COPO Camaro Races Pontiac Judge GTO in Pure Stock Drags
Pure Stock drag racing allows vintage muscle cars like the COPO Camaro and Judge GTO Ram Air IV to compete just like the old days.
Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Race events are just about as cool as it can get for vintage muscle car enthusiasts. The premise is simple; keep the cars as close to stock as possible. This allows folks to pair up their cars that are all original, just like they would have on the day they were new.
YouTube channel Cars and Zebras attended one of the PSMCDR events and found two cars that were setting pretty respectable times down the strip. One well known muscle car in the race is the top of the range GTO Judge. The host explains why this GTO was king of the hill. He says, “this specific Judge has the optional Ram Air IV engine.
And that’s putting out 370 horsepower and 445 pound feet of torque with a compression ratio of 10.75:1.” All of that power is sent through a four-speed manual gearbox. Pretty good stats for the Judge, then.
The Judge’s closest enemy was nestled within the GM ordering catalog though. COPO Camaros are now well known, but back in 1969 you had to know about their existence to order one. And what you got was a special order Camaro with a 427 cubic inch big block. Numbers for the Camaro were far better than the Judge, with 425 horsepower and 460 lb/ft of torque. Consistency will be on the Camaro’s side especially when it comes to the transmission. The host notes, “this car features the three-speed automatic, the TH400, which is ultra robust.”
Interestingly, both cars weigh approximately the same, and they are both running 4.10 rear gears. That should make the racing close, but there’s still some variables. The Camaro has a more consistent transmission, more power, but narrower tires. The Judge has better ratios but the driver has to be a master at launches to get the best 60ft. In all, both cars were in the 12’s. The Judge ran the 1/4 mile in 12.95, but the COPO Camaro took the Pure Stock win here with a 12.23. We’re just glad people are using these old machines as they were meant to be used!
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