First Camaro ZL1 off the line
Race team owner Rick Hendrick adds two of the 580 hp cars to his stable of 60 Chevrolet Camaros
OSHAWA— U.S. auto sales industry leader Rick Hendrick knows fast cars. Since age 14, he has been racing something — drag cars, stock cars, pickup trucks, even drag boats.
He figured out fairly quickly that there was more success to be had with someone else steering the car, so he could steer the team and run his many businesses. Since then, Hendrick Motorsports has gone on to be one of the most successful franchises in the sport, winning 13 NASCAR titles — 10 of them in the Sprint Cup, which is the Big Time.
“It’s an honour to spend time at such an impressive facility.” RICK HENDRICK SPRINT CUP TEAM OWNER
Hendrick will run four teams in the 2012 season, which starts in three weeks. Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon finished 6-7-8 last year. Now that Kasey Kahne is replacing veteran Mark Martin, the team should be even stronger.
“I’m totally motivated,” Hendrick said this week, visiting GM’S Oshawa plant.
“We were the champions for five years in a row, and when you fall short, you want to get back to the number 1 spot to prove you deserved those five championships. I want to be the champion.”
Rick Hendrick also knows Chevrolets. He took over a struggling dealership in South Carolina in 1976, and turned it around in less than a year.
Chevrolet was so impressed it offered Hendrick a major outlet in Charlotte, North Carolina, a couple of years later.
The Camaro ZL1 makes 580 hp and costs $58,000. ’Nuff said
His automotive group now runs more than 60 dealerships in the United States, selling almost everything from Acura to Volvo.
He especially knows Camaros, which is why he was in town. He owns 60 of them, including the first two new-generation Coupes that came off the line at GM Canada’s assembly plant here, and the first two Convertibles, ditto.
This week, he drove the first ZL1 production version of the Camaro Coupe off the line — he’s buying the first two of those, as well.
Hendrick also sells Camaros — his Chevrolet dealerships sell more of them than any other.
He appeared genuinely excited to be back in Oshawa, especially to participate in the birth of his newest car.
“As a Chevy enthusiast,” he said, “it’s an honour to spend time at such an impressive facility and meet the people who produce some of the world’s finest cars.”
It hasn’t always been easy for Hendrick. In 1997, his teams finished 1-2-3 in the championship, but he was stricken with leukemia, and convicted of mail fraud after he admitted to paying bribes to American Honda officials to get larger allotments for his stores.
He was sentenced to a $250,000 fine, one year of home confinement, and three years’ probation. He was pardoned by Bill Clinton in 2000. Hendrick has been in remission from the leukemia since 1999, and has since raised millions of dollars for various cancer and childrens’ charities. In 2002, a plane crash took the life of his 24-year-old son Ricky and nine family members and friends. Two years earlier, Ricky had retired from what appeared to be a promising career as a driver after several injuries. He joined his father’s team as a partial owner. Then, just last fall, the brakes on his Gulfstream jet failed and the plane slid off the runway leaving Hendrick with a broken clavicle and rib. None of this, however, has tempered his appreciation for highpowered cars. As for the Zl1that he bought this week, two numbers stand out: 580 horsepower. $58,000. Do the math. Then compare those to such as the Audi R8 GT (560 hp, $228,000) or Mercedes-benz SLS AMG (565 hp, $206,900). At least the Audi comes with Magnetic Ride, which is also standard in the Camaro ZL1. And the Chevy seats two more friends.
The ZL1 isn’t just a straight-line rocket either, although nobody needs to apologize for a 0-to-100 km/h time of about four seconds, thanks to the 6.2-litre supercharged V8, similar to that in the Corvette Zr1and Cadillac CTS-V.
During testing at the Nordschleife at Germany’s fabled Nurburgring race circuit, the ZL1 clocked an impressive time of 7:41.27.
The first convertible version of the Zl1rolls out later this summer.
Want to bet Rick Hendrick will be back to get that one, too?