The team at Late Model Racecraft in Houston, Texas, which specializes in producing some of the most wicked LS-powered Corvettes, Camaros, and other GM muscle cars in the country, have made quite the name for themselves in the drag racing world over the last couple of seasons, scoring a number of LSX Shootout event titles and performance records. Unbeknownst to some in the drag racing community but certainly well-publicized in the LS arena however, is the success this team, led by Josh Ledford and Steve Fereday, has accomplished in their native Texas on a similar yet very different genre of straight-line competition.
Last year, the LMR team made headlines when their Camaro, owned by Kelly Bise and driven by Fereday, scorched the Texas Mile at the Chase Field Industrial Complex in Beeville, Tex. to a stunning 244 miles per hour, which they later improved to a 246 mile per hour blast. Videos captured at the mile even showed onboards and exterior camera views of a butt-puckering sideways draft by Fereday at well in excess of 200.
The LMR crew returned to the Texas Mile over the weekend for the venues’ first session of the new year, set on surpassing their incredible 246 mile per hour performance by shattering the 250 barrier. And that they did, carding several laps on the former military runway in excess of 250, including a best-to-date clocking of 253.1 miles per hour. According to Fereday, the Camaro actually suffered from boost issues in fourth gear, topping out at just 21.3 pounds, or about nine pounds short of the intended boost ramping programming.
The LMR Camaro is powered by a 461 cubic inch Late Model Engine-prepped powerplant, sporting cathedral port heads and a sheet metal intake with a pair of turbochargers creating upwards of 2,000 horsepower; a lot to plant to an un-prepped runway surface in street trim and on street tires.
As you’ll see in the video, Fereday clocked 196.2 miles per hour to the half mile and the aforementioned 253.1 out the back on the standing mile course.