilizing eight mile tracks in 2022 to a total of 32 events including events in Sweden, England, Canada and Australia Now it is not enough to endure one week but how many can be done in a year.
The Person
Unless you are in the industry or maybe a You Tuber most people don’t have the time or money to be participating in a lot of these events. That brings us to the reason for this article, Camron Thorpe from Denver Colorado. His car started out as a NA 1992 Volvo 740 Wagon with a 2.3L red block and
4-speed automatic. In 2022 with there being multiple week long events the challenge was presented and this young man met the call of showing what a drag street car was capable of doing.
The Build
He sold the original engine and transmission and put a 6.0 LS block from a 1999 Silverado in it, this was Camron’s first build. The crank and rods were LS2 style from a 2005 suburban that spun a cam bearings at 207k miles. It has Forged JE Pistons, LS9 cam, LS3 truck heads, and an LSA blower from Craigslist. He rebuilt the LSA blower snout and built the engine after machine work. Behind that he is running a 4L80 transmission built by Paul at H&M Transmission in Castle Rock. Camron cut the transmission tunnel and fitted the engine with motor mounts provided by STS Machining, continued cutting up the car by mini tubbing the back by 3.25” on both sides. Then put a chromemolly 8.50 certified cage with a custom fabricated 9in and ladder bar set up done by Willy Webb Race Cars, 35 spline Moser axles with a wavetrac. To put the power down Camron is running a 275 Mickey Thompson Radial Pro tire on 15x10 wheels. He also designed and made a custom stainless fuel tank for the car. The front suspension is stock with a coil over conversion kit from BNE Performance and a Holley Dominator EFI is controlling the engine set up. It is amazing the abilities God gives to individuals to create these amazing builds.
The History
Build was done and engine was started one week before Rocky Mountain Race Week 2020 and won the 12.0 class and hasn’t looked back. Has bracket raced in two classes most weekends at his home track, Bandimere, which is gone now, and attended other special events like Street Car Takeover. In 2020 he also placed 3rd in 11.0 class at Race Week. In 2021 took 2nd place in 11.0 class at RMRW and 4th place in 11.0 class at Race Week.
The Year 2022 Beginning with Sick Week
But two a year might not be enough and with a new event being started in 2022 why not add another, and by the way did I mention it was in Florida during the winter. Sick Week was scheduled to start in January but was pushed back to February. Camron, with a last minute decision, got on the wait list and was finally able to purchase the 275 Radial Pros he needed, left Denver CO, temperature 5 degrees, driving through Dallas with the trees shimmering with ice. Got to Florida, was able to get in the event, nice and warm but interesting, didn’t know how good the air was going to be. Test day ran a 10.54 and a 10.56 thought it was going to be consistent. Got to Gainsville and ran a 10.42, the gap was too big from the 10.60 he had turned in. Was able to run a 10.50 average for the week and had a great time.
On to RMRW
Third week in June came and Camron made the drive from Denver CO to Great Bend KA with trailer in tow for the start of Rocky Mountain Race Week. Camron, his dad and three others have been to every RMRW since the beginning. Matt Frost has told them they could show up the day of the event and would always have a spot. Their loyalty to the event has prompted the organizers to letting them come the next two years free of charge. They stuck it out through years three and four when it was thought it may be cancelled because of not enough competitors. Finished 4th 2022 in the 11.0 class, had one bad day and just couldn’t make up. In this type of competition everyone is close.
Why Not Another
September rolls around and it is Race Week time. Once again it was a last second decision on going but made it in. Went out the first day and ran an 11.00, a perfect run in the 11.0 class. Second day was in Texas, had a big storm rolling in, didn’t compensate for it and ended up turning in an 11.14. His dad chewed his butt and told him not to give up, everything would be OK. On the last day ran an 11.01 and an 11.09, took 3rd place, stood on the podium with a trophy. Also, ran in the bracket race, got to the final four, raced seven rounds but just couldn’t seal the deal. Had a great time hanging out with friends.
Talked Into One More
While at Race Week hanging out with his buddies Tom, from the United Kingdom, and Jesse, from 3G Video, started picking on him about going to Hot Rod Drag Week. They did it enough that when Camron got done racing at the ET finals in Topeka, KA, which was five hours away, decided to roll the dice and show up. The event was full but there is always a certain amount of cars that doesn’t show up and Camron knew they had never turned anyone away. He got in to the event for the first time with a lot of different cars he wasn’t used to being around. Averaged a 10.62 for the week, had his best run at Cordova at 10.37 and finished in the top 32 in Street Machine Eliminator. The last day of the event was rained out and he couldn’t run the bracket race but had a wonderful time meeting new people and hanging out with friends.
What A Build
“Will keep clicking the miles on her”
Camron said “By the time I get back to Denver, will have over 10,000 miles this year, with bracket racing till the end of the 2022 season. Will keep clicking the miles on her. Car had 24,800 miles on this build since 2020 neither transmission or ultimate torque converter had not been out.” As a side note on the way home from Drag Week, Camron did smoke an axle bearing but got it back together with a new axle and bearings and is looking at Sick Week in February 2023 and the growing schedule.
Accomplishment
Congratulations to Camron for completing Four Out of Five of these week long Drag-n-Drive events in 2022. Pushing his build through, enduring and staying competitive in all the events. Showing the true endurance of a drag street car. One of the first to show if you build it right drag street cars can go the distance.
To see more about this build check out Camron's instagram @CLTangents and also check out this full video we made covering Camron's 2022 season.
Comments