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Abandoned Chevrolet Camaro Race Car Comes Back to Life After 20 Years, Hits the Oval Track

Early Chevrolet Camaros get abandoned as much as any classic car. Granted, you won't find a COPO ZL1 in a barn anytime soon, but junkyards are packed with mundane versions of the pony car. But this one's a bit different. Because it was raced on oval tracks before it was retired sometime in the early 2000s.
abandoned Chevrolet Camaro stock car 6 photos
Photo: Vice Grip Garage/YouTube
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While it may look like a rust bucket now, this second-generation Camaro was a full-blown race car only two decades ago. And it won quite a few stock car races too. Sadly, the owner passed away sometime in the 2000s and the Camaro has been sitting ever since.

Discovered after around two decades in a yard, the Chevy looks like a car you'd want to send to the scrapper. But the owner isn't planning on doing so and has already bought a few parts to get it running again. And thanks to YouTube's "Vice Grip Garage," the Camaro comes back to life.

Sure, it's not yet ready to race like in the good old days, but the refreshed V8 has enough grunt to move the pony car around. And not only it still sounds like a race car, but this Camaro can also do burnouts.

And here comes the best part. The owner takes it for a couple of laps on the oval track nearby. He doesn't drive too fast, but he ends the session with a couple of donuts, much to the delight of the people in the stands.

I wish we'd know more about this car and the class it was raced in, but it's still great to see it running again. This Camaro was someone's pride and joy for many years and it fully deserves to race again, even if it's only for a little while. See and hear it come back to life in the video below.

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About the author: Ciprian Florea
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Ask Ciprian about cars and he'll reveal an obsession with classics and an annoyance with modern design cues. Read his articles and you'll understand why his ideal SUV is the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer.
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