Drag racing doesn’t get much more exciting than the gear-banging, wheels-up action in NMRA Coyote Stock, and Nathan Stymiest knows just how competitive the class is, having claimed the 2021 class championship. While he plans to continue competing in that class, he’s also begun building another car for Coyote Stock’s close cousin, the NMCA’s Chevrolet Performance Stock presented by Scoggin Dickey Parts Center.
Stymiest and his father bought their 1969 Camaro around 2004 with the intention of turning it into a Pro Street or Pro Touring car with an LS-based powerplant—Stymiest's son, Lucas, appears to be a fan of the car in it's current state as you can see from the lead photo! More recently, Stymiest’s friend Chris Sease bought a DR525—the required and sealed crate engine for Chevrolet Performance Stock—for his S10 with the intention of running the class at some point.
“Chris and my dad started talking in Atlanta about putting a DR525 in it,” Stymiest said of how the build got started. Stymiest’s father also talked to Scoggin Dickey Parts Center’s Keith Wilson, as well as CPS champion Glenn Pushis, who has a former CPS turnkey car for sale. The issue at the time was that the engines were available here and there, but the required control pack and wiring harness was not. However, Stymiest was able to procure an engine in August of 2021, and the wiring harness and ECM arrived early in 2022.
Meanwhile, the Camaro was being torn apart to take care of some rust issues that had been hiding, and as often happens with 60s muscle cars, there’s far more beneath the surface in the way of rust, and it soon became a full restoration.
Stymiest’s father bought new sheet metal through Legacy Innovations, and while they make progress on the metal work at home, getting other parts for the car has been ongoing.
“Originally, we hoped to debut at North Carolina, but we’re looking at probably the last race of the year,” Stymiest explained. “We’re still dealing with getting all of the parts, many of which are on backorder. We expected to be further along than we are.” In addition to the body work, the rear mini-tubs need to be installed before G Force Design Concepts can attack the paintwork. Stymiest is undecided on the final color combination at present. Kevin Lumsden already competes in the class with his traditional Hugger Orange/White Camaro, and Stymiest’s favorite combo is black/white, but he’s already leaning towards a Le Mans Blue/White paint scheme.
He has time to figure that out, though, as he waits for parts to come in. After talking with AutoKraft Race Cars and Restorations’ Kurt Anderson and Kevin Lumsden, Stymiest opted to use a Speedtech front subframe, which is what Anderson put under Lumsden’s Camaro. He also plans to procure a set of Bogart wheels for the car, along with Optic Armor windows and Racepak data-logging components, and Energy Suspension has sent him a slew of mounts and bushings to use.
“We are working with Strange Engineering on the brakes and 9-inch rearend, and it’ll have a man pedal,” Stymiest said of his decision to go with a manual transmission for the build. “In the back of mind, I was thinking I already have extra G-Force transmissions and third members for the rearend.”
While this combination will be the only manual in the class, it’s not the first, as Shawn Calabrese made a quick attempt at using one, as did Stymiest’s brother, Shane.
“Shane tried it with a hydraulic [clutch] setup in Kevin Lumsden’s 4th-gen Camaro SS. He was a tenth off in the 60, but 2-3 mph more in the eighth,” Stymiest told us. “At the weight of the car, I have data from the Coyote Stock car for that, so I shouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel. I think I can stick my Ram clutch setup in and be pretty close. Just need to work on shift points.
I talked to Ron Rhodes briefly about running the leaf springs, and he advised to use good struts and shocks. We’re looking at possibly duplicating the Mustang’s shock/strut setup—a combination of Santhuff struts and AFCO shocks—in the Camaro to get started, but possibly going full AFCO once the car is on track.” Stymiest will round out the suspension mods with a set of CalTracs and mono-leaf springs from Calvert Racing.
“Using the same engine over the years is appealing versus Coyote Stock, which has had three generations of engine,” Stymiest said. “I’m a muscle car guy, and my favorite car is a 1969 Camaro, but my first car was a 1990 5.0 Mustang—it was the muscle car of the era.”
Stymiest plans to campaign both his 1992 Mustang in Coyote Stock, as well as the Camaro in CPS.
“Chris might help out with the transport. Ideally, we just need to hit the lottery and buy a tractor trailer.”
Stymiest and his father bought their 1969 Camaro around 2004 with the intention of turning it into a Pro Street or Pro Touring car with an LS-based powerplant—Stymiest's son, Lucas, appears to be a fan of the car in it's current state as you can see from the lead photo! More recently, Stymiest’s friend Chris Sease bought a DR525—the required and sealed crate engine for Chevrolet Performance Stock—for his S10 with the intention of running the class at some point.
“Chris and my dad started talking in Atlanta about putting a DR525 in it,” Stymiest said of how the build got started. Stymiest’s father also talked to Scoggin Dickey Parts Center’s Keith Wilson, as well as CPS champion Glenn Pushis, who has a former CPS turnkey car for sale. The issue at the time was that the engines were available here and there, but the required control pack and wiring harness was not. However, Stymiest was able to procure an engine in August of 2021, and the wiring harness and ECM arrived early in 2022.
Meanwhile, the Camaro was being torn apart to take care of some rust issues that had been hiding, and as often happens with 60s muscle cars, there’s far more beneath the surface in the way of rust, and it soon became a full restoration.
Stymiest’s father bought new sheet metal through Legacy Innovations, and while they make progress on the metal work at home, getting other parts for the car has been ongoing.
“Originally, we hoped to debut at North Carolina, but we’re looking at probably the last race of the year,” Stymiest explained. “We’re still dealing with getting all of the parts, many of which are on backorder. We expected to be further along than we are.” In addition to the body work, the rear mini-tubs need to be installed before G Force Design Concepts can attack the paintwork. Stymiest is undecided on the final color combination at present. Kevin Lumsden already competes in the class with his traditional Hugger Orange/White Camaro, and Stymiest’s favorite combo is black/white, but he’s already leaning towards a Le Mans Blue/White paint scheme.
He has time to figure that out, though, as he waits for parts to come in. After talking with AutoKraft Race Cars and Restorations’ Kurt Anderson and Kevin Lumsden, Stymiest opted to use a Speedtech front subframe, which is what Anderson put under Lumsden’s Camaro. He also plans to procure a set of Bogart wheels for the car, along with Optic Armor windows and Racepak data-logging components, and Energy Suspension has sent him a slew of mounts and bushings to use.
“We are working with Strange Engineering on the brakes and 9-inch rearend, and it’ll have a man pedal,” Stymiest said of his decision to go with a manual transmission for the build. “In the back of mind, I was thinking I already have extra G-Force transmissions and third members for the rearend.”
While this combination will be the only manual in the class, it’s not the first, as Shawn Calabrese made a quick attempt at using one, as did Stymiest’s brother, Shane.
“Shane tried it with a hydraulic [clutch] setup in Kevin Lumsden’s 4th-gen Camaro SS. He was a tenth off in the 60, but 2-3 mph more in the eighth,” Stymiest told us. “At the weight of the car, I have data from the Coyote Stock car for that, so I shouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel. I think I can stick my Ram clutch setup in and be pretty close. Just need to work on shift points.
I talked to Ron Rhodes briefly about running the leaf springs, and he advised to use good struts and shocks. We’re looking at possibly duplicating the Mustang’s shock/strut setup—a combination of Santhuff struts and AFCO shocks—in the Camaro to get started, but possibly going full AFCO once the car is on track.” Stymiest will round out the suspension mods with a set of CalTracs and mono-leaf springs from Calvert Racing.
“Using the same engine over the years is appealing versus Coyote Stock, which has had three generations of engine,” Stymiest said. “I’m a muscle car guy, and my favorite car is a 1969 Camaro, but my first car was a 1990 5.0 Mustang—it was the muscle car of the era.”
Stymiest plans to campaign both his 1992 Mustang in Coyote Stock, as well as the Camaro in CPS.
“Chris might help out with the transport. Ideally, we just need to hit the lottery and buy a tractor trailer.”