Van Geibel’s Seven-Second Camaro Is A Stunner And A Runner

VAN-LEAD

 

Having a passion for powerful and pristine cars is common for people who live in and around Detroit, which was nicknamed the Motor City in homage to its strength in automobile manufacturing. With pride, they daily-drive them, cruise them, show them, and race them. Among them is Van Geibel of nearby Almont, Michigan, who has long had an affinity for naturally-aspirated engine combinations.

IMG_9619He decided in 2006 to buy a highly-modified 1969 Camaro from a seller in Illinois, and while its green paint didn’t speak to him, its big-block Chevy engine and Turbo 400 transmission did. A week after taking delivery of it, he headed to Milan Dragway in Michigan and entered the ‘Run What Ya Brung’ class as part of the track’s Heads Up Racing Series, which is held on the first Friday of each month, May through October.

“I entered ‘Run What Ya Brung’ just to see what the car would run and what I would need to do for it to be competitive in the series’ All Motor class, because that’s where I really wanted to be,” said Geibel, who got his answer after trapping a series of 9.70s.IMG_9563

After adjusting the car’s alignment, he headed to Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, two weeks later to test. There, he laid down 9.40s and in 2007, began working around-the-clock to strip his Camaro of everything but its roof and firewall and delivered the car to Joe Greene at Top Gun Motorsports—now called Outlaw Fab Worx—to have the cage upgraded.

IMG_9196“Joe replaced the mild steel cage with a chrome moly cage, and set the car up so that it could have ladder bar or four-link suspension,” said Geibel. “He basically had to rebuild it from the ground up, and I got it back in the spring of 2008.”

After outfitting the car with aftermarket rear quarter panels, doors, rockers, floors, fenders and a hood, Geibel delivered it to XXX Customs to have Electron Blue Metallic paint laid, then purchased a previously-used 598 cubic-inch Chevy engine and delivered it to Advanced Product Design (APD) in Genoa, Ohio, to have it inspected and dyno-tuned. But he decided to sell it before it could be introduced to his Camaro’s engine bay and hired APD to build him a 665 cubic-inch Chevy engine.

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“I had asked John Kyle at APD what they could do to upgrade the 598, and in his opinion, I would be further ahead to have a new engine built rather than upgrading the existing one,” said Geibel. “He used GRP rods, Diamond pistons, Brodix heads, a Brodix cast intake and an APD 1150 Dominator carburetor. Once I had the engine and the car back, I got busy wiring, plumbing and assembling it, and I installed a Powerglide transmission and Coan converter. QC Coatings powder-coated basically anything that unbolted from the car.”

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Geibel’s current combination includes a 694 cubic-inch engine on a Brodix block featuring a five-inch bore space, Brodix heads, APD-fabricated sheetmetal intake and an APD 1250 Dominator carburetor.

By July of 2008, Geibel—and his meticulously-crafted Camaro—were on their way to Milan Dragway to test and tune, and by evening’s end, their elapsed times were down to the high eights. Content with that, he decided to return to the track the following day to join the Heads Up Racing Series’ All Motor ranks.

“I immediately liked the All Motor class because of its original intent, which was for the cars to be stock-appearing,” said Geibel. “Plus, I liked seeing how much horsepower and elapsed time you could get out of a naturally aspirated car.”

I immediately liked the All Motor class because of its original intent, which was for the cars to be stock-appearing. – Van Geibel

After blistering the track with more high 8-second elapsed times, he qualified in the third spot and powered through to the semifinal.

“Rather than making any changes to the car or the combination after that, we spent time just sorting out what we had, and we went to another test session a month later,” said Geibel. “I had Gary Dudas helping me tune the engine and the chassis, and the car was getting quicker and quicker.”

That year, Geibel had an 8.60s tune in his car, but during a test session just before the final All Motor race of the season in October, his engine kicked a rod, which exited in spectacular fashion through the Brodix aluminum block. While it was deemed repairable, Geibel decided to purchase a new Brodix aluminum block, as well as a new set of GRP rods and Diamond pistons, and hired APD to rebuild it using the same Brodix heads, Brodix cast intake and APD 1150 Dominator carburetor. Meanwhile, he had finished in an impressive third place in All Motor points after taking part in just three events.

“The hurt block is now a chunk of metal that a lot of my friends borrow to use as a mock-up for their engines,” Geibel said with a laugh.

He came out with guns blazing in 2009 and zipped to 8.40s after further tuning and a move from the Powerglide to a self-built Turbo 400. He went on to earn the All Motor class championship that year as well in 2010.

“In 2010, to fit the rules, I changed from the Brodix cast intake to a cast tunnel ram by APD,” said Geibel. “They had taken a ProFiler intake and modified it to fit the engine, and it picked me up a little.”

At the end of the 2012 season, Geibel laid down a 7.94 in All Motor competition at Milan Dragway, making him the first person to dip into the sevens in the class.

At the end of the 2012 season, Geibel laid down a 7.94 in All Motor competition at Milan Dragway, making him the first person to dip into the sevens in the class

For 2011, he decided to move from the 665 cubic-inch engine to an APD-built 694 cubic-inch bullet on a Brodix block featuring a five-inch bore space, a different set of Brodix heads, an APD-fabricated sheetmetal intake and an APD 1250 Dominator carburetor. At the same time, he replaced his existing headers with fabricated headers by Ernie Miyamoto at Motofab. The result was 8-teens. While APD freshened the engine for the 2012 season, no major changes were made, and it continued to propel Geibel and his car to low eight-second passes.

IMG_9519“I kept trying different converters and rear gears to figure out what would help the car to go even faster,” said Geibel, who builds and repairs performance transmissions for a living. “In fact, I had five different Coan, ATI, FTI and Neal Chance converters in the car at six different races. That’s how badly I wanted to see what would pick me up further.”

In addition, he delivered the car to Team Z Motorsports in Taylor, Michigan, where owner Dave Zimmerman examined the chassis and suggested some changes to the ladder bar and shock settings to help the car launch more efficiently; and it helped, as the car went from averaging 1.22 in the 60-foot to averaging 1.19. At the end of that season, he laid down a whopping 7.98 while testing at Milan, followed the next day by a 7.94 in competition in the All Motor class, with the Neal Chance converter and 4.10 gearing in the car’s rearend. That made him the first person to dip into the sevens in the class. He also earned the 2012 All Motor class championship.

“We had finally gotten somewhere and accomplished something,” said Geibel, who apparently doesn’t give himself as much credit as other people do, as friends and fellow drivers thought he had long ago “gotten somewhere and accomplished something.”

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According to friend and fellow competitor Butch Kemp, Geibel carefully studies his combination and his chassis in an attempt to consistently be at the front of the pack on race day.

After having his engine freshened over winter, Geibel headed back for more in 2013, but couldn’t get the car—which was by then wearing wheelie bars—to lay down another 7-second pass. Instead, it settled into the 8.10 zone and wouldn’t clock anything faster than 8.03. He had his engine freshened again for the 2014 season, and was ready to roll by the second All Motor class race.

“Unfortunately, I had fuel-related issues at that race and the race after that, but by the time the race in August rolled around, I had figured out a few things and got the car back into the sevens with a 7.97 by changing how we were applying power, and by changing launch rpm and shift points,” said Geibel. He proceeded to go as quick as 7.90 and 173 mph but was still somewhat frustrated by what he feels was a lackluster season and a sixth place finish in 2014 All Motor class points.

IMG_9637With his sights set on going even quicker and laying down 7.70s in the All Motor class, Geibel—who receives help from his family and friends, including Rick Dodge, Gary Dudas, Doug Wright, Butch Kemp and Mike Pustelney of MPR Race Cars—recently took his engine to Tony Bischoff at BES Racing Engines in Guilford, Indiana.

The well-known engine builder combed through it in search of more horsepower and returned it to Geibel, who’s keeping mum on the specifics but promptly headed to his first race of the season, the Heads Up Racing Series at Milan Dragway, on July 3 and laid down a personal best of 7.85 on his way to a runner-up finish at 4 a.m. Then, at his second race of the season, back at Milan on August 7, he earned a trip to the winner’s circle after giving the track as much horsepower as it would take and trapping an 8.15. While he’s pleased, he plans to further finesse the combination to coax even more horsepower and lower elapsed times from it.

IMG_9250

Geibel’s “NO NOS” license plate serves to let everyone know that his Camaro cruises to sevens without the aid of nitrous, or any other power adder, for that matter.

“I’ve known Van for more than twenty five years, and he would bend over backwards to help out in any situation, whether it’s car-related or not,” said Butch Kemp, the reigning Milan Dragway All Motor champion. “As a competitor, I get the most amped up to race him because we’re such good friends, and because he basically does everything in his power to make his program the best that it can be. That’s why he has multiple championships and many wins.”

About the author

Mary Lendzion

Formerly a writer at the Detroit Free Press, Mary Lendzion writes for Power Automedia, NMCA and NMRA, is the director of media and public relations for Summit Motorsports Park and is happiest in the driver’s seat of her Mustang.
Read My Articles

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