Getting back on the proverbial horse is often the only remedy for one to put a devastating incident in their rearview mirror. For veteran Outlaw 10.5 racer Joe Newsham, that horse comes in the form of a new (to him) 1992 Camaro that he and the J&E Performance crew are busy preparing for the upcoming 2010 season. Following a harrowing top-end crash at the Al-Anabi Shakedown at E-Town in Englishtown, NJ in November that left him with a cracked vertebrae, Newsham considered himself lucky to be alive and was already looking ahead to brighter days at the racetrack.
Video credit Arnie Cohen and jandeperformance.com
“There wasn’t any doubt that I wanted to race, it was just a matter of the financials. I’d probably have raced the next day if I’d been healthy enough,” he said laughing. “We know these things [crashes] can happen when we get in these cars. I had great safety equipment in the car and that’s the reason I’m still here to talk about it today. It could’ve been a lot worse.” The Camaro, acquired in recent weeks from former owner Elliot Thompson, was built by the late Leo Barnaby at Neverlift Motorsports and later updated by Vanishing Point Race Cars. Thompson wheeled the car to the 2006 NSCA Super Street championship, the last for the now-defunct series.
Power will come from the same 648 cubic inch, Brodix-headed bullet from the Mustang, which has undergone repairs following damage to the block, crankshaft, and intake in the crash. Twin 94mm Precisionturbochargers will continue to be utilized under the hood as well. The Rossler 400 transmission, which was also damaged, is being repaired at Rossler and will again transfer the monstrous horsepower. “Gary Naughton at K&K [Advanced Door Car Technologies] called and hooked us up with a killer deal on this car that came about from our situation with the crash,” said Newsham.
Little was salvageable from the feared Mustang – miscellaneous electronics, the parachutes, and wheelie bars. “It was quite an investment to lose like that.” The J&E team hopes to be up and running to begin testing by mid-March. Their tentative schedule for 2010 includes the Cecil County Street Car Shootout, Atco Raceway’s Quick 8 Series, 1320X Ultimate Street Car Shootout, and some of the major events such as the Shakedown and Orlando, among others. Joe captured the season titles in both 1320X and Atco Quick 8’s before the incident at Englishtown. He also has the Outlaw 10.5 crown at the 2008 Shakedown event and the 2008 ORSCA Outlaw 10.5 championship to his credit.
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