When the racing bug bites, the level of speed addiction it can cause will vary from person to person; some are happy with a 12-scond cruiser, while others end up behind the wheel of a full-blown racecar in a hurry. For Brian Schick the bug’s bite put him somewhere in the middle, so he built a car that reflected his new obsession. Schick’s 2000 Camaro may look like your average Friday night cruiser, but this F-body has the ability to blast off single-digit passes with ease.

Schick’s interest in cars and racing is rooted in time spent with his father as he was growing up around cars and working on them. His time working a day job as an IT Security Specialist helped add fuel to Schick’s passion for racing, as he needed something to escape the time spent behind the desk each day. Schick decided to fulfill his need for speed by purchasing a 2012 Camaro SS convertible and letting the team at Big 3 Racing add a nice cam and header package that netted 12.80s at the track … but he wanted more.

After seeing some of the wicked NMCA True Street cars sitting in the shop at Big 3 racing, Schick decided that he wanted to step up his program and build a killer street car. The search began for a chassis to fit the project goals, and he located the rolling chassis needed at Solid Tech Performance in New Mexico, a car previously known as the “Land Shark”. Soon the Shark was in Ohio and began its transformation into a True Street class machine that would see a lot of cruising time on the weekends in Ohio.

Under the hood is a Big 3 Racing-built 408 cubic-inch LSX engine that uses an Eagle crankshaft, Arias pistons, and Eagle connecting rods for the rotating assembly. A set of GM 317 casting heads that were ported at Big 3 and use Brian Tooley Racing valvetrain parts to help the mighty motor breathe all the boosted air it can. Providing the boost is a BorgWarner S480 80mm turbo system built in-house at Big 3 Racing. Controlling all of the engine’s functions, adding the spark, and providing fuel is a full compliment of parts from Holley. This combination helps the Camaro make close to 1,000 horsepower, and has motivated it to a best elapsed time of 8.92 at over 153 mph.

You would think that a car of this caliber would have terrible street manners, but according to Schick the Camaro drives like a dream when it sees street duty, which is often. “ The car works well on the street and is easy to drive for a car with manual steering and no HVAC. The car never gets hot in traffic and has great balance no matter where I cruise to. It’s just a fun car to escape from my desk job.”

The Camaro went together fairly quick during the build process but is far from complete. Schick and the team at Big 3 continue to refine the car and make it faster for some much larger goals on the track. “I built this car to just have fun and race with my friends at the track on the weekends. I would like to have it be able to run an eight-second average in True Street trim at an NMCA event this year,” Schick explains.

After a few more winter upgrades, the plan is for the Camaro to hit a few street car shootouts in the Ohio region, and be back racing with the NMCA again at Indy, Norwalk, and Bowling Green. The car has already proven it’s more than able to run deep into the eight-second zone, now it comes down to doing it three times back-to-back.

Brian Schick’s Camaro is an example of what a street car can do when the build is thought out correctly and executed with a precise plan. The kind of strategy used on this Camaro is what makes it such a great car and will allow Schick to keep catching unsuspecting racers who think it’s just another F-body.