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To kick off our 2023 Engine of the Week slate, we have a build that was featured on both posters and t-shirts for the 2022 Builder’s Brawl drag race weekend last year. When we saw this car and engine in person, we instantly knew why it was prominently featured. Owned by Jamond Haug of Homewrecker Motorsports, this white with orange stripes 1969 Z28 Camaro showcases a sweet, supercharged, 526 cid Hemi engine.
We caught up with Jamond the morning of race day at the 2022 Builder’s Brawl to find out the details of his Hemi -powered Z28 Camaro, which we saw run during testing the evening before. Jamond owns Homewrecker Motorsports out of Rogersville, MO, which started in 2000 and, as he explained it, ‘is a group of guys who all have cars and pitch in to help each other race.’
“My brother has a 1963 Impala with a screw-blown Hemi in it,” Haug says. “We have a Studebaker called Frig, which we actually wrecked prior to Builder’s Brawl. It’s got a 540 cid screw-blown Hemi in it. Another one of our buddies has an S10 with a blown-alcohol small block. One of our crew guys here this weekend has got a twin-turbo ‘69 Camaro. Another guy has a Drag Week car. We all chip in and help each other. This weekend is my weekend, so we get to race this car.”
Haug has a long history of street cars and street racing, but he also has years of experience and knowledge from working on Top Fuel and Top Alcohol dragsters. Jamond started by working on Alan Hartley’s twin-engine Top Alcohol dragster at the age of just 14.
Louie Cavalieri saw that he had an interest in racing and took Haug under his wing and eventually was hired full-time. From there, Hartley purchased an A/Fuel combo from Tom Conway and that led to Haug getting experience with nitromethane. Clay Millican then hired Haug to work for him during his IHRA days while he still worked part-time for Hartley. Haug also worked with Scott Palmer, Alan Johnson, and a few other nitro teams over the years.
When it came to Jamond’s own car, the 1969 Camaro had a few different engines in it prior, but his latest powerplant is a supercharged 526 cid Hemi, which is anchored by a CN block and Brad Anderson 8X heads. Inside, the Hemi features a 4.150” stroke Bryant splined crank, 4.050” bore JE pistons, MGP connecting rods, Manton pushrods, and Victory valves.
“It’s pretty much a run-of-the-mill, just-like-everybody-else-has Hemi – nothing special,” Haug told us. “I used a lot of off-the-shelf, easy-to-get parts. Although, we did use a 65mm cam, which is more expensive because of the core. But, the Manton pushrods and Victory valves are just normal parts.”
Despite utilizing a number of “off-the-shelf” parts in the Hemi build, Haug told us his setup can crank out around 3,000 horsepower running on M1 fuel and a Whipple R980 supercharger. The Hemi also runs a wet sump oil system with an RCD oil pump and an old-school FRAM oil filter.
His expectations on the track for the weekend were to make several solid A to B passes and not wreck the Camaro by the end.
“The test and tune went pretty good,” he says. “The car’s early numbers are really good. It started to spin the tire at the gear change, so we’ll take a little power out there. The track is a little sketchy from probably 400 foot to the finish line. It’s still a 3,000-lb., all-steel car, so we don’t have the luxury of having a lightweight car and trying to get it down there. We just hope it goes A to B and comes back shiny. That’s our biggest care.”
We look forward to seeing Jamond’s Hemi-powered Camaro and other Homewrecker Motorsports’ cars in 2023!
Engine of the Week is sponsored by PennGrade Motor Oil, Elring – Das Original and NPW Companies. If you have an engine you’d like to highlight in this series, please email Engine Builder Editor Greg Jones at [email protected].
