Terry Barkley’s New True 10.5/RvW Camaro Is An Absolute Head-Turner!

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As any drag racer can attest, one mustn’t look good to go fast, and as such, the fastest car isn’t often the best looking car in the field. But California native Terry Barkley defies all such statements, and next season, he’ll be hauling a ride all around the country that’s perfectly capable of winning the best appearing car award and the whole shebang at the same time at any given race.

photo 6Barkley, who calls Los Angeles home, has pulled the wraps off his new-to-him 2000 Chevrolet Camaro that’s both intimidating and flat out gorgeous all at the same time, with a jaw-dropping paint scheme and a blacked-out look to match. But any thought that Barkley ignored the performance and focused only on appearance are quickly washed away when you get a glimpse under the hood at the twin-turbocharged Hemi powerplant that pumps out enough power to hang with any radial tire racer in the nation.

More than two years ago, Barkley was involved in one of the wildest incidents in recent memory at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona during an NMCA WEST event, when his ’70 Chevy Nova plowed nose-first into the wall and ignited a massive fire that did considerable damage to the car.

“I decided after the crash to just dismantle the car, because I was thinking about changing my combo anyway. I’d been looking for a Camaro and found one in Florida, but everybody talked me out of it. I ended up buying Mike’s car, and spent about a year working on it.”

Originally built by Racecraft, Barkley purchased the car from New Mexico racer Mike Keenan and tasked LP Chassis in California to modify the chassis to include a double framerail layout. Once complete, the car spent nearly four months in the hands of famed painter Ryan “Ryno” Templeton of “Car Warriors’ and “Trick My Truck” fame, having the bodywork finished and then painted in a scheme virtually identical to Barkley’s Nova, with some spectacular airbrush work from front to rear. Barkley then touched it all off with blackout headlights and taillights, dark-tinted windows, and Billet Specialties black anodized Street-Lite wheels.

“Ryan is just an awesome, awesome painter. The pictures look great, but they just don’t do it any justice. When you’re looking at it up close, you see how he made the flames three-dimensional like they’re just standing off the car,” says Barkley.

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Barkley acquired a 500 cubic inch Brad Anderson Hemi from West coast Pro Modified racer Scott Oksas to power the car, pairing it up with a set of 88mm Precision turbos.

“That was a job in and of itself just to shoehorn that big Hemi motor in there,” Barkley told us. “But the car is basically Scott’s Pro Mod setup on a radial tire.”

The big mill will be backed up with a Rossler Turbo 400 with a ProTorque converter. With plenty of power on tap, and noted tuners Jason Lee and Patrick Barnhill of Part Time Performance manning the laptop, no doubt Barkley has all the pieces in place to hurt some feelings.

Barkley's former ride, a 1970 Chevrolet Nova, was heavily damaged in this crash and subsequent fire in Pomona in 2012.

On the left coast, Barkley will return to the True 10.5 ranks with the PSCA, WCHRA, and NMCA WEST, but shared that he will absolutely be in attendance at Donald Long’s Lights Out 6 in South Georgia in February to compete in Radial versus The World, and will be targeting other major east coast events throughout the season.

Said Barkley, “We’re going to do a lot of destination races, to hit events like Holly Springs and Georgia and the NMCA race in Norwalk. We’re really, really going to get around next season. I’ll be taking the car out east after PRI for some chassis work and leaving it there until Duck’s race, and then we’ll bring it back home and just travel back and forth for different races.”

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About the author

Andrew Wolf

Andrew has been involved in motorsports from a very young age. Over the years, he has photographed several major auto racing events, sports, news journalism, portraiture, and everything in between. After working with the Power Automedia staff for some time on a freelance basis, Andrew joined the team in 2010.
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