John Force special edition 2020 COPO Chevrolet Camaro

John Force COPO Camaro 

The 2020 COPO Camaro John Force Edition shown at the Chevrolet Performance booth at the 2019 PRI show is a distinctively styled, supercharged race car.

Since 2012, Chevrolet has built only 69 COPO (Central Office Production Order) Camaros per model year, making them rare factory race cars but this John Force edition is a one-of-a-kind with its “2020COPO-FORCE” identification plaque, and is not part of the 69-car 2020 COPO Camaro production run. 

Powered by Chevrolet Performance’s supercharged, LSX-based 350 cubic inch engine, with a Magnuson supercharger and all-new LSX-SC cylinder heads. This car is equipped with the Racer’s Package, which consists of a carbon-fiber air inlet, dual batteries, weight box, parachute and a quick-change coupling for the supercharged engine.

In addition to the John Force signature graphics inside and out, the car has an NHRA-certified roll cage, custom embroidered racing seats and harnesses and rides on WELD® racing wheels fitted with Hoosier® tires.

This one-of-a-kind car was auctioned off on January 17 2020 at the Barrett-Jackson Auction for total sale price of $600,000.00 which went to the charity DonorsChoose.org. The winning bidder also received a custom helmet and fire suit provided by John Force.   

WELD® Racing Funny Car wheels

WELD® Wheels had a massive exhibit at the 2019 SEMA show, and the author took a close look at the WELD® wheels fitted to the John Force Racing Chevrolet Camaro SS NHRA Funny Car on display. 

The rear wheels are WELD® Delta-1 black anodized 1-piece forged aluminum wheels with titanium bead lock hardware which weigh less than 19 pounds each. WELD® advertises that these are the lightest, strongest, and stiffest 16-inch x 16-inch double beadlock SFI Foundation standard 15.4 Certified (Top Fuel and Funny Car Drag Race Drive Beadlock Wheels) drag wheels available and sell for approximately $2800 each.  There is only one other SFI 15.4 Certified manufacturer, Sander Engineering.

  

The Delta-1 wheels are fitted with Goodyear 36.0x17.5-16  D-2H compound tires with 115-inch circumference that weigh 48 pounds each. In competition, these tires carry 7 PSI pressure which is the minimum allowed by Goodyear engineers.

The front wheels on the John Force NHRA Funny Car Camaro SS are 17-inch SFI Foundation standard 15.2 Certified (Drag Race Front Wheels) black-anodized WELD® Magnum Frontrunner one-piece forged 6061 aluminum wheels mounted directly to the Strange® spindles and retail for approximately $850 each.   

The WELD® Racing Magnum Frontrunner wheels are mounted with Goodyear Frontrunner 22.0x4.0-17 hard compound tires that are typically inflated to 40 PSI in competition.   

All photos by the author