Just 4 races old and with only 27 runs down the track, Brina Frank drove Jim Greenheck’s 50th Anniversary COPO Camaro to the Stock Eliminator win at the NHRA Midwest Nationals. While COPO Camaros have racked up scores of wins in NHRA since its rebirth in 2012, Brina’s immediate ability to turn in win lights speaks volumes of the performance capability engineered and built into the COPO by Chevrolet Performance.
“We picked the car up in August, went testing on Thursday in Bowling Green and then I got down to eight cars,” Frank said. “We lost in the first round at Indy, and then went to Earlville, Iowa and got rained out. This was my fourth race in the car and I think I have about 27 runs in it now.”
To be sure the 2019 50th Anniversary COPO was ready for the highest levels of NHRA competition, the team at the COPO Build Center was enlisted to race prep the car after it rolled off the assembly line. Like a number of the COPOs that are raced competitively, the Greenheck/Frank car was first upgraded to a SFI 25.5 or “7.50” spec level roll cage by the COPO Build Center fabricators. Next the brakes, front struts and rear shocks were replaced with units from Lamb Components. Last, the technicians at the COPO Build Center had Coan Engineering revise the transmission ratios and provide new torque converter.
For car owner Jim Greenheck and driver Brina Frank, the short trip to the Winner’s Circle was beyond their expectations for a new car. Not only is the car especially valuable as one of the special edition 50th Anniversary models, but it now also has the pedigree of a true “NHRA Winner”.
