I started building �muscle cars� in 1986 when I was 16 � working on my (at the time) girlfriend�s Mustang in high school. OK� it was a Mustang II (Ghia � thank you) with a 302 and an automatic but it was 1986 and that�s what we could afford� cut me some slack. Thanks to that car I learned how not to do bodywork, why the wrecking yard is your friend, and what a firing order was� all valuable lessons to learn while you are young.

My first car was a �71 Camaro that I bought when I a year later � it cost me 500 bucks and had been rear ended by a 3-ton delivery truck. It was a combination of �burnt orange� and spray on red primer with Cragar 5-slot mags. It needed a taillight panel, bumpers, and a grill to before I could even drive it and the first year that I had it was spent in my parents gravel driveway under a hideous home made shelter. The next summer I took the Camaro to the local race track for the first time and was hooked. Yeah, it was � mile racing and the car was slow and only had a peg leg but man, it was a lot of fun. That�s when I started learning some of the more important mechanical lessons � how a snipe can be used to break bolts off of rusted rear end at 3 am, why bigger tires are not necessarily better, and what a rod sounds like when it breaks.

That year I also got my first real exposure to First Gen�s� we �finished� my girlfriends Mustang, sold it, and found a cheap �68 in the local bargain finder � it was dumb luck and had to have been meant to be � the add was a couple weeks old but had the wrong phone number so the car never sold. It was a marina blue six cylinder powerglide car with a split bench front seat and was stock in every possible way imaginable � again I was hooked. Compared to my �71 it was stiff and rollie at the same time, but damn�

While we enjoyed the relative simplicity of the �68 I put a new motor and transmission in the �71 and was at the race track every chance I could get. The car was still slow (the stock suspension and rear hurt it a lot) and kind of ugly but I was trying and learning. That winter a friend decided to sell his Super Stock �67 as a rolling chassis for �cheap� � something like $7k � I loved that car and had to figure out a way to step up into it. After lots of negotiation my step-dad and I bought the car; I sold my �71 as a roller and transplanted everything that I could into the �67. That�s when I learned how much more important suspension was than engine � in the stock suspension �71 the car ran 18�s with a 2.20 60� time� in the �67 it immediately ran in 13�s with a 1.70 60� � good lesson that applies to all forms of racing�

My step father and I bracket raced the car for a few years while I was in university and when I graduated I started a little speed shop in the country and continued to hone my �skills� � developing from backyard hack to something close to capable. As part of my business I sold race fuel and small parts at the local track � I was there every single weekend for a couple of years and was exposed to all different kings of racing and racers; when the ASA would come to town I would work on Mike Eddy�s crew for the weekend, I got to help out Player�s series (the late �80�s IROC factory cars) guys, I got to meet guys like Mark Martin when they were in town, and I started to get interested in road racing. Unfortunately though, as I think many people can attest, racing also stopped being �fun�; it had become my whole life and I ultimately needed a break from it� the �67 was reluctantly sold, the speed shop was closed, and I went looking for a change of pace.

Fast forward a year or so and I�m married to my former girlfriend and am working on drilling rigs in northern Canada. That summer my old friend mentions that he still has the �67� and an old motor out of his Super Gas car� we struck a deal and I spent the better part of two years converting it from a bracket racer to a true �street car�. I ended up keeping that car through several variations over the years � from a slightly stupid street car to a competitor in local Fastest Street Car Shootouts.

All told I had that car for nearly 15 years before life got in the way of fun and we parted ways again in 2004.

I know� you�re saying �what the heck does this have to do with the OneLapCamaro?�

Ultimately � everything.

Starting with my girlfriend�s (now wife�s) �68 - which we bought nearly 20 years ago - I have had probably two dozen first and second gen Camaro�s; some were not much better than parts cars, some were around for days, others for years. Twice over that time I got �the call� from different body shop�s� you know the call: �Hey, the owner has disappeared and the sheriff is on his way � you need to pick up your �car� right now�� I�ve �ruined� them trying to do the right thing and I�ve been able to save some that had no right being saved. I learned a lot and met a lot of great people and somewhere along the way, I got hooked again� this time by Pro-Touring.

I lurked on the boards for a long time (back in the early days), sometimes posting pictures of some of the stuff I was doing on the �67 the last year that I had it� smoothing the firewall, installing Baer brakes behind the skinnies up front, and installing the Covan�s dash. I was inspired by members like Carl, Jody and David; I was fascinated by Tyler�s 50/50 when it kicked off and anything about Mark�s cars was like crack.

After I got my life figured out again I found that I needed to build another Camaro. I knew it had to be a �67 and I knew that I had to build it. I know, its way cheaper to buy than build� I know that� but I build cars� I can�t just buy one. I need to know every piece, every nut and every bolt; I need to know its secrets and I need to have it my way. I probably enjoy building the car as much as I do driving it - so buying a finished one was out of the question; I was looking for a builder.

I found a really cheap EBay special ($2500) in the fall of 2005. The car was on the other side of the country, was a pro-touring style, and didn�t look entirely horrible. I bought it and in the two months that it took to get it home began formulating a plan�

When I did finally get the car home it was worse than I had imagined. If I had paid more I would have called it a scam� the body was rough and the subframe was cut up, the third member was empty and there were no rear brakes, the engine was in pieces and the cylinders full of rust. But I paid $2500 bucks, what did I expect?

I bead blasted the car and found that the body was much worse than I thought, I brought it out to Heighton Restorations just outside of Calgary to get some basic bodywork done on the car. Well� after Chris and I went over the car and made a list of what needed to be done I was about ready to say forget it. It needed just about everything on the body side of things, not to mention a new sub and rear frame. I was one phone call away from throwing in the towel and finding a new starting point but I was also stubborn�

From there the rest is history and for the most part pretty well documented here on Lateral-g.net. It took three years and really isn�t completely finished yet � and I don�t know if it ever will be. We � I have to say we when I talk about effort � we probably have just over 4000 hours in the car, between fabrication, construction, bodywork, paint. And it is the product of many minds, many hands, and many dreams.

One of the things that I really love about the internet and forums like this is how it can bring people � friends � ideas and products together from around the world. We built this car in the �frozen north� of Calgary, Alberta Canada and I�ve benefited from help, advice, and support from members and sponsors from all across Canada and the USA; that never would have been possible 10 years ago.

And I am still benefiting from that support today. Right now the car is Best of Show Coachworks in San Marcos, California where Dick and crew are helping to sort our some minor issues that I�ve been chasing since SEMA last fall. Before that it was at Ironworks Speed and Kustom in Bakersfield where Rodger was helping to prep the car the Costa Mesa Goodguys show. At that same show I was able to autocross the car with Carl and Larry and Steve and Mary while enjoying the company and council of David and Mark and countless other members! Talk about a great community!