1968 Chevrolet Camaro Drag Racer

In the winter of 1967 a young Chevrolet racing enthusiast from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania contacted the Logghe Brothers about building a state of the art Camaro Flip Top Funny Car. Bruce Larson was sponsored by Sutliff Chevrolet, and as he had successfully campaigned Chevrolet powered race cars, he was committed to being competitive in the world of Flip Top Funny Car racing.

The USA-1 was the result of the efforts of the Logghe Brothers, Bruce Larson, and Al Bergler who handled the body mounting and tin work. It soon became one of the most notable funny cars in the world, with its easily recognizable red, white and blue paint scheme with gold stars.

In the initial year of campaigning the USA-1, Bruce managed to win numerous prestigious events. This Camaro was one of the first flip top funny cars to reach 200 miles per hour with elapsed times in the 7.4 second range. It is powered by a nitro methane burning supercharged and fuel injected 427 cubic inch Chevrolet engine.

The USA-1 is the original race car from 1968 and it includes its original Logghe Stage One chassis and Camaro body.

Drag racer and Chevy engine builder maven Bill 'Grumpy' Jenkins heard about an orphaned and ignored Trans-Am Camaro. He reasons that while the 'milled' -- hot rodders' team for acid dipping - Camaro might be a bit too flexible for 200-mile bursts of road racing, it would probably be tough enough for NHRA Super Stock racing with 12 or so second blasts of full-throttle acceleration. And the orphan ex-Penske Trans-Am Camaro became part of Jenkins new drag racing operation. This 1967 Camaro - built on December 29, 1966 - was 'converted' into a 1968 Camaro to satisfy the NHRA rulebooks: side vent windows were removed and '68 door glass was installed. Hidden headlights from the '68 model were installed. Side marker light trim and lenses were glued to the front fenders. Chevrolet's performance chief Vince Piggins gave Jenkins access to the 'Heavy Duty' -- Chevy-speak for 'racing' -- parts inventory. Grumpy's Toy IV was born. At the 1970 NHRA Nationals in Pomona, California drag racing legend Bill 'Grumpy' Jenkins' 1967/68 Z-28 Camaro GRUMPY's TOY IV, won the first race of the NHRA's new Pro Stock class becoming the NHRA's first Pro Stock winner with the sport's first sub-ten second pass by a stock-bodied car. Jenkins' 427-powered ex-Penske Camaro blew through Pomona Raceway's lights in 9.99 seconds at 139.53 mph making drag racing history.