When JC Beattie Jr. isn’t running the family business, ATI Performance Products, you can find him in or under both his own race cars and those of his many customers at the track. The second-generation racer is as serious about the sport as they come, and he’ll race anytime, anywhere. In addition to his Drag Pak Dodge Challenger stocker, Beattie Jr. runs his Chevrolet COPO Camaro in the NHRA Super Stock ranks. However, after more than a year of work and planning, he debuted his Camaro at the NMCA Finals in the Chevrolet Performance Challenge Series Holley EFI Real Street, and in Ultra Street at the recent Yellow Bullet Nationals with a new combination designed for heads-up, small-tire racing.

Beattie and his ATI-sponsored COPO Camaro went to the semis of both the NMCA Finals and the Yellow Bullet Nationals.

His COPO Camaro shows its diversity thanks to a Precision Racing Technologies’ 388-inch LS-based engine with LS3 heads and a custom cam to make the most of the car’s Whipple high-helix style supercharger. At the NMCA Finals, Beattie kept tuning on the car, starting in the 8.20s, but he was able to whittle that time down into the 7.90s. Those times enabled him to make it to the semifinals., and the car’s diversity also paid dividends at the Yellow Bullet Nationals, as well, with another semifinal round appearance in the ever-tough Ultra Street category. His best pass in Ultra Street trim at the Yellow Bullet Nationals was a 4.95 at 144 mph.

Beattie Jr. ran a 4.5L Whipple blower with the NMCA, and a smaller 4.0L in Ultra Street. The Norwalk event was his first with 275 drag radials on the car.

At Norwalk, one of ATI’s Turbo 400s was in the car for the 1/4-mile, while a ‘Glide was swapped in for the Yellow Bullet Nationals and the 1/-mile distance. He swapped out the low gear in the ‘Glide to get the car to run quicker, but in the semis the cars’ front end headed to the sky a little too much for Beattie’s liking, so he had to pedal it, costing him a chance at advancing to the final.

No matter, we’re sure he’ll be back at it soon enough and knocking on that first race victory.