After decades of wishful thinking, months of speculation, and just weeks of swirling rumors and anticipation, every drag racing fan’s dream rolled out of a giant wooden crate, bearing only the markings “P/N 20129562,” in the Las Vegas Convention Center parking lot, on the eve of the annual SEMA Show. And while the COPO Camaro concept was certainly the dream come true for Chevrolet fans everywhere, it was what this hashed-together race car signified that made it’s unveiling such a big deal.

In late 2007, Chrysler made a huge splash in the automotive market when they unveiled the third generation Dodge Challenger, which featured body lines and a stance impressively similar to the Challengers of the early 1970’s. With a concept already in place, “Big Daddy” Don Garlits and Judy Lilly debuted the Drag Pak Challenger factory-built race cars in July of 2008 at Bandimere Speedway in Denver, marking the first vehicle of its kind in decades. Just months later, Ford revealed its Ford Mustang Cobra Jet at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, which made its glorious debut in Pomona in 2009 as John Calvert drove Brent Hajek’s FR500CJ to the winners circle. Both cars have been improved with each model year offering, and both have taken the NHRA Stock and Super Stock ranks by storm. Ford and Chrysler were back in drag racing with a vengeance, and the racing community loved it. But all that remained to complete the holy trinity was participation from the General.

Just two years after the famed Chevrolet Camaro made its triumphant return to the automotive market following a seven-year hiatus, the team at Chevrolet under a cloak of secrecy, began assembling their early concept for a fifth-generation, factory-built Camaro race car to complete alongside the Challenger and the Mustang to satisfy its legion of fans. And with its unveiling in Las Vegas and what the drag racing world hopes to soon be its production, the final piece of the puzzle will be complete, and something that those who lived through the factory-involved era of the 1960’s were sure they’d never see again, will become a reality.

The difference between the original factory drag wars and factory drag wars 2.0, however, is that class racing – that being Super Stock and Stock – is sadly no longer the grand stage that it was in the 1960’s. During that era, class racers were as well known coast-to-coast as the top nitro competitors with major race bookings and front cover features in HOT ROD, Car Craft, and the like. For Detroit’s Big Three to step out on a financial limb as they have to deliver this flashback to the glory days, only to compete in virtual obscurity in a bracket racing format is a complete disservice to their efforts and the opportunity this situation presents. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as a big a fan of Stock and Super Stock racing as you’ll find, but these cars simply deserve more.

Brand pride and loyalty of fans is what drove the overflowing and historic popularity of class racing in the 60’s, and believe it or not, this same element is still alive and well in gearheads of every generation today. We have nearly 100,000 followers on Facebook whose daily comments and responses prove that as fact. Sure, the national love affair with the automobile has waned in the last half-century, but Ford enthusiasts still want to see a Mustang best a Camaro or a Challenger, and likewise for the fans of the other brands.

While this seemingly improbable opportunity exists, the drag racing world and the manufacturers need to take full advantage of it, and a premier stage for which they can compete heads-up in a classic, my brand versus yours battle is the only way to appropriately showcase these machines. Be it the NHRA or another series or promoter, there’s a goldmine here if done right and promoted – emphasis on the done right and promoted.

The road version of these late model muscle cars that the factories have re-produced for drag racing are incredibly popular on the road – despite a national average gas price of $3.69 per gallon as of this writing, Americans are scooping up more of these gas-slurping muscle cars than hybrids. And with the 20-30 age and 40-plus demographics both gobbling them up, there are in essence two or more generations of muscle car-loving men and women with a keen interest in the outer limits of the automobile, and in no place is that more evident than drag racing.

Not only can such a battle between the brands create a buzz around drag racing, but the possibility of bringing new fans into the sport is almost assured. Tell me where you’ve heard this before; but fans want to see cars that they can relate to, and when the cars on the track are little more than the one in your driveway with bolt-on or minor modifications, there’s plenty to relate to.

Unfortunately, these cars will never attract the attention they deserve at NHRA divisionals or as unpromoted “also-rans” in the early morning and late evening at national events in index/bracket-based classes that even some hardcore fans don’t fully understand. They deserve something bigger, and bigger is what we can only hope will keep the factories involved for many years to come.