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As the eldest of three siblings, Jim Laurita grew up with a keen interest in taking things apart to see if he could put them back together again.
“Our family’s been in the coal mining business for about 65 years, and I’m the third generation to run the business,” Laurita says. “I’ve been running the business for the family now for about 25 years. We produce coal, and were instrumental in building one of the most modern and most efficient coal-fired power plants in the country.”
Lest you think that the mining industry is filled with stooped coal miners carrying a pickax and a shovel while pushing a mine cart filled with dynamite, Laurita assures us that’s not the case today. In fact, the mechanized machinery used in the mines of today plays right into his fascination. Automation, radio-controlled Continuous Miners, and other high-tech equipment are used to help provide the energy needed to power America’s homes.
Jim Laurita’s Camaro is a stunner from every angle.
In addition to supplying some of the nation’s energy through coal, the company is also heavily invested in the natural gas industry, both from the production side and also on the service side, where they contract their services to a number of local energy businesses.
“Our business is here local in the Appalachians, but where the energy goes is far-reaching – it travels across the United States,” Laurita says.
His mechanical attraction was apparent from a young age, and the family business allowed him to nurture this obsession.
“As my parents were watching the Ed Sullivan Show, I’d be sitting on the floor watching with them, but I was the kid with the Erector set building things. I can’t sit still – I have to be doing something,” he says.
Jim Laurita relies on Reher-Morrison power controlled by MoTec engine management and injected with nitrous. The engine program is tuned by crew chief Brandon Switzer of Switzer Dynamics.
“I was the kid who loved mechanical things, and I’ve always had an aptitude for that. I’m a mining engineer with a degree from West Virginia University, and all of my interests in our businesses – and my hobbies – have tended to be mechanical in nature,” Laurita says. “I’ve liked tinkering with vehicles since before I could even drive, and my hobby has been drag racing for many decades.”
What started as a quest for more power in a youngster’s hot rod – with the installation of a Holley carburetor, headers, and a new camshaft – has spiraled into a seat behind the wheel of the insane Pro Nitrous Camaro you see here, complete with the Tim McAmis chassis treatment and Switzer Dynamics finishing touches.
McAmis’ signature quality is revealed in every component.
Business, however, always comes first. It’s not abnormal to consider that Laurita’s workload with such varied interests might become difficult to manage at times, and you’d be right. In fact, this Camaro was completed at the end of 2014 and tested with Tim McAmis himself behind the wheel, but due to business needs, Laurita had to park it virtually right away to focus on those during the 2015 season.
This is the third car McAmis has built for Laurita (he’s also owned a ‘70.5 Camaro and ’63 Corvette) and is all business, designed to do one thing with a minimum of drama – rocket down the dragstrip as quickly as possible. The construction of the car was largely left up to McAmis and Brandon Switzer to develop; with Laurita’s trust in both men the team feels they’ve developed a car that will run right to the head of the pack.
Two angles of the backfire deflector plate – this is designed to save the windshield in the event of a nitrous hiccup.
Maximizing Performance
Jim’s car is a unique project, because we weren’t bound by any budget limitations or constraints on ideas. – Tim McAmis
“I liked this setup, and wanted to run one of Tim’s cars and start from scratch to build a car that’s special for me. I had a lot of smart people working on this car as far as the design and execution,” Laurita says.
Between Laurita, McAmis, Switzer, and Chris Bell of Kinetic Engineering, the Camaro was designed to be a race car built with no compromises.
“I had run various automatic transmissions in the ’70 Camaro from 2010 thru 2011, and was more than a bit disappointed in their performance, or their quality. In late 2011, I started down the road working with Carl Rossler and Marty Chance of Neal Chance Racing Converters on building a lockup transmission and converter,” Laurita says.
“Carl was well known for building high quality and reliable transmissions, and he was willing to take the journey with me to build a lockup three-speed. He recommended that we use Marty Chance to build the converter, and Marty was excited to begin building a lock up. We spent 2011 and 2012 prototyping the lock up TH400 and converter,” he continued. “Anyone who has prototyped knows there will be a learning curve and you have to stick with it. The lockup systems began working very well, and it was the first time I was able to break into the 3.70’s at nearly 198 mph using an 855 Reher Morrison engine combined with Switzer induction and nitrous systems.”
Big scoop, big-block, big power.
Based on this previous successful experience with the Turbo 400 and Chance lockup converter, and despite Laurita’s enjoyment of driving the clutch-equipped combination, when the decision was made to go PDRA Pro Nitrous racing for 2016, the car was updated to make use of the Rossler/Chance package to give Laurita the best chance to win.
“There’s a lot of thought that went into every component. From the stance of the car, to its ground clearance, to the four-link settings. The main purpose is to go out there and win, and we wanted a car that functionally is a cut above everything else out there. We went all-out to fix a lot of things that we thought were shortcomings,” Laurita says.
“Jim’s been a customer of mine for many years. Brandon and I had talked for years and years about getting together on a car that we could do everything we wanted with no limitations,” McAmis says. “That all came into play with this car. Jim wanted to build a new car and told us to do what we wanted to make it the best it can be. It’s a unique project because we weren’t bound by any budget limitations or constraints on ideas.”
The Parts And Pieces
Laurita’s Camaro relies on a 948 cubic-inch engine from the team at Reher-Morrison Racing Engines; it features the latest and greatest in secret-squirrel technology for the Pro Nitrous class.
Wide-set twin parachutes are operated by a single handle and cable system.
Switzer displays his talents throughout the engine’s peripheral components. Switzer Dynamics designed and built the intake manifold, the nitrous and fuel systems, and even the headers and exhaust. Switzer tells us that the team has several header and exhaust combinations to run at when specific conditions are present, and even at different times of the day to maximize downforce and engine performance. Engine management is handled by a MoTec system tuned by Switzer, who imparts his years of nitrous system testing and development knowledge into the MoTec programming.
McAmis did his part to develop a number of items designed to improve performance, fitment, and package simplicity.
The clutch and brake pedals feature a large shaft diameter and high spline count to provide maximum strength and zero deflection. This means that there’s zero play from the pedal all the way through the component it activates. Billet ignition coil rails were developed to simplify the mounting process for those components, and a parachute cable splitter was created to allow Laurita to save some weight and activate both parachutes from a single cable and handle; no area was left uninspected during the blueprint process of creating this state-of-the-art machine.
“There were lots of things about this car that were done differently than we might in another instance. Every car that we do is custom for each customer’s needs or wants,” says McAmis.
“With this car, there are some things in the setup that were specific to ideas that haven’t been done before; how the chassis is set up, the ride height, the four-link, and the shock package. The car has a combination of ideas from years and years of working on these types of cars.”
A view of the driver’s compartment. Note the drilled steering column for reduced weight.
With the large hit of nitrous on-board, the McAmis team also created its own Burst Panel hood scoop with a carbon insert to work with the throttle body EFI system, and built a firewall-located scoop backfire deflector plate to prevent any potential damage to the windscreen in the event of an issue.
Underneath the car, one of TMRC’s billet rear end housings has been incorporated; this piece features each of the company’s latest bells and whistles to ensure that Laurita is working with current technology. This work of art is manufactured from 6061-T6 hardened aluminum alloy and has been designed as a no-compromises piece.
No words are necessary here. This is, simply put, a work of art.
Laurita is quick to credit his entire team for the creation of the car, and is looking forward to getting it on-track with Switzer tickling the keys on the laptop. Switzer, for his involvement, is proud to be associated with Laurita, Bell, and the McAmis clan during the creation process for this car.
“With typical cars, in order to make them work, sometimes you have to set the car up a certain way, or do things that create compromises. We took a list of about 100 of those things and made all of them exactly the way we wanted them to be to remove the compromises,” Switzer says.
(Left) The team was weight-conscious throughout the entire build; although this car does not make use of a titanium tail-section like other lightweight chassis cars have in the recent part, each component was selected carefully. (Right) Switzer tells us that the team has several different exhaust systems, and the system on the car at any given time is tailored to elevation, time of day, track conditions, and more.
“We’re not into whistles, and bells, and gadgets. When you build something correctly, you break it down to basic physics, and you fix it at that level. All of those bells and whistles are to fix a shortcoming somewhere, and if you break the project down into math, physics, and trigonometry, then the bandaids aren’t necessary.”
Soon enough, it will be apparent whether these efforts have paid dividends, as Laurita is currently planning to make his debut with this Camaro at the PDRA’s Rockingham stop for 2016. We look forward to seeing the slippery Chevrolet inhaling plenty of nitrous and shooting for record-setting elapsed times!
