For Release: Tuesday, June 26, 2012, 11 a.m. ET
Rick Hendrick Builds Custom Engine for 2012 COPO Camaro
Motorsports legend revved up about high-performance drag racing
WIXOM, Mich. – Rick Hendrick, owner of NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports and chairman of
Hendrick Automotive Group, built the engine for his 2012 COPO Camaro at General Motors’
Performance Build Center today, as part of Chevrolet’s series of customer engine build
experiences.
In 2011, Hendrick also took part in Chevrolet’s Corvette engine build experience.
“Last year’s Corvette engine build was such a memorable experience that I couldn’t pass up the
opportunity to do it again with a COPO Camaro. As a Chevy enthusiast and collector, it’s a real
privilege to do something like this,” Hendrick said. “I want to thank everyone at the Performance
Build Center for having me back. It means so much to spend time with people who share my
passion for cars and work so hard to produce some of the best engines in the world.”
In addition to the Corvette Engine Build Experience and COPO Engine Build Experience,
Chevrolet also has a Crate Engine Build Experience. These engine-building opportunities offer
customers the convenience and assurance of purchasing a factory-engineered performance
engine with the personal satisfaction of building one’s own engine for a project vehicle.
“Building an engine is a time-honored tradition in hot rodding, and this program allows
enthusiasts to enjoy that magical do-it-yourself feeling, while still enjoying the value of a GM
Powertrain-engineered and factory-warrantied engine,” said Jim Campbell, GM U.S. vice
president of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “For hands-on hot rodders, these programs
truly enable them to say they did it all when it came to building their project. There’s nothing else
like it in the industry.”
In March, Chevrolet announced it will build 69 COPO Camaros for 2012, the brand’s first
purpose-built Camaro drag-racing specialty car designed to compete with the quickest in
NHRA’s Stock Eliminator and Super Stock classes. National records for quarter-mile times in
these contests are in the nine-second range. As such, the COPO Camaros are expected to be
the quickest Camaros ever offered by Chevrolet.
“The COPO Camaro is going to shake up the sportsman drag racing ranks this summer and
give Chevy fans a great new reason to cheer on the Bowtie,” Campbell said. “COPO builds off
the strengths that have made the Camaro the best-selling sports car in America. And while it
was developed strictly for the drag strip, the COPO Camaro is infused with the same
performance pedigree that every Camaro shares.”
The 69-car production for the 2012 COPO Camaro matches the number of “ZL-1” COPO
Camaros made in 1969. COPO stands for Central Office Production Order and was Chevrolet’s
special-order system used by dealers to build high-performance models in the 1960s.
The new COPO Camaros will be built using factory “body-in-white” body structures produced at
the Oshawa, Ontario plant that manufactures regular-production Camaros. They are the same
body-in-white body shells available to all racers under Chevrolet Performance part number
19243374.
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world's largest car brands, doing business in
more than 140 countries and selling more than 4 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides
customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature spirited performance, expressive design, and high
quality. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
CONTACTS:
Tom Read
GM Technology Communications, Powertrain
248-496-0852
tom.read@gm.com
Jesse Essex
Hendrick Motorsports
704-455-3400
jessex@hmsracing.com