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Racers very rarely switch brands when it comes to their choice of car. They may swap years and models, but they will always be loyal to “their” brand. Adam and Isaac Preston have taken loyalty to a whole new level. As their racing careers have progressed, they have only driven one kind of car, a Chevrolet Camaro. Their new 1969 SS Camaro is the culmination of years of hard work and the desire to go extremely fast behind the wheel of a twin-turbo classic.
Photos by Brian Hogan and Brian Wagner
Adam and Isaac grew up as your classic track rat brotherly duo, since they spent nearly every weekend at the track as youngsters. They are third-generation racers, following in the footsteps of their father and grandfather, who both began racing as soon as they had their drivers licenses. “I started racing when I was about 15, and then Isaac started racing not too long after I did; it’s really a family thing for us,” Adam says.
When they did start racing, it was behind the wheel of their family’s 1983 Camaro–a car that would help push them to notoriety in the LSX racing world. The brothers began racing the F-body at local heads-up events and then made the jump to the next level after competing at LS Fest at Beech Bend Raceway in their home state of Kentucky. The brothers would start racing in the LSX Challenge series and won the Real Street class title four times in a span of five years.
During their title runs in Real Street, the brothers pressed a 2000 Camaro into service to replace their 1983 model and continued to win, but they really wanted to go faster, so they began laying the foundation to attain their goals.
“We had our old fourth-gen Camaro and did well with it, but that car was never built to go as fast as what it did. That car was set up to go 4.50s, and we were going low fours in it, and the car just wasn’t working right. I told Isaac that we needed to sell it and find something that was better suited for what we wanted to do. We put the car up for sale, and it actually sold quickly, so we needed to find a new car,” Adam says.
The search began for a worthy replacement Camaro, but it had to be something special, and luck would happen to shine on the Prestons during their search. “We always wanted a first-generation Camaro, so finding a ’69 on RacingJunk with the hideaway headlights for our racecar was perfect because that’s our favorite style. The car was an original 396 SS four-speed car. It had about 200 miles on it, so it has been a race car its entire life and was exactly what we wanted,” Adam explains.
We had our old fourth-gen Camaro and did well with it, but that car was never built to go as fast as what it did. – Adam Preston
After they returned to their shop, Adam and Isaac began the process of repairing the car and putting their own touches on it. “The car had to go on a chassis jig to get a whole new front clip built because of the wreck it was in, but we were able to get that issue fixed pretty easily. We also redid the entire back section of the car where the four-link was because the car originally was built to race Outlaw 10.5 and we wanted to make it Radial vs The World legal,” Adam explains.
Besides the chassis work, the Camaro needed a lot of body work to address issues from its crash. Adam and Isaac jumped right on that task and got to work making the Camaro’s exterior look amazing.
“We went to a friend’s house that had a 1969 Camaro that a tree fell on and cut the door jambs out and part of the windshield area, too. All of that went into our car to make it look stock and like it had never been wrecked before. We also put new quarter and rocker panels on the car to finish the body work. It was then was repainted a different shade of silver with a wicked set of black stripes to give it that old-school look,” Adam says.
The Prestons really wanted to keep the Camaro looking as close to a classic musclecar as possible and the paint was just a start. “The car still has most of the stock chrome trim and a factory front grill. We didn’t want to put bullhorn exhaust or anything else on it that would take away from that classic musclecar appearance unless it was necessary. The roof and firewall are still steel, and the only carbon on the outside of the car is the doors, decklid, and wing,” Adam explains.
Many in the radial tire community were left scratching their heads after Adam and Isaac sold their well-known 2000 Camaro and didn’t seem to have a replacement. There was a good reason for this as they wanted to keep this project top secret until it was ready, because they wanted the Camaro to be perfect when it debuted in 2017.
“When we first got this car we didn’t want anybody to know we had it or what our plans were. The car was torn up pretty bad, so we didn’t post any pictures of the build. Isaac and I basically had to rebuild the entire car except for the main cage due to the wreck it had been in, so that was a lot of work. We changed the suspension, did all the turbo plumbing, and pretty much nothing was left alone when we got the car to get it ready. We wanted it to be right when the car hit the track, so we really didn’t tell anybody what the plan was,” Adam says.
After the chassis and bodywork was complete, a BES-built 540 cubic-inch Chevrolet based mill was bolted between the front fenders. Inside, the Brodix block sports a rotating assembly that uses a Bryant crank, Diamond Pistons, and GRP connecting rods. A custom Moroso oil pan and wet sump oiling system keep the big motor nice and lubricated each time it’s started.
For cylinder heads, a set of aluminum Brodix BB2’s were added to the motor after BES worked their magic on them. A custom solid-roller camshaft from Comp Cams was used with a set of 1.7 ratio T&D rocker arms to round out the valvetrain. Bringing the boosted air into the engine is an Edelbrock intake manifold and 105 mm throttle body from Wilson.
The fueling needs for this engine are quite stout, so an Aeromotive belt drive fuel pump and Weldon fuel regulator are used to keep the 225-pound injectors filled with enough gas. Providing the spark for the engine is a Holley ignition box and coil that works with the Holley EFI system that Isaac tunes himself.
Providing the exhaust needed to drive the twin Gen 2 94 mm Precision turbos is a set of 2 1/8- inch headers built by the Prestons at NEXT Motorsports. The turbo kit that was fabricated by Adam uses 3 1/2-inch tubing for the cold side, 4-inch for the hot side, and a healthy 5-inch tube for the downpipe. A ProCharger blow off valve and Tial wastegate help to keep the 50 pounds of boost in check, while a Precision intercooler helps keep the incoming air nice and cold.
Behind the BES engine is a RPM Transmissions two-speed Turbo 400 and a 6,000 stall PTC torque converter. To help the big turbos spool, RPM added a custom dump valve setup to the transmission before Isaac shifts the Camaro’s gears with a TCI shifter. To date, the car has run a best of 3.96 at 197 mph at Atlanta Dragway in Radial Wars trim with Isaac behind the wheel.
Power from the RPM Transmissions is transferred to the Fab 9-inch rearend via a 4-inch chrome-moly driveshaft. The rearend uses a 3.90 gear set, Strange Engineering spool, and Moser axles to put the 3,800 horsepower to the ground the big-block Chevy produces. A custom 4-link rear suspension works with a pair of Menscer Motorsports shocks and AFCO springs to keep the Camaro planted to the track. Up front, a full custom chrome moly suspension uses a set of Santhuff shocks to handle the dampening duties.
Inside the 25.2 certified rollcage, either Adam or Isaac are held in place by a set of Impact seat belts as they monitor the Camaro’s vitals via the RacePak dash. To help remove weight from the car, a full carbon fiber interior has been used in place of the stock steel panels.
Getting this car built to this level took some serious help according to Adam, and both he and Isaac are grateful for the support they received. “To race at this level, it takes the help from great companies. People like Rodney Massengale of RPM transmissions, Tony Bischoff and Nick Bacalis of BES racing engines, Kenny Ford of PTC, Joe Krivickas of Precision Turbo, Brandon and Terry Perkins of Grayson County Auto Collision, and our families all helped out so much to make this happen.”
The Prestons aren’t done yet with the modifications to the car and hope to make some changes that will help improve their performance.
“We’re still learning the car, so it’s a process to get it where we want, and the car has gotten faster each time. The plan is to convert it over to alcohol since it’s 200 pounds overweight to run on gas. That will be a new learning curve by trying to mess with it on alcohol, but it will be worth it to cut the weight off the car and get it to 60-foot better,” Adam says.
Adam and Isaac Preston may have raced a few different Camaros, but this 1969 SS is truly the best one yet. The attention to detail and desire to keep the classic musclecar lines shows in almost every detail. Their Camaro not only looks fast, it has the ability to back that appearance up every time it hits the track.
