After the cage was built and installed, the body was prepped and painted 2000 Chevy Charcoal gray by Christopher Dominguez. Herr mounted a 9-inch Ford rear end with 410 Strange gears. As the body was being completed, the engine was machined by longtime sportsman racer and former PST competitor John Lukovich.



After nearly three years and about $15,000, Herr’s charcoal beast hit the track in the summer of 2004 where it routinely blisters the Indianapolis Raceway Park quarter mile in the 9.40s at more than 140 mph on street tires with mufflers.

“It took three years to complete,” Herr said. “I did it while working on Larry’s [Dixon] car, so we’re on the road a lot, that’s why it took so long. Any free time I had, I’d work on the car. In the winter, we were still working out of the Vista (CA) shop and I’d ship it back there to work on in the evenings.

“I haven’t run the nitrous yet, but I’m really excited about it. The car should run 8.50-8.70 (seconds) with nitrous. I’m ready to see it come alive. It has full street trim and I can drive it on the street no problem. I like it that way so I can jump in it, go race and drive it home. I don’t want to have to spend time loading it on a trailer. I want to have fun with the car.”

“Last year before the U.S. Nationals, I had an open house at my shop,” Burgan added. “We had about 70 guys from Australia at the shop and the Camaro just ripped their heads off. They were blown away that it runs nines with mufflers and street tires. It’s a great car.”

While Herr’s Camaro is no match for Dixon’s 330-mph Miller Lite dragster, his 9-second ride can easily outdistance the champ's 11-second 1966 Nova, and once he grows tired of spending his weekends in Commerce, GA and Kent, WA, Herr hopes to start collecting a few trophies of his own. The car is scheduled to compete in the 2005 Hot Rod magazine Pump Gas Drags on Friday, May 13 at Memphis Motorsports Park. Herr’s former Don Prudhomme Racing teammate and longtime NHRA crewmen, Rob Hauser, will pilot the gray Camaro in the popular event as the NHRA POWERade tour is racing at Atlanta Dragway that weekend.

“I have the car to race,” Herr said. “I run it at Goodguys and Super Chevy events when I have the chance to. I’d really like to run NMCA or PSCA some day, but right now, time doesn’t afford me that opportunity.”

These days, when he’s not playing with flywheels and clutch discs on the NHRA circuit or testing discs on the clutch dyno in Prudhomme’s race shop, you’re likely to find Herr toying with his next project, a 1966 Chevelle.

“This one will be more of a driver, not a race car,” Herr said. “I like tinkering with old cars. That’s my hobby. Some guys fish, some guys golf, I work on cars.”

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