Rachel Jones and her dad, James Cooper, are a natural drag racing team. He tunes the 9.70-second Camaro and she drives it as a member of the Ozark Mountain Super Shifters, a touring group of four-speed drag cars.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
Rachel Jones and her dad, James Cooper, campaign this 1968 Camaro as part of the Ozark Mountain Super Shifters tour, hauling the 9.70-second car to drag strips around the Midwest in their fully enclosed race trailer.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
Rachel Jones says her '68 Camaro drag car's performance has increased gradually from 13-second runs a few years ago to 9.70-second passes, thanks to her dad's engine-building and tuning skills. But she works on the engine, too, and has never raced anything but a four-speed stick car.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
One of the more unusual features of "Rachel's Toy" is the air conditioning unit used to funnel cool air into her helmet and the interior of the car. It is actually a vintage "swamp cooler" that is loaded with ice before each run; it runs off its own battery, so there is no power drain on the engine.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The heart of the matter: a 427-cubic-inch smallblock Dart block fitted with Brodix heads and intake, a 1000 cfm Holley carb and modified Hooker headers produce an estimated 700 horsepower. At the rear wheels, power has been measured at an honest 540 horsepower.
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A purpose-built race car, the Camaro is equipped with 11-1/2-inch Mickey Thompson slicks and wheelie bars, but it's still titled and tagged as a street car.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
Mickey Thompson drag slicks measuring 28 inches tall by 11-1/2 inches wide, mounted on Centerline wheels, more than fill the Camaro's rear wheel wells.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
Narrow Centerline racing wheels up front carry 27.5x4.5x15 Mickey Thompson racing rubber.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The interior of "Rachel's Toy" is purely functional, crammed with an inline competition shifter, a line-lock and gauges ranging from fuel and brake pressure to exhaust gas temperature and an oversize playback tachometer.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
Seating is likewise simple and straightforward: a single shell-style racing seat with full safety harness connected to a full roll cage.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
The car is basically all-steel, except for this tall cowl induction fiberglass hood, mounted to stock hinges and held down at speeds approaching 140 mph by a pair of hood pins.
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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle
"Rachel's Toy" in action -- Rachel launches her Camaro wheels-up against a Dodge during last season's action. For safety's sake, a set of wheelie bars were installed on the rear of the car.
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Courtesy of James Cooper
The entire bow-tie lineup: Rachel's Toy, left, dad James Cooper's '55 Chevy two-door sedan and Rachel's college car, a blue '68 Camaro that now does car show duties.
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Courtesy of Rachel Jones
It was these kind of launches that convinced James Cooper that "Rachel's Toy" needed a set of wheelie bars at the rear of the car.
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Courtesy of James Cooper
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