Image credit: ADRL.us

It’s no secret that life as a drag racer is filled with ups and downs. Racing can be a streaky business filled with slumps and winning runs. In Extreme Pro Stock racing, technology is constantly changing the way the game is played, making it one the hardest classes to win on a consistent basis. This is especially true for 2010 Extreme Pro Stock Champion John Montecalvo. For him, the 2012 season has been filled with a streak of unlucky breaks. Montecalvo is currently 12th in points, down from previous years, but instead of becoming superstitious and rubbing a horseshoe, he’s fighting back.

With new technology as his weapon, winning back his No. 1 becomes his target. And it all begins with Montecalvo turning to Jerry Bickel Race Cars for a brand new 2012 Chevy Camaro-bodied race car. Montecalvo, as you may recall, was one of the first racers in the sport to debut one of the new Camaro’s this season, and this new piece marks his second such race car. In a departure from his long-running color scheme of former sponsor CITGO, Montecalvo has also gone with a fresh new look for his new mount.

Bickel is one of the leading car builders in the sport and has supplied the magic Montecalvo is looking for. The new Camaro not only looks fast, in early testing the car was reported to have performed extremely well. The test was cut short, however, due to rain, but the early numbers look good. The entire John Montecalvo team is working hard to have the car ready for competition next weekend in the Memphis Drags III at Memphis International Raceway. Although the Montecalvo team is mired back in the points–and for the most part out of the championship hunt in 2012–with the addition of the new car, they’ll have the opportunity to play spoiler.