2006 Year One Experience - Dukes of Braselton

Matt Murphy, proprietor of GMMG, took the short drive from Marietta, Ga., to display his latest project--the Berger Cobalt SS.

Matt said he was unenthusiastic at first, but Matt Berger managed to convince him to take on the task of adding a host of GMPP parts that would boost horsepower to around 275.

Murphy said he recorded 250 hp at the Fikse wheels, and surprisingly the first two have already been sold to two previous Berger Camaro owners. Its appeal as a practical daily driver with guts seems to strike the fancy of more than just Matt's teenage daughter.

One of the most popular trends in the car show seemed to be older, classic cars with modern powertrains

From these two First Gen Camaros with Magnuson-motivated LS1s, to several works of EFI art

Such as Year One Cup winner Mike Jenkins' '67 Chevelle with a twin turbocharged LT5 and C4 suspension, and this luscious two tone '69 Camaro with a twin turbo 408 LS1.

The car show truly had everything from mild to wild. Take, for example, Carl Haas' Cyclone Grey '05 GTO, which deviated from stock with merely a set of Kooks coated headers, a Volant intake and a 3200-stall converter.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Mike Lozano did virtually everything you can dream of to his '95 Impala SS. Starting with a 383 LT1, rebuilt 4L60E, custom 3.5-inch intake, BBK 58mm throttle body, Granatelli MAF, Hooker headers, Hotchkis suspension, KYB shocks and aluminum LCAs and driveshaft-Mike then expanded into the body and interior.

A Firehawk hood scoop, custom Lambo doors, custom paint, Dolby surround sound, plasma TVs, two 12-inch JL subs, and a total of 3,000 watts of sound help rival even the creations of West Coast Customs on the hit show "Pimp My Ride." Mike thought the red smoked burnout would be the coup de grace for the event, however, judges overlooked the Impy in the BF Goodrich Burnout Contest in favor of Rick Gordon's '68 LS6 Camaro-leaving him with only the B-body class victory to brag about.

A few C6 Z06s showed up fresh off the truck from Kentucky. The Velocity Yellow Z06 was camped out at the car show, but the owner of the Daytona Sunset Orange Metallic model wasted no time and headed straight to the track

There's nothing like beating the snot out of your brand new $70,000 supercar on Road Atlanta to break it in.

Spirited Parade Laps went on all three days with an allowance of 11 total hours, which actually had to be extended to accommodate the ever full 40-car staging lanes. Similarly, tickets for hotlaps in the Panoz race car (with an instructor driving) sold out all three days, totaling 180 laps.

In the pits, we managed to catch up with some of the folks at Stainless Steel Brakes Corporation and owner Michael Jonas' LS2-powered Mallet Solstice. Beneath a custom set of Budnik wheels lay SSBC's Tri-Power brake kit.