Yes, that’s two white cars in our Top 5, but what can we say other than they are both badass in their own right. The first time we laid eyes on Chad Noel’s 1969 Camaro, it was instant Pro Street love.
With Pro Mod-style cars at one end of the spectrum and the 275 radial-tire cars at the other end, Noel’s Camaro stands out and is reminiscent of the Cars Inc. Camaros of the early Pro Street days, as well as Tom Bailey’s Sick Seconds Camaro from more modern times.
In addition to the Camaro’s classic styling, the hardware under the hood is somewhat old-school, as well. No, there is no turbocharged LS, but you will find 632 cubic inches of grunt topped with a single-stage, Nitrous Outlet plate system good for 200 extra horsepower. Noel told us he scored a deal on the 632, which features a Dart block and cylinder heads, for just $6,500, and had Earl Shexnayder work up the engine calibration for the big-block’s Holley EFI system.
Noel purchased the Camaro from Larry Castille, and it had been sitting idle since 2005, but Noel jumped at the chance to buy it when Castille offered it for sale. The former drag car, which features a ladder bar-style rear suspension, now sports a full 4-inch exhaust system, air conditioning and stereo for the longer drives such as Sick Week, and a pump gas-friendly compression ratio and mild hydraulic roller camshaft, though Noel said the bumpstick is definitely holding back the engine’s potential.
The Lafayette, Louisiana, native put less than 20 miles on the Camaro before heading to Florida for Sick Week 2024. As he’s competed in the event previously with his Corvette, Noel borrowed that car’s trailer, since there isn’t much in the way of storage in the Camaro. Noel clocked a best run of 9.02 at 148 mph at the fourth stop of the week, and finished with a 9.30-second average. He told us next year he plans to put his girlfriend Suzanne in the Camaro, which reminds us of another Pro Street memory, NMCA Pro Street champion Annette Summer, who used to race her big-block, nitrous oxide injected Camaro.
