Chuck Haubiel grew up on a large grain farm near one of the most treasured racing facilities in the United States, National Trail Raceway in Columbus, Ohio. During the NHRA Spring Nationals, Haubiel could hear the fuel cars from his house. After honing his driving skills in his ’81 Camaro that he ran in Super Gas, he added a dragster to his stable and began to double enter in the Super Comp and Super Gas categories. But deep down inside, Chuck always had a love for Competition Eliminator.
After fighting to qualify in the top half of the field and battling numerous engine troubles, Chuck scaled back and bought a Chevrolet Camaro to run in Super Stock (a car that’s currently owned by well-renowned champion driver David Rampy) where he battled it out until 2010, when he purchased the car that he’s currently campaigning from John Coughlin.
After contacting Darren Breaud, owner of B&B Race Cars in Hohenwald, Tennessee, Haubiel began preparing his list to build his dream ride – a purpose-built car to run NHRA Competition Eliminator. After choosing the ever-popular 2014 Chevrolet Camaro SS body style for the build, Breaud and Haubiel set out the blueprints for this one-of-a-kind build.
The first decision had to be made early — the type of powerplant for particular class designation in Competition Eliminator. Haubiel opted to run CC/A, which is a power adder class, and chose Jeff Taylor Racing Engines out of Sellersburg, Indiana to provide the horsepower. Taylor got to work on the 375 cubic inch, billet aluminum, big block engine to stuff between the framerails with a powerful F3-131 ProCharger hanging off the front to provide the massive boost numbers needed to be competitive in one of the most competitive classes in all of drag racing.
As any builder or tuner knows, the name of the game isn’t just how much horsepower you have, but how much of that power can be applied to the ground. Engine builder Jeff Taylor chose a Turbo 400 transmission setup to mount up behind the ProCharged big block to transfer the horsepower to the wide Mickey Thompson slicks out back.
Breaud and his team at B&B Race Cars went all-out on this car, which is built completely from 4130 Chrome-Moly and to SFI 25.3 certification NHRA Pro Stock specifications. The Five Star body is built completely from carbon fiber and weighs in at just over 45 pounds. But Chuck wasn’t finished there. When you look through the depths and into the interior, you’ll find carbon fiber wheel tubs, rear tin work, seat and other carbon fiber accents, like the door panels. The car was painted by J R Hill of Custom Motorsports Painting in Mansfield, Ohio, while Tim Smith performed the airbrush work and PPG supplied the Envirobase paint.
Breaud was able to custom fabricate the water tanks and intercooler, along with the air inlet for the F3 and the supercharger-to-intercooler-to-engine intake charge piping, which is all powdercoated to match the rest of the accents on the engine and car.
Breaud continued with the build by going back to his trusted chassis setup for the initial test session, which is coming soon. Santhuff’s Suspension Specialties for shocks/struts to stand on all four corners of the Camaro, along with components from Mark Williams Enterprises to add strength to the parts that need to withstand the strong “hit” of the chassis that this car will receive.
As with all race cars in this day and age, data acquisition is key with this much horsepower. Racepak Data Systems was contacted for their popular V300SD data logger and the sleek UDX digital dash display, tucked neatly into the custom dashboard, modeled after a factory 2014 Camaro with the gauge cluster housings and air vents airbrushed into the mold, just to add that finishing touch.
Weld Racing and Mickey Thompson finished the sleek look of this bright yellow Chevrolet Camaro with a set of V-Series Racing wheels and M/T provided the front runners and rear slicks to plant all of that ProCharged power to the concrete.
Haubiel will continue his sponsorship with long-time partner, JaxWax.com, who has partnered into his C/Super Modified Chevy Cobalt, which he is currently piloting in NHRA competition.
Haubiel plans to continue his 6-8 points races and 4-6 NHRA National event race schedule. In talks with Chuck, he replied, “Candidly, it’s really about the people for us. It’s a little odd, but we spend our weekends either in total tranquility at our lake house or in sensory overload at a drag strip. If it wasn’t for the competition and camaraderie, we would have a lot more time on the boat and more money.”
Well, even though he has a valid point, we’re sure that the entire Haubiel family is very excited to debut their new addition of the family, provided by the great builders at B&B Race Cars. We look for this car to be out very soon for testing, as Breaud just put the finishing touches on it within the last week.
We’d like to personally thank Darren for inviting us up to the shop to see this and other cars that he’s currently working on, including Rodger Brogdon’s incredible Bel Air in the background of some of the photos.
Look for more news on the JaxWax.com Chevrolet Camaro in the coming months as Haubiel and his team get the new ride out for testing and ultimately, its competition debut in the NHRA.