Believe it or not, this kick-ass Camaro RS is the first car Jason Bottenfield ever drove. It’s also the first car he ever owned. Purchased in the spring of 1993, this 1969 Chevy Camaro was intended to be the aspiring gearhead’s daily beater in high school. But as with many long-term builds, the Camaro eventually evolved into something far greater.

From a very young age, Jason was always down at the Texaco gas station on historic Route 66 that his family owned. Goofing around, washing windows, learning about routine maintenance, and picking up on shop slang were just a few of the many memories from that era. Inspiration came from every angle, as the daily operations down at the Texaco station and all of the cars and stories that came with it caused young Mr. Bottenfield to develop a deep love for all things automotive.

Blessed With the Best… The Mighty Camaro RS 

From a very young age, Jason was into building cars. Model cars, to be precise. Recognizing his son’s interest in automobiles, Jason’s father continued to buy one model kit after another. Engine, wheels, front-end components, suspension, brakes, and more. It was all painstakingly explored by the boy.

As he grew older, Jason began to occasionally customize his model cars. The keystone moment was when Jason cut the hood of a ‘69 Camaro model to fit a blower from another model kit. Jason adored the bulging fender flares and body lines of the ‘69 Camaro so much that he began to focus almost exclusively on Camaro model cars from that era, with the occasional ‘67 Chevelle thrown in for good measure.

As for how Jason ended up with a full-size ‘69 Camaro, that has not so much to do with the model kits as it did with what his father didn’t own. The guy always had slick rides, with a ‘57 Chevy and a ‘73 Z28 being two of the most memorable, but never was there a ‘69 Camaro in the garage.

So when Jason began to get close to his sixteenth birthday, the two set out in search of a ’69 Camaro project car. Jason wanted a Z28 because all the models he had as a kid were Z’s. While looking at a certain Z roller, a ’69 RS tribute, in the back of the seller’s shop caught the eye of Jason’s father. It was a LeMans Blue V8 Coupe, and upon closer inspection, it stole the hearts of both Bottenfield men. With its hideaway headlights, the RS looked way cooler than the Z28, and Jason knew he had found his dream machine.

On the downside, while it may have been deemed “drivable” at the time, Jason’s whip needed some serious TLC. This was precisely what Jason and his father wanted, though, for sourcing parts and turning wrenches together was the sort of challenge and reward both adored.

Since this was still Jason’s primary mode of transportation, teaching the teenage ballplayer how to drive was a huge part of this Camaro’s purpose in life back then. With a small 350 stuffed underneath, which generated around 300 horsepower at the crank on a good day, getting around town and fixing what was broken remained the norm all the way up until high school graduation.

Sprayed With Nostalgia in Mind

After fixing some essentials on the vehicle and driving the hell out of it throughout much of high school, the Camaro was put in storage while Jason went off to college. It was not until 2010 that Jason would pull the vehicle out of his grandpa’s garage in Missouri, with an entire teardown and rebuild being the chief goal. 

But this proved to be more of an “off-and-on” marathon than a sprint to the finish line. The big shift came in 2017 when a conversation with a friend by the name of Mike Dusold, owner of DuSold Designs in Texas, turned the entire project into a core focus. 

The Dusold family had been synonymous around town for quality paint and restoration work for decades. While Mike served as the shop’s master PPG painter, his dad and brother handled the restoration end of things. Dusold evolved from a PPG pro to a legitimate race car builder with unbridled race engineering intuition. If the name  Dusold Designs rings a bell, it’s probably because Mike Dusold was the guy who took home back-to-back Optima Ultimate Street Car Champion titles a few years back.

Jason had planned on going Pearl White with Blue Stripes for the paint just like back in high school, but Mike had other plans. A 2.0 version of the car needed to be implemented, and being that Mike had always wanted to do an all-patina car, the time seemed right to experiment. Mike just needed to know a bit more about what mattered most to the man who would be behind the wheel once the build hit the road. 

And so Jason told him about his model car building younger years, all the hours spent in that old Texaco service station, and the Americana influence that inevitably came with this upbringing. Needless to say, Mike loved it and jumped on the idea almost immediately. His first suggestion was that they do a 1960’s Trans Am race car with the gas station’s motif serving as the Camaro’s livery. But being that there never was a Texaco Trans Am car in the ’60s, the two men had to fabricate what one might have looked like.

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Classic Camaro RS interior meets modern race-oriented ingenuity in this Texaco time machine.

After mocking up a few versions and taking the best from the bunch, the two ended up with an outline for Mike to follow. There in his shop, Mike Dusold spent many a long hour applying layers of paint, airbrushing, and carefully constructed stenciling to what would become known as the Texaco Camaro RS.  

As the PPG paint was laid down like fine art and coated with a satin clear, the number 18 inside the gumball was emblazoned upon the vehicle’s door panels. This retro addition was an insider’s nod to Jason’s high school baseball number, a time when driving to games and practice meant firing up the old Camaro in the driveway and hoping it made it there and back under its own volition.

Rebuilt to Race

From a performance perspective, Jason’s Texaco Camaro RS took a full two years to build, as it was a frame-off project that was purpose-built for the Optima Search For The Ultimate Street Car. 

Naturally, this meant adhering to some rules, which hampered the build in certain ways and helped in others. Jason has remained grateful for the direction as the Texaco Camaro was strategically built to follow the Ultimate Street Car Association (USCA) rule book. These guidelines helped keep the spirit of the classic car alive and made for a far more fun finished product. 

For those who may be unfamiliar with the Optima Search For The Ultimate Street Car and why aesthetics matter so much, here’s a little look into this SEMA staple. First launched in 2014 and still being produced every autumn, the Optima Ultimate Street Car Series focuses on five elements. These include Design & Engineering, autocross, acceleration/braking, road course time trial, and road rally, where you drive into town to prove that the vehicle is street-legal and fully operational in real-world scenarios.

The Lingenfelter Design and Engineering challenge, which according to Jason, is by far the greatest test among the five categories. Here, you have four minutes to talk about the build and convince a panel of judges that you have incorporated both function and form into the car. Essentially, if you have a full-blown stripped-out race car without any aesthetic aspects, you will never win. Fortunately for Jason Bottenfield, his Texaco Camaro has aesthetics in spades and plenty of performance punch to go right along with it. 

Entering the fray in 2020, Jason started his first race ever at Pikes Peak International Raceway, a track known for its steeply banked turns and lengthy infield track sections. Naturally, Mike was on hand to offer advice, and despite babying the throttle a bit, Jason took home first place in the “First Timer” division, beating all other newcomers to the series!

Nowadays, Jason’s Texaco Camaro is going much faster, with top speeds over 160 mph on track being up for grabs any given race day. This is due in part to the tricked-out geometry of the suspension and the emphasis on aerodynamics and downforce that Mike Dusold instilled into the one-off aero he constructed for the car.

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Just a few examples of the many finishing touches that make the Texaco Camaro RS so special.

Route 66 Camaro RS Kicks Revisited

If Jason and the builders involved in the construction of the Texaco Camaro took the time to tally up all of the hours invested in this build, it might look something like this…

• 2,463 mechanical hours (and counting)
• 867 body hours (and counting)

Of these 3,000-plus hours sunk into this machine, the mechanical end of the build shoulders much of the weight. Reinforced with a stock, honed 2019 LT5 crate motor, this Camaro’s heartbeat pumps to the tune of twin ZL1 fuel pumps, which are controlled via a GM CAN-bus that’s been wired to a complete MoTec system.

Up top, an Eaton 2650 Supercharger running 13.96 pounds of pressure charges a PWR Intercooler, which loads a stock throttle body that’s been welded to the intake. Jason explains that this unorthodox welding touch was done to eliminate clearance issues and offer a sharper, sturdier bend for the intake. As combusted high-octane fuel is spent, it makes its exit through a set of powder-coated tubes from Ultimate Headers. From there, fumes are sent backward toward a full 3-inch TIG-welded oval exhaust before dumping into dual Magnaflow Triple Chamber mufflers.

Final figures after the last tune rate this system at 760 horsepower at the wheels and 720 lb-ft of torque. This allows the top speed for the car to reach 167 MPH, which is perfect, as Jason’s standing record is 162.4 MPH in sixth gear at Road America in 2022. And while quarter-mile e.t.’s are yet to be determined, drag racing is not what this Texaco title holder is all about. This leads us to the transmission side of the situation…

Lately, Jason has been enjoying the one-off longtail SADEV Full Sequential gearbox prototype he has been testing. Produced in France, this transmission has provided a significant advantage on the track, as Jason now has the ability to jump two gears ahead of low-speed turns safely. Later braking and zero-lift upshifting is useful when triple-digit speeds are on either end of the curve.

There’s also an ECU box from Xineering for when downshifting throttle blips and upshift spark cuts are in order, which limits lag across the board. These minuscule increments of time add up, especially when Jason and his Texaco Camaro are out on track for hours on end. It also provides the vehicle’s narrowed Speedway Engineering 9-inch rearend with what it needs to channel power through its 3.70 gearset as quickly as possible.

Inspiration for the Future

Currently, Jason has no “nannies” in the car, so driving the Texaco Camaro is like trying to “tame a wild bull on the street.” However, put the car on a big open track, and it suddenly transforms into a screaming cheetah. A driving experience that is best described as something “very visceral.” It’s a car that will quickly expose bad driving habits and send you into a barrier if you aren’t careful. 

All good, though. Even when sitting static, the Texaco Camaro is a joy to behold. In 2021, a toy company took things full circle for Jason and his obsession with the ‘69 Camaro chassis and produced a scaled-model version of the Texaco Camaro for sale on Summit Racing’s website. Word in the paddock is that Summit even plans on rolling out larger versions of the replica in upcoming years, including a large 1:18 scale model, so fingers crossed that comes to fruition as well!

Knowing full well the impact a small model car can have on a child, Jason Bottenfield continues to hand out miniature replicas of his ride to children at events. Forever trying to keep classic car culture alive in this increasingly tech-focused modern world, the Missouri native plans to race his Texaco Camaro for many years to come. We guess that old Texaco jingle still rings true, for sometimes you just have to “Trust your car to the man who wears the star.”