2010 Run to the Coast Pro Touring Shootout

It took a mix of strong horsepower with a super suspension, better brakes, gummy tires, and a dash of driver skill to make your mark at the inaugural Run to the Coast Pro Touring shootout. This is Todd Akes' Nevada '69 Camaro.

It took a mix of strong horsepower with a super suspension, better brakes, gummy tires, an

We rolled into the large parking area at 6 a.m. for the inaugural Run to the Coast (RTTC) Pro Touring shootout, and it was like wading into a sea of Camaros. Of the 50-plus cars competing, the guest list looked like this: multiple Novas, a couple of Pontiacs, Paul Newman's '57 Chevy four-door wagon, a trio of Mopars, and two Chevelles. The rest were Camaros.

The reason for our Saturday dawn launch was to scrub tires with some of the baddest Pro Touring cars on the West Coast. Bill Howell is the man behind the very successful Run Through the Hills (RTTH) Pro Touring competition in Tennessee that is going on its sixth year and has proved to be extremely popular, challenging muscle cars to compete in multiple events such as drag racing and autocross.

Bill brought his idea to the vacated El Toro Marine Corps Air Station just south of Los Angeles, which is now owned by the city of Irvine. This sprawling concrete and asphalt facility was the perfect site for the four-tiered event that started with three big Saturday competitive events-the Baer Brake Challenge, the RideTech autocross, and the big-daddy 2.5-mile Detroit Speed road course set amid the huge concrete runways. The final event invited participants on a Sunday cruise that rolled into an open house at Spectre Performance.

As with most Pro Touring events, there was just one class, and anyone with a muscle car could play. Of course, this meant pitting little motors against big ones and good suspensions against excuses. Amid all this chaos, there were only a couple of simple rules. To exclude the advantage of exotic rubber, tires had to be DOT legal and feature a minimum of a 200 treadwear (more on this later). Cars had to pass a cursory tech inspection, and helmets were mandatory. We couldn't resist the chance to flog our '65 Chevelle that had recently undergone a serious overhaul at the hands of Doug Norrdin, his son, Eric, and the crew at Global West Suspension. We wanted to see how our ancient Chevelle stacked up against some of the strongest cars on the Left Coast.

The RTTC was even more attractive since the overall winner-crowned King of the Coast-would also win an invitation to the premier Pro Touring event, the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational in November. So there were grand opportunities at this inaugural Run to the Coast event. If you don't already know, Brian Finch and his '71 Camaro took the title, besting several excellent cars and drivers. The event was so successful, there is already talk of another RTTC in the fall, and we'll be there.

RideTech Autocross
At first it may appear that the autocross would be just a slower version of the road course. But after driving both, you realize the two are significantly dissimilar, requiring very different driving styles. The autocross places far more emphasis on suspension and technique and less on horsepower. While Mary Pozzi's '73 Camaro may be down on power, her wheel skill is more than suitable compensation. It was predictable that she would dominate the 40-second course, followed closely by husband David in the Shipka Camaro. Brian Finch reinforced his reputation as a driver by replicating his Third Place road course finish. The surprise of the event was Paul Newman's '57 Chevy wagon. It had previously pulled down a strong run on the road course despite the fact that Paul says the LT1 is woefully underpowered. Even with this handicap, son Kyle adroitly drove the wagon to an excellent Fifth Place autocross finish. Within the vendor competition, the DSE clan again nailed the win with Ryan Mathews' 40.368 that was second quickest of the day, closely followed by TCI's 40.458 Camaro time, wheeled by Nick Licata.

It looked like a sea of F-bodies during the early-morning lineup before the driver's meeting. Other than a smattering of Mopars, Chevelles, and Novas, this looked more like a Camaro show.

It looked like a sea of F-bodies during the early-morning lineup before the driver's meeti

Detroit Speed Road Course
Event organizer Bill Howell worked with Orange County Race Craft (OCRC), which regularly holds timed events at this facility, to run this portion of the event sponsored by Detroit Speed. The road course operated much like a Solo I event, pitting car and driver against the track for the best time. There were several strong cars in attendance, and it didn't take long to figure out who was fast.

James Shipka brought his '68 Camaro down from Alberta, Canada, for this event with driving help from tuner/builder David Pozzi to push the Camaro to its limits. The pair also plans to take on the One Lap of America later in the season with sponsorship help from Optima. David bombed the field by setting the quickest muscle car lap time of the day. Bunched up behind him were three more Camaros all running low 1:50s. The event sponsors also had a shot at the track with DSE's Camaro pulling down the quick time amid the vendors with Ryan Mathews' very quick 1:49.910 in the '70 Camaro.

Baer Brake Challenge
Here was one event that more than lived up to its billing as a challenge. Even with a smattering of late-model ABS cars (including a C6 Corvette), none of them finished in the top 10, lending credence to the contention that a good driver behind the wheel of a non-ABS car with quality brakes and tires can out-stop an ABS-equipped car. The Baer challenge was basically a longer version of CC's Launch Box. The course appeared to be roughly about 1,000 feet in length. The challenge was to accelerate as far as you dared but still get the car completely stopped inside a 45-foot-long box outlined with cones. The stronger cars were definitely up to 100 mph at the top of the acceleration curve. The key was to combine an excellent eighth-mile dragstrip pass with equally aggressive braking without sliding the tires on either end. Brian Finch staked out a win relying on an impressive time of 14.198 seconds.

Chevelle Adventures
It wasn't until the day before the event that we finally reassembled our '65 Chevelle after discovering a rear axle bearing problem on Wednesday and rebuilding a dying fuel system on Friday. Global West had previously upgraded the Chevelle with a complete Penske coilover shock system front and rear with Eibach springs along with a set of Toyo R1R tires that unfortunately had a softer treadwear rating of 140 instead of the required 200 minimum. This meant we could only compete in the Exhibition class and our times would not count in the official results.

That didn't prevent us from putting the tires on the pavement to see how our aging Chevelle would compare. The chart shows our times in each of the timed events. The big success was obviously the Baer Brake Challenge, but the biggest thrill was on the road course where Global West owner Doug Norrdin's shock and spring tuning finally created a situation in which we could apply power much more aggressively on corner exit. For years, this much power would have only resulted in tire spin and/or massive oversteer. With our newfound higher corner exit speeds, the car was instantly transformed into sheer unadulterated fun. The RTTC setup for the road course put three cars on the track at the same time, but we ran so fast that we ran up on the car in front of us entering our final lap time, which prevented us from perhaps an even quicker lap since track rules prohibited passing. To rectify our too-soft tire situation, we've set our sights on a set of 275/35ZR18-inch BFGoodrich g-Force KDW tires that sport a 300 treadwear rating and will keep us well within the rules. This will also mean new wheels. We're already planning our next test session because we'll have to completely retune for the shorter sidewall effect of 18-inch tires. After that, we just need more seat time to snuggle up to the Chevelle's new adhesion limit. There's more left in the old blue beast-we just have to find it..