General Motors has announced that in stock form, the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS along with the 2017 Camaro 1LE and ZL1 are all covered under warranty should anything go wrong while you are partaking in some track action. In other words, if you break something while racing on a drag strip or road course with your 6th gen Camaro, the factory warranty will cover the repair.
While the details on what modifications (if any) you can get away with and still be considered stock under the conditions of the factory warranty, those folks with the new Camaro SS, Camaro 1LE or Camaro ZL1 in showroom-stock form will be able to hit the drag strip or road course with the confidence that the dealership will fix anything that breaks while on the track.
While General Motors offered a similar coverage program on the 5th generation Camaro ZL1 and Z28 as well as a variety of Corvettes over the years, this new program expands to the SS and 1LE models – and the entire program is relatively unheard of in the industry. Historically, if a dealership has even the slightest inkling that you have been racing, they will go to great lengths to prevent doing any of the work under the terms of the warranty. Decades back, dealerships would go so far as to have representatives visit their local drag strip on the weekend, where they would record the license plate and VIN number of newer cars which may have been purchased at their dealership. From there, if the owners of any of those cars came in, the dealership would refuse warranty service.
Fortunately, things have changed a great deal since those days and General Motors wants to show that they are confident in the durability and track capabilities of their V8 muscle cars. It is unclear right now whether new Camaro owners can get away with a modification like more track-purposed tires, since those aren’t likely to cause damage to other components, but we can expect that any non-GM Performance Parts which add power will kill the warranty. That being said, we can expect that any go-fast goodies offered in the GM Performance Parts catalog will maintain the warranty, but that is purely speculation.
In any case, the good news is that if you have a stock 2016 Camaro SS or if you are planning to pick up a new 1LE or ZL1 in the next year – you can take any of them to the drag strip with warranty protection.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.
"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.
"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
