An electric shifter from Biondo Racing has been handling the 1-2 gear change nearly as long. There was a period of time the car ran with a 396 big-block and a three-speed automatic in the early 2000s, but other than that, this Hurst has been in the car for nearly 30 years. This is Fletcher’s home office after all. The instrument panel, carpets, and pedal assemblies are all well-worn from races around the country. Fletcher told us the cable hasn’t been hooked up in decades and that the numbers have vibrated up to that mileage reading. We’ll save you the trouble of asking: The odometer reads just 653 miles. By our count, at least three different mounting patterns for the fuel pressure regulators that have been tried over the years on that original wheelwell. It wasn’t until he swapped the car to a -8 AN feed and a -10 AN sized return that the regulator was able to control the fuel pressure. Fletcher also recounted the school-of-hard-knocks lessons he learned about fuel pressure. He reports that he only had to change one line to switch from the carbureted small-block he had to this LS engine. You can practically see flakes of dried blood in the AN lines that Fletcher made for this car.
ROYAL PURPLE SUPER STOCK PRO 603 NISSAN DRAG CAR JAPAN ZIP
There are more zip ties and butt connectors than we expected in this car, but as Fletcher reminded us, “My sh*t always starts.” Now there’s a 350-cid COPO engine featuring an LS7 aluminum block, LS3 heads, and a Holley Hi Ram intake that barely fits under the cowl induction hood after a pair of spacers were added to create an optimal flow path. Since then it’s been home to various small- and big-blocks and even an SB2 NASCAR engine. I’m just old-school function above a everything else,” he told us.īetween these shock towers Chevrolet installed its 302-cid crossram dual-quad race engine. He’s been racing this car long enough that he’s figured out the quality components that work, but rarely has the highest-dollar version of anything on the car.
We couldn’t help but notice lots of well-seasoned speed parts on the Camaro, and almost nothing we’d describe as “exotic.”įletcher told us, “I’m a creature of habit, and I try to keep everything simple.” He concedes he has a number of buddies that buy the best of the best stuff for their cars, but he’s not that guy. It’s a bulldozer with a stack of good timeslips. So what details matter to Fletcher and his Camaro? He focuses on the work – not the parts – that make the car quicker and its performance more predictable. “He was an extremely diligent and detail-oriented person.” The kind of person that inherently understood what he had to put in to get out what he needed to win. “I think I’m a pretty hard worker, but my father would’ve put me to shame,” said Fletcher. When asked about the secret to this car’s success, Fletcher says it’s a relentless mixture of “hard work and perseverance.” He says he gained his work ethic from his dad.
When Fletcher neared driving age, he says he dragged his dad back into racing and turned the Camaro into a bracket car in the 1980s and then reworked it to race Super Stock in the early 1990s. Every other mile has been clicked off on dragstrips around the country.įletcher’s dad ran the car in Modified Production in the 1970s, and then parked the car for a time. The only miles it saw on the street were the ones it had to traverse coming home from the dealership. “My father actually bought the car brand new, drove it home, and it’s been a racecar its entire life,” said Fletcher. The kind of machine that was built to race, and the kind of car the collector market swoons over today. The Camaro was born as a legit crossram-intake, 302-cid, V-8, four-speed car. In many cases, the key to success is beginning before everyone else, and this Z/28’s racing pedigree goes back to Day One. What’s so special about this car that has earned so many victories in such a competitive field? Is it the man? The machine? Or is there really no separation of the two? No other Bowtie has won more races in any form of racing. It’s the winningest car in NHRA history and the winningest Chevrolet in all of motorsports. Nationals, the car that has given Fletcher much of his success has been this iconic 1969 Chevy Z/28 Camaro. He’s also the only person that’s swept the Western Swing twice.įrom his first Super Stock win at Columbus in 1994, to his Super Stock runner-up at the 2020 Denso Spark Plugs NHRA U.S. Dan Fletcher is one of only three people in the history of drag racing to attain more than 100 NHRA wins, putting him ahead of many of the sport’s legends and in an exclusive club with John Force and Frank Manzo.
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