BIG RED HISTORY 1986

Big Red History 1986

For the new car, less horsepower simply was not an option. Once you make a decision like that, you have to figure out a way to keep that beast under the hood in between the lines. Father and son were going to have to think long and hard about safety. The lesson from La Carrera Classica was that dropping a race-car engine into a factory Camaro simply wouldn’t work. But part of the magic, RJ insisted, was that he didn’t want to drive a race car that just looked like a ’69 Camaro, but one that actually was a ’69 Camaro. It was a critical directive that added that spark to the new car’s legend. It would be a car that everyone could relate to, like the one they had driven themselves and worked on; something they knew. The car would be christened “Big Red” and it wouldn’t be a glossy, pretentious starlet on the silver screen, it would be the drop-dead-gorgeous girl next door.More than a beauty, the Gottliebs wanted a wolf in sheep’s clothing to put the owners and drivers of the high-end European sports cars at ease when the fire breathing race car lurking under that Camaro skin came storming out of the gate. Underneath that skin, it
truly was going to be something else. Bill Osborne had a hell of a project on his hands. It’s relatively easy to drop the shell of a car onto a racing chassis. What Bill did was actually build the racing chassis into the\ original   GM/ Fisher body of the car. And why not? The ’69 Camaro is an awesome vehicle.

 The ’69 Camaro is an awesome vehicle. The floorpan was altered and trimmed to accommodate the new frame, which, according to All Chevy magazine, had rollbars “the size of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s biceps.” Still, the general design of the cockpit was largely retained, including the original dash assembly that had a working glovebox and gauge cluster. The illusion wasn’t
perfect, of course. The 11-inch setback mounting of that monster engine was pretty obvious, but Dan insisted that they paint that fancy (and expensive) all-aluminum block GM orange so he could point, and say, “look, it’s just a stock 427 iron block.” And then he’d chuckle a little bit Early garage photos of the car show a raw steel cage, stripped of any paint. A massive Modine radiator was installed with racing front sway bushings and a cross brace in front of the engine. As Bill continued to work, the motoring press couldn’t help but take notice. In the September 1987 issue of Hot Rod magazine, the Mexico crash was mentioned in its one-page coverage of the event, which hinted at a “re-birth,” and the Gottliebs possibly building another “audacious” Camaro.
And it was. It was also a work in progress. In photos of Big Red’s maiden drive at Willow Springs racetrack, it was without trim, stripes and some of the soon-to-be familiar hardware — including the extra diagonal braces on the main loop of the cage. Big Red was taking shape into something fans would .recognize, the gold center wheels and a shiny coat of red as bold as the engineering, just waiting for those classic white Z/28 stripes. 

Big Red History 1986
Big Red History 1986 - best racing cars

For the new car, less horsepower simply was not an option. Once you make a decision like that, you have to figure out a way to keep that beast under the hood in between the lines. Father and son were going to have to think long and hard about safety. The lesson from La Carrera Classica was that dropping a race-car engine into a factory Camaro simply wouldn’t work. But part of the magic, RJ insisted, was that he didn’t want to drive a race car that just looked like a ’69 Camaro, but one that actually was a ’69 Camaro.

It was a critical directive that added that spark to the new car’s legend. It would be a car that everyone could relate to, like the one they had driven themselves and worked on; something they knew. The car would be christened “Big Red” and it wouldn’t be a glossy, pretentious starlet on the silver screen, it would be the drop-dead-gorgeous girl next door. More than a beauty, the Gottliebs wanted a wolf in sheep’s clothing to put the owners and drivers of the high-end European sports cars at ease.  
when the fire breathing race car lurking under that Camaro skin came storming out of the gate.  Underneath that skin, it truly was going to be something else. Bill Osborne had a hell of a project on his hands. It’s relatively easy to drop the shell of a car onto a racing chassis. What Bill did was actually build the racing chassis into the original GM/ Fisher body of the car. And why not? The ’69 Camaro is an awesome vehicle.

 The ’69 Camaro is an awesome vehicle. The floorpan was altered and trimmed to accommodate the new frame, which, according to All Chevy magazine, had rollbars “the size of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s biceps.” Still, the general design of the cockpit was largely retained, including the original dash assembly that had a working glovebox and gauge cluster. The illusion wasn’t perfect, of course. The 11-inch setback mounting of that monster engine was pretty obvious, but Dan insisted that they paint that fancy (and expensive) all-aluminum block GM orange so he could point, and say, “look, it’s just a stock 427 iron block.” 

Big Red Camaro Car

And then he’d chuckle a little bit Early garage photos of the car show a raw steel cage, stripped of any paint. A massive Modine radiator was installed with racing front sway bushings and a cross brace in front of the engine. As Bill continued to work, the motoring press couldn’t help but take notice. In the September 1987 issue of Hot Rod magazine, the Mexico crash was mentioned in its one-page coverage of the event, which hinted at a “re-birth,” and the Gottliebs possibly building another “audacious” Camaro. And it was. It was also a work in progress.In photos of Big Red’s maiden drive at Willow Springs racetrack, it was without trim, stripes and some of the soon-to-be familiar hardware — including the extra diagonal braces on the main loop of the cage. Big Red was taking shape into something fans would .recognize, the gold center wheels and a shiny coat of red as bold as the engineering, just waiting for those classic white Z/28 stripes. 

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Chris got them into a 1986 Mustang that was intended to stay bone stock so that it would be a practical form of transportation for the teenaged RJ, but with the help of Chris’ Ford Racing background, the three of them just couldn’t help themselves, and the thing got worked over many times. That’s when it all happened. Hungry to put his track-racing skills to work, and being “over it” with drag racing, Chris told Dan and RJ about a new event that he’d heard was taking place in Ensenada, Mexico, only a few hours from LA. The three of them speculated that if they could get the kid across the border, they probably wouldn’t have any trouble getting him into the race So, here it is, spring break 1986, RJ, Dan, and Chris are headed to Baja, Mexico, to drive in what would be the inaugural running of the La Carrera Classica, a truncated version of the iconic La Carrera Panamericana, across Mexico’s Highway 3 from Ensenada on the Pacific Coast to San Felipe on the Gulf of Cortez.

It was RJ and Chris driving RJ’s modified Fox Body Mustang. Another competitor that year was Hollywood Stuntman/ Director Hal Needham, co-owner of the Harry Gant Skoal Bandit NASCAR Winton Cup Car. Needham drove the Super Speedway Cup Car to a decisive victory in the first-ever event. After the race, Dan said to Chris, “Next year, I don’t want to be embarrassed like this again; we’re gonna show up with something.”  This is where the idea for a Camaro (RJ liked Camaros) with a monster engine came from. In the year that passed, they got busy. A ’68 Camaro was located, and Chris, along with help from many others like Dean Dodge, upgraded suspension components and brakes, and added a rollcage. 

A 540-cubic-inch all-aluminum Lingenfelter-built engine was fitted under the hood, and Recaro bucket seats with safety harnesses were added. Dan, RJ, and Chris headed back down for the La Carrera Classica 2 in 1987 for an exhausting 123-mile slugfest in what would prove to be an “enlightening” experience. From their previous year’s adventures, they knew the event was dangerous. Sure, it required a driver with good timing and the youthful disregard for his own mortality, and Dan knew his son met both requirements. What the father and son wanted most was an American muscle car that could beat the higherpriced European sports cars that were popular at these races. Drivers went off the mark in three-minute intervals to avoid accidents from passing at high speeds. With RJ at the wheel and Chris navigating, the red Camaro was the third car off the line. And it went quicky, closing the space between it and the cars in the first and second positions with alarming urgency. 

damaged car BRC

Nearly two thirds of the way through the race, the Camaro had pulled past the first two cars, and RJ was pushing in excess of 150 mph when the over-powered and underengineered Camaro went into the left-handed sweeper that proved too much for the untested suspension. With the chassis and steering linkage straining and vibrating, a steering heim came apart. Careening out of control, the car smashed into a roadside rock wall. The steering failed, but the rollcage held, and both RJ and Chris walked away from the accident that destroyed most of the car, save that massive engine and the rear end.destroyed most of the car, save that massive engine and the rear end. The highway course is “theoretically” closed to civilian traffic, but that isn’t always the case. Autoweek magazine mistakenly reported that the Camaro had crashed while avoiding a rogue truck driving on the course. While on their way home, Dan told RJ he’d better call his mom so she wouldn’t worry anymore. RJ located a pay phone, rang her up and told her, “Well, we had a little problem with the front tire.” Which was true…enough. A few weeks later, RJ’s mom, Marcia, read about the Mexico wreck in the Los Angeles Times. She was not happy. If they were going to continue racing, a full-on racing chassis would need to be built. So when Bill Osborne received the job to build Big Red, he realized he needed a donor car. Bill reached out to Joel Staggs (who worked for him) to see if he had a donor car available. Joel’s neighbor was a ’69 Camaro enthusiast, and happen to have one they could use. According to the VIN, which is still on Big Red’s dash today, the chassis was a 1969 Camaro with the 350 engine and air conditioning. The newly acquired ’69 was dropped off with Bill. Little did he know that what he was about to do next would live in the history books forever.

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