Gerald Goad loves blasting the streets with quick cars and fancy hot rods, but he isn’t keen on taking them to the dragstrip. However, when fate tasked him with finishing a project in honor of his late friend, Mike Goacher, Gerald went all-in on his twin-turbo ’67 Camaro SS-RS drag-and-drive tribute build.

The 52-year-old Oklahoma native and owner of Superior Concepts — a paint protection, ceramic coating, and window tint shop. He has owned a fleet of fast rides over the years, including a Pro Touring 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle, a 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500, two twin-turbo 1966 Chevy II Novas (one of which is a 2,500-horsepower Pro Touring machine, the other is a “too pretty to race” 6-second-capable car), two Dodge Vipers, and more.

But this twin-turbo ’67 Camaro SS is more than just another street machine. It’s a tribute to a fallen friend.

The Tony Bischoff 427 LS under the hood made 1,008 horsepower on the chassis dyno, but with more boost it is capable of a lot more. (Photo by Scott Parker)

In 2023, Gerald’s good friend Mike Goacher, owner of Goachers Street Legends, a fabrication shop in Kansas, made the tough decision to part with his passion project of more than 40 years.

“Mike had the car since he was 16 years old and wanted to do drag-and-drive events with it,” recalled Gerald. “But he was busy with his shop so the car sat unfinished for years. At the time, I had a pretty little ’66 Chevelle that had been on some magazine covers and he really wanted it.”

Although Gerald prefers the ’69 Camaro body style over the ’67, when Mike asked to trade, he obliged. Gerald wasn’t planning on doing much of anything with the car other than some occasional tinkering, though, so he put it in storage and out of mind.

“It wasn’t long after our trade that Mike decided he wanted to buy it back,” Gerald shared. “He called me a few days before Christmas [in 2024] and said he hadn’t been feeling well. I told him to let me finish the car, then he could have it back for only the cost of the parts I had in it, no labor, and two days later, Mike died from a massive heart attack.”

With a broken heart of his own, Gerald decided he was going to finish the car in Mike’s honor. Gerald turned to his brother, respected chassis builder and fabricator Chris Goad, to take the lead, and, together, the men transformed the semi-deconstructed Camaro into a dream over the next six months.

The Build

When Gerald took ownership of the partially built project, the Camaro included an 8.50-cert roll cage from none other than the drag-and-drive king, multi-time Hot Rod Drag Week winner Larry Larson. Larry had also set the 427 cubic inch LS from Tony Bischoff’s BES Racing Engines between the frame rails, and handled the fabrication of the headers and piping work.

With no wiring, electronics, brakes, shocks, or interior, Gerald and Chris had a mostly clean slate. The only change they made to the engine program was to swap in a different solid roller COMP cam, but otherwise, the LS engine—which was built using an RHS aluminum block filled with a Callies crankshaft, Oliver Racing Parts connecting rods, and Ross pistons along with Mast Motorsports’ Black Label LS7 heads featuring a complete Jesel valvetrain and billet valve covers from Shawn’s Custom Alloy—stayed the same as it was.

Holley components were selected to control the combination, and “everything that could be Holley is Holley,” according to Gerald. From the Dominator EFI engine management (tuned by Gerald) to the 220-lb fuel injectors, coils, and more, the only non-Holley part is the supplementary Aeromotive fuel pump that comes on under boost as the tank was already built for the component prior to Gerald taking the reins.

Gerald and Chris also took care to create a clean and efficient engine compartment; all of the wiring was carefully loomed and tucked away, high-end titanium fittings and lightweight hoses from Roadrunner Performance were used throughout, and many components were mounted low and out of sight. Additionally, the headers, downpipe, and twin Precision 7685 Next Gen turbos were all wrapped with HeaderShield’s thermal management solution before being tucked away out of sight for a sleeper-style system.

“We also switched from the previously non-intercooled, drag race-type setup to use an air-to-water intercooler from Larry Larson, custom heat exchanger from C&R Racing, and a Ron Davis oversized radiator and fans that had come with the Camaro,” explained Gerald of the further changes he and Chris made. “We also swapped the car over to run on flex fuel instead of the dual-fuel systems it was originally designed for.”

To handle the conservative 1,000-plus wheel horsepower the LS produces, Gerald had Wendell Dunaway of Mr. Wendell’s Motorsports build the stout 4L80 automatic transmission. The gearbox was paired with a custom-spec’ed torque converter from Neal Chance Racing Converters, then coupled to a Dynamic Drivelines carbon fiber driveshaft which terminates into a fabricated 9-inch rear end with Strange Ultra Series center section, 3.70 gears, and 40-spline Strange axles.

Pretty Perfection

Rolling on a set of Weld’s finest V-series wheels wrapped in Mickey Thompson’s famous drag radial rubber, the Camaro sits ready and waiting to spring into action atop a set of Santhuff coilovers at all four corners. Finally, Wilwood brakes — a street kit up front and a drag kit with dual calipers out back — handle stopping duties and were sourced from Quick Performance.

Visually, the Camaro is deceptively simple. Respectful of the vintage muscle car’s iconic image, Gerald left the exterior completely unchanged except for a racy decklid aero aid because, as he says, “a Camaro just has to have a spoiler.”

Mike, however, had had it repainted back in 1996 with its original Bolero Red color with its classic white nose stripe, then he touched up the hood, trunk, and roll cage for Gerald after it changed hands.

Inside, it’s a carefully crafted mix of retro and modern as Gerald wanted the Camaro to look as factory as possible. “It was a non-air-conditioned car, so we cut up the dash to put in vents for the Vintage Air system, and kept the factory console and shifter and dash,” Gerald elaborated.

“We even modified the original AM radio so that it turns on and off through the knob, but links via Bluetooth for all the other functions.”

As it’s only recently been finished (and still has some minor sorting out to do), the 3,435-pound Camaro has only racked up about 20 miles to date. A dyno session confirmed what Gerald already suspected: the car would be both quick and reliable.

“Even though the rest of the parts can handle 2,000 horsepower, I’m limiting it to 1,500 flywheel horsepower because I don’t want to push the block further,” he shared of the car that made 630 wheel horsepower at four lbs of boost, 803 at eight psi, and 1,008 at 14. “At that point, we unstrapped it and drove it home.”

A Fitting Tribute

Even though the original plan was to have Gerald complete the Camaro and Mike to drive it at drag-and-drive events is no longer possible, Gerald is committed to making his late friend’s dream come true.

“As much as I don’t care about racing at the track, I will do one in this car to honor his legacy,” he shared of his upcoming plans to participate in the ultimate balanced blend of both worlds, street and strip, likely at either a Rocky Mountain Race Week or Sick Week event. “It has all the power it needs to run 8.50s all day long. But, since it’s a drag-and-drive car unlike all my others, this one will have to pass tech, which means we can’t push it any quicker because of the cage cert.”

Gerald definitely has no shortage of cool cars in his garage, but this fiery red twin-turbo ’67 Camaro SS — the one he didn’t want, the one he almost didn’t keep — is the most meaningful car he owns. “It’s got a purpose,” he said. “We didn’t just finish a build. We finished a promise.”