photos by: the author
What started out back in the early ’90s as a super-niche extracurricular activity for musclecar owners largely on the West Coast, has slowly migrated East to the Midwest and parts of New York and Jersey. Just in case you’re playing catch-up, let us clue you in on a little thing called pro-touring.
The idea, is to take your classic musclecar and reinvent it, in such a way that it will handle, stop and overall perform on par, or better, with its modern-day equivalent. However, this isn’t simply a matter of bolting up parts to your old car and taking a wild stab in the dark on its capabilities – it’s about getting on the road course and autocross tracks and seeing what’s what!
It means getting your suspension geometry on point, dialing in your wheel camber and making sure that your braking, fuel and steering systems are up to the task at had. It means hitting up competitions such as the Midwest Musclecar Challenge, Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational and Orange Cone Racing’s Ohio Musclecar Challenge, among others.
Musclecars, new and old, mixed it up all weekend!
Just a few weeks back, we paid our friend and well-reknown pro-touring aficionado, Bob Bertelsen, a visit at the Ohio Musclecar Challenge on August, 21st. Held at the rather scenic Pittsburgh International Race Complex (aka,Beaver Run) in Wampum, Pennsylvania, the complex’s road course and autocross circuit were at participant’s immediate disposal!
Racers from all over, including those in the aftermarket industry, such as Ryan Kirkwood from UMI Performance and representatives from Detroit Speed and Engineering, Jet Hot, BFGoodrich, Schwartz Performance and others, were on-hand to demonstrate what their products were made of! It was a great event, our first time visiting in fact, and we already look forward to what next year has in store! For the full rundown on event results, click HERE, or check out the official race results sheets in the gallery below!
Whether you are into third-gens…
…4th-gens…
…G8s…
…or 5th-gen Camaros, there was plenty of late-modle GM hardware to be had on the road course and on the autocross!
We spotted this 383-stroker ’83 Z28 in the pits, rocking a set of CTW Motorsport 17s. These allow the racer to run much larger brakes, but with a smaller wheel.
There were a few aftermarket supporters on-hand, including UMI Performance and BFGoodrich!
Rick Seitz is the owner and founder of GMEFI Magazine, and has a true love and passion for all vehicles. When he isn’t tuning, testing, or competing with the brand’s current crop of project vehicles, he’s busy tinkering and planning the next modifications for his own cars.
