Over a year in the making, Roger Holder’s new 1969 Camaro is finally set to make its debut in the Pro 275 class at Duck X Productions’ No Mercy 14 event at South Georgia Motorsports Park in October.
Holder commissioned Darren Breaud of B&B Race Cars to build a new car for the Pro 275 competition and chose a full carbon-fiber, 1969 Camaro body from Joe VanO as the foundation for the project. Two of Holder’s previous rides were late-model fourth- and fifth-gen bodies, and he opted for the classic body style this time around.
“I like the older-style stuff, but the main reason for the ’69 is that there was limited choice on the carbon body,” Roger Holder said. “I like the ‘69 curves better than the ‘68.”
After Holder and Breaud began the initial build, they ran into discrepancies with the rules regarding the front end of the car, and Holder told Breaud to go ahead and start on a new Pro Mod build, but the rules were eventually sorted out and they continued with the Pro 275 project.
“This complete body is a Joe VanO body,” Breaud explains. “It’s stock dimensions and all carbon-fiber.” Breaud made sure the details of the car’s exterior were all there, right down to the factory quarter panel louvers, factory marker lights, and tail lights. “Everything works,” Breaud explained.
Powering the machine is a 4.9-inch-bore-space Noonan Race Engineering Hemi engine that has been fitted with twin Precision Turbo & Engine 88mm turbochargers via TiCon Industries Titanium tubing. Backing the impressive powerplant is an M&M Transmission Turbo 400 and converter that sends the thousands of horsepower back to the B&B Race Cars-fabricated rearend that features a Strange Engineering full floater axle package and carbon-fiber brakes. Breaud sourced many additional components from Race Part Solutions, CJ Race Cars, Menscer Motorsports, Simpson, Weld Wheels, ISP Seats, and Safecraft, as well.
Josh Deeds is handling the tuning of the FuelTech FT600 engine control unit, and the team was dialing in the calibration on October 5th at the FuelTech hub dyno. They plan to test this Saturday and debut the Camaro at the No Mercy 14 event.
When asked if he was excited about the new car, Holder responds by saying, “Very much so. We are back to the turbos, which I like. We went from nitrous to turbo to ProCharger, as each got where they weren’t competitive. The weights have come down a little bit and hopefully we can be competitive now. The maintenance is a little less, they are less destructive on things, and I like the looks and the sound — they make a lot of power.”
We queried Holder about the Pro 275 class and his desire to compete in it versus Pro Modified and he replied with, “It’s small-tire classes that I’ve always run. It’s evolved to completely out of control, and it’s super competitive and fast. Besides Radial vs The World, Pro 275 is where it’s at.”
“It’s all possible with my wife Berta, who supports all my wonderful ideas in this sport of drag racing,” Holder adds. He also wanted credit Holder’s Air Conditioning for supporting the racing operation. The Bakersfield, California, resident will likely follow up the No Mercy appearance with a visit to Las Vegas for the Street Car Super Nationals.