WATCH NOW: Brett Newell's Reaction To His Steel Body 1969 Camaro Updated By RJ Race Cars

Listen to Brett Newell's reaction when he first sees all the updates completed by RJ Race Cars to his steel body 1969 Camaro. Like many racers at the racetrack, in pursuit of going quicker Brett began having traction and handling issues with his beloved '69 Camaro. A combination of age, wear and tear, and the stress of more and more horsepower led to several chassis related issues that he was battling with the car. When Brett decided to take action he called on Rick and Rickie Jones and the team at RJ Race Cars and Quarter-Max Chassis & Racing Components to help him find a solution.

The car was transported from Florida to RJ Race Cars' facility located in Galesburg, IL. Upon arrival the team at RJ conducted a thorough inspection of the car and all of its suspension and safety components. What they saw was a really nice car, that just needed to be updated with stronger components to handle the stress of the power and the weight being applied to it. At 3000 lbs and 1800+HP, the upgrades included a whole new rear suspension from Quarter-Max, including a 2" splined anti-roll bar, 4-link brackets with doubler plates, 1-5/8" 4-link bars and rod ends, custom fabricated floater rear end housing with billet adjustable shock mounts, axles, brakes, wishbone with 1-1/4" slide tube and billet mounts, wheelie bars, chassis X bracing, and a new larger safety window net.

After fabrication, paint, and assembly was finished, what followed was a complete chassis setup which included the 4-link, shocks, struts, ride heights, ballast adjustments, scale sheet, and front end alignment. In order to tune the chassis better at the racetrack, a front ride height laser sensor along with shock travel sensors in the front and rear were added to the car's existing Racepak data system. The new sensors were installed on the car and then programmed into Brett's laptop while he was here on site. The end result is that Brett's car is now beautifully updated with all of the suspension components needed to be solid, safe, and consistent, with the adjustability and the data required to manage all that power between the frame rails. With the car back home in Florida, Brett is now excited to get out to the racetrack! Watch now to see the transformation!

“This car showcases what we do — that we don’t just build Pro Mods, but that we can take cars like this and work on them,” Jones continues. “The customer was actually hesitant to call us and ask, because the thought we were builders for Pro Stock and Pro Mod cars and that he was just a nobody. He said, ‘you probably don’t even want to work on my car,’ and I said, ‘no way, we absolutely want to work on it.’ There were a few things that were starting to fail on it, so we went through and updated everything that we saw a need for. This car is like his baby, and a lot of racers are they way…their car is them. They want to enjoy it, they want to keep it, and he was at a point that it was no longer fun because he was struggling. And the last thing you want to do is get frustrated and not want to go racing and sell the car you love. And we love working on those cars, to make them safer and more reliable.”

Quarter-Max Parts List

• Anti-Roll Bar https://quartermax.com/extreme-pro-series-2-splined-anti-roll-bar-kit-universal/
• Four-link brackets (customized/modified it to fit his frame) https://quartermax.com/extreme-pro-series-4-link-chassis-brackets-4130/
• Four-Link Bars https://quartermax.com/extreme-series-4-link-bar-kit-1-5-8/
• Custom Floater Rear End Housing https://quartermax.com/rj-pro-4130-custom-9-fabricated-floater-housing/
• Billet Adjustable Shock Mounts https://quartermax.com/billet-adjustable-double-shear-shock-mounts-3-4-wide/
• Extreme Wishbone 1-1/4 https://quartermax.com/extreme-pro-series-wishbone-kit-1-1-4-slide-tube/
• Wheelie Bars https://quartermax.com/80-pro-mod-double-x-wheelie-bar-welded/