Dirt
KEN KERSHAW
L
ast October, longtime bracket
racer and PDRA tech director Ken
Kershaw debuted a new Chassis En-
gineering-built ‘15 Camaro. It was one
of the first cars produced by Chassis Engineering
since the company returned to its roots of build-
ing complete cars.
For decades Chassis Engineering has manufac-
tured components for drag cars and street rods.
While the company took time off from building
complete cars, the return was a natural fit and one
that can now aptly showcase the in-house parts.
“It’s a really cool deal,” Kershaw says of the car.
“Clayton [Murphy, Chassis Engineering owner]
and I got together a few years ago. He wanted
to get into building cars again. I’ve known him
for a long time so I wanted him to build my car.
That allowed me to be pretty hands-on with it.
We decided it would be kinda like a shop car. It’s
a new-style chassis that he designed.”
The Camaro is equipped with Chassis Engi-
neering’s new XTR 25.1G certified chrome-moly
chassis and a Five Star Race Car body.
“We’ve had a lot of help with the car,” Kershaw
continues. “Strange Engineering got us the best
parts that money can buy. They work great. Greg
at FTI with his converter/transmission plant – it’s
unbelievable how that thing works. We’ve had
eight or nine races on it, and Greg has been in-
volved every step of the way and has been hands-
on. Tim at MPR built the motor and it’s making
awesome power. Jason at Brand X travels with
us. He did all the paint and bodywork on it to
make it look nice. Lord knows I would have ended
up with a can of spray paint on it. So he made
“I HOPE WE’LL PUT IT IN
THE WINNER’S CIRCLE
AGAIN SOON. I WANT
TO THANK EVERYBODY
THAT’S BEEN INVOLVED
IN IT. AND MOST
DEFINITELY THANKING
MY WIFE FOR PUTTING UP
WITH ME BUILDING AND
RACING THIS THING.”
it look pretty. Tommy and Jason over at Mickey
Thompson helped us out with getting the right
tires and making ‘em so they work. We’ve just
had a little bit of help from everybody.”
As a shop car for Chassis Engineering, Ker-
shaw’s Camaro tests new products and designs.
“We built all Clayton’s new designs into the car,
and it’s working really well. Clayton has built
five cars like mine since mine was started: my
Camaro, two ‘68s, a ‘70.5 and a Mustang. A lot
of the guys are seeing now that he can make a
car work well.”
The Camaro’s 632 ci engine features a sheet
metal intake, dual carburetors and one stage of
nitrous. Its setup can be contested in the popular
Outlaw 632 class that was birthed in Kershaw’s
and Murphy’s home state of Florida. The class has
now been picked up by the PDRA and is gaining
notoriety around the country.
Kershaw pilots the Camaro himself when he’s
able, but when he’s working PDRA events as the
series tech director, he taps Matt Buck to wheel
it. Buck took the car to the finals at the PDRA
season opener in April. In addition