Remember the cars that competed in the original “Real Street” and “True Street” classes of street legal heads-up drag racing?
We sure do! Street-legit cars that were driven during the week and raced on weekends. You would see a variety of styles from the 60s through the 90s. Stock chassis, small tires, violent launches, crazy, unpredictable power adders, but the theme was always one thing “street” car, with an effort to maintain as much of the original car as possible and prevent exotic and overly expensive engine parts from entering the mix. And these 9 and 8-second ¼-mile cars were the show! Oh how times have changed… but not for Blaine Huffman and his cool 1979 ProCharged big block Camaro.
The cool raked stance comes courtesy of a stock suspension with no min tub! An assortment of Calvert parts out back include their split mono leafs and world renowned Caltrac bars along with double adjustable shocks. Up front, tubular A-arms work in conjunction with stock springs and aftermarket shocks.
When we’re talking about original, stock or OEM it’s tough to know where to start with Blaine’s Camaro, but let’s go with the body. The Camaro retains nearly all of its original steel body with the exception of the Glasstek fiberglass cowl hood. Trim and bumpers are also original pieces.
Blaine, like many of us, started into cars at a young age and was influenced by his family. How cool would it be to have parents that owned a small car lot? “My parent’s lot in Streetsboro, Ohio was called Alabama Wheels. We owned it through the 1980s and that’s how my addiction got started. It was all southern cars and probably every muscle car ever made went through there,” explained Huffman. “Then, on my 16th birthday, my brother took me to the race track and let me race his ’70 LeMans that ran in the 15-second area, and from that point I was ruined,” he added with a smile.
A mostly original oh-so-hot red interior includes the factory dash, trim panels, console, tilt steering column and steering wheel, and even the back seat! A certified 12-point mild steel cage was installed by Ultra Tech during the build and seats were exchanged with comfy Procar race seats upholstered to match with “8 Second Express” embroidered into the headrests.
A complete array of aftermarket gauges have been expertly installed in the original dash face using carbon panels, and a Hurst billet pistol grip shifter commands gear changes.
By 1995, Blaine was ready to dive into his next car build and found a 1979 Camaro in the local trader paper, and it was a true barn find – sitting in a small garage at a horse farm, it was rust free with all original body panels. Needless to say, he bought it right then and there.
Soon a 475-inch big block with TH350 setup for pump gas was installed and Blaine raced and drove it for the next 5 years, running mid 10-second hits on the long track on pump fuel. Experimenting with horsepower, Blaine was wooed by a different type of racing and found himself getting into the diesel truck and pulling scene, so the Camaro sat safely in storage for the next 8 years. Once he discovered that building a pulling truck is just as expensive as putting a fast car together, Huffman opted to get back into the Camaro.
My
first pass on the ProCharger setup the car went 9.30, killing the tire on the original 5 leaf spring setup with slapper bars installed!
Blaine along with Chris Klink of Ultra Tech Racecars and Blaine’s sister Jennifer built the car into the street/strip brawler it is now, but losing a good friend that was a big part of the build definitely had an impact on Huffman. “Chris Clink lost his battle with Leukemia and he was a big part of my motivation for the build,” Blaine remembered somberly.
During this next phase of Huffman’s Camaro he was introduced to boost and in 2010 he bought his first ProCharger for the new 509 BBC, and
he was instantly ‘blown’ away. “My first pass on the ProCharger setup the car went 9.30, killing the tire on the original 5 leaf spring setup with slapper bars installed!” Obviously Huffman needed to focus on all other areas of the car in order to put the new power to work as efficiently as possible. While the frame remained factory, an overhaul was completed and it started out back with a braced Ford 9” with Moser 40-spline gun-drilled axles, aluminum boltthrough center section, spool and 3.50 gears.
A 509-inch ProCharged big block Chevy resides under the Camaro hood. V’s House of Horsepower is responsible for the machine work and co-assembly along with Ultra Tech Racecars.
The big Bowtie sports a 9.5:1 base compression ratio, making it perfect for boost, and that’s exactly what Huffman had in mind (not to mention that going with a blower is fitting to the last name HUFF MAN).
Suspension was upgraded with products from Calvert, including their Caltrac bars and split mono leaf spring setup with QA1 dual adjust shocks.
The car hit the 8-second zone, running 8.91, and today, after a bunch more time and lots of help, Blaine can go from the street to the track and bang off consistent 8.50 hits in the quarter…now that’s impressive! Remember, there’s no exotic parts here, just good ol’ fashioned cubic inches + boost + the right parts in the right areas with the right tuning.
When we’re talking about original, stock or OEM it’s tough to know where to start with Blaine’s Camaro, but let’s go with the body. The Camaro retains nearly all of its original steel body with the exception of the Glasstek fiberglass cowl hood. Trim and bumpers are also original pieces.
Huffman more recently updated the look of the engine by replacing chrome and aluminum with a hammered gray with silver finish and black piping for the blow-thru system.
Chassis-wise, the car retains its complete original frame with stock style suspension and even the rear wheelwells are original – no mini tub here! We’ve talked about suspension mods out back, all using the stock configuration, but Huffman also had to look after things up front and started with aftermarket tubular upper and lower control arms. Stock spindles and springs were used but shocks were swapped out with QA1 single adjustables, and an S10 manual steering rack was also installed. As you can see
in the photo on page 54, the Camaro has stood up on the back bumper from time to time and, albeit cool to watch, it’s not what Blaine wanted so he worked the tune along with the new suspension parts to tame the launch considerably and minimize the risk of breaking stuff.
The interior of the Camaro is that oh-so-hot red and almost all of it is original, including the factory dash, trim panels, console, tilt steering column and steering wheel, and even the back seat!
Blaine Huffman
Complete Walkaround, Startup and burnout!
Blaine Huffman’s Street / Strip 1979 Chevrolet Camaro
Body & Paint:
All steel original sheet metal with fiberglass 4” cowl hood.
Chassis Type & Mods:
Stock frame, non tubbed, stock wheel wells. 12-point cage certified to 8.50.
Suspension:
Stock style suspension. Rear is Calvert split mono leaf springs and Caltracs with double adjustable QA1 shocks. Front is tubular upper and lower A-arms, stock coil springs with single adjustable QA1 shocks. S10 manual steering box.
Engine:
V’s House of Horsepower/Ultra Tech Racecars 509 cubic inches with 9:1 compression ratio (502 block, 30 over). Eagle crank and H-beam rods. Dart 320 heads with T&D shaft rocker arms and PAC springs. JE psitons, Mahle Clevite bearings, Total Seal rings. Bullet solid roller camshaft .775/.750 lift 268/285 duration. 4150 carb by CSU on Holley Strip Dominator intake.
Power Adder:
ProCharger F2, cogged belt, 18lbs of boost with air to air intercooler.
Electronics:
MSD Grid, Fire Core wires
Transmission & Converter:
Turbo 400 with trans brake and Neal Chance 9” bolt-together converter.
Rear Differential:
Ford 9” with Moser 40 spline gun drilled axles, aluminum bolt through center section, 3.50 gear with spool.
Miscellaneous:
• Full stock interior; door panels, dash, back seats, carpet etc.
• Custom made interior battery kill switch, Autometer gauges.
• Weldon fuel system. VP 110 fuel at the track, pump gas on the street.
• Billet Specialty wheels with 295/65/15 rear M/T tires.
• Stroud parachute and aftermarket brakes help stop the 3550lbs!
Best ET & MPH: 8.51...so far!
Of course, a certified 12-point mild steel cage was installed by Ultra Tech during the build to keep Blaine safe and seats were exchanged with comfy Procar race seats upholstered to match with “8 Second Express” embroidered into the headrests. A full array of aftermarket gauges have
an old school “drive fast with the windows down” system!
The not-so-stock part of the equation takes control under the hood and starts with a 502 block bored .030 over producing a 509-inch ProCharged big block Chevy – Huffman being a firm believer in
A .775/.750 lift cam was slid in place and Dart aluminum heads were equipped with PAC springs and T&D shaft rockers. V’s House of Horsepower is responsible for the machine work and co-assembly along with Ultra Tech Racecars. The big Bowtie sports a 9.5:1 base compression ratio, making it perfect for boost, and that’s exactly what Huffman had in mind. A ProCharger F2 with air to air cooler runs at 18psi boost and blows through a
1000cfm CSU Holley 4150 Dominator carb on a tricked out Holley Strip Dominator intake. A Vickers Performance Transmission TH400 was coupled with a Neal Chance 9-inch bolt-together converter to send power back to that 9-inch through a custom Henderson Drivetrain & Axle driveshaft. Of course, in all this madness, Blaine runs through a traditional exhaust system with Magnaflow Series 4 mufflers that exits behind the rear axle.
A braced 9-inch rearend heavily fortified with a full line of Moser parts is suspended by the stock type suspension system (no coilovers here!). Spent gases exit through big tube headers and a traditional exhaust system complete with Magnaflow muffles that exits behind the rear axle. A 15 gallon fuel cell is trunk mounted along with the battery and allows for both nighttime cruising and track hits on the weekend.
What’s Old Is New if you haven’t read it yet!
Over the coming months we will be hosting some of our past issues of RPM Magazine in this section. If you haven’t read them yet, they are new to you! If you have, maybe there’s a favourite car/story you want to read again….here they are!
A thrilling treat for fans trackside, dynamic launches like this can be risky for car as well as the driver, sometimes putting an end to race day or worse. Blaine submitted this photo of him teasing the spectators with a spectacular wheel stand that thankfully resulted in yet another successful pass.
and Indianapolis Speedways, but he still says that picking his daughter up from school in a line of mini vans was definitely a highlight with the Camaro, too. Street driven, raced hard and boasting in the area of 1,000 horsepower, whether its wheels on the ground or several feet in the air, it’s hard to argue that Blaine Huffman’s boosted big block Camaro is anything but “Real Street”!
