Back in June, we reported on Californian Al Jimenez and his record-breaking feat at the PSCA California Nationals in Fontana, where he drove his Xtreme Drag Radial 1973 Camaro to the quickest and fastest lap ever recorded by a car outfitted with leaf springs, at 7.32 seconds at 196 MPH.
Coming into this weekends’ heavily anticipated Street Car Super Nationals at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway knocking on the door of the 200 MPH mark and with cool conditions in the forecast ripe for creating horsepower and putting some teeth in the racetrack, Jimenez let it all hang out from the very outset of qualifying. and he wasted little time reaching the mark, as in the opening qualifying session under the lights on Friday evening, Jimenez ripped off the first 200 MPH lap ever recorded on leaf springs, accompanied by a 7.242-second elapsed time that slated him second on the qualifying sheet behind runaway leader Paul Major. The pass made him not only the fastest, but also the quickest leaf spring car in the world.
Jimenez’ second-gen Camaro sports a set of Caltrac split mono leaf springs and traction bars – a setup that is most unheard of in the highly technical “stock-type suspension” world of Drag Radial racing. However, Jimenez has and continues to make it work, as evident by his record-breaking performance this weekend.
Jimenez previously commented “We’re keeping the stock suspension just because that’s what we’ve got and it’s working. When it comes to traction issue; it’s a power application thing but not really the suspensions fault. If we had a four-link or something like that, I think we’d be in the same situation, just with some added adjust-ability. The Caltracs are really consistent and if we don’t change anything, it’ll turn the same 60-foot and eighth mile.”
The second-gen Camaro is motivated by a 525 cubic inch Big Block Chevy utilizing a Brodix aluminum block, AFR conventional-style ported cylinder heads, and receiving its monstrous power from an F3 135 Procharger. The big brute is backed by a Mike’s Transmission Powerglide. Jimenez may be doing it by what most us would consider the hard way, but his on-track performance sure doesn’t indicate it, and it certainly does entertain those of us who enjoy seeing unconventional cars kick some ass.