Things are not always what they seem. Take, for example, the supercar movement of the 1960s. Most of us understand that it came to pass as a means for new-car dealers to win potential customers by beating the competition on the track.

The shelf life for newly built cars is notoriously short. Trends evolve so rapidly that a car deemed cutting edge upon its completion can lose its novelty in a matter of months. Once it hits its first anniversary, a hot car usually has about as much star power as a talent show runner-up.

Competing in the popular SCCA racing series are first-year drivers Andy Lee, Harry Curtin, an Todd Napieralski, who all are enjoying highly impressive seasons.

In 1965, two testosterone-pumped North Jersey wannabes tried to race a Hilborn-spritzed '55 Chevy in D/Gas and all of a sudden, we were off the street and stuck to some serious business. We had a great car but didn't know what to do with it and subsequently got mired in physics and maintenance about which we knew nil.

Ever since the fifth-gen Camaro hit the streets in mid-2009, a good number of its attractors seem to share a common denominator: they've all owned or had an affinity for the first-gen Camaro at one point in their lives. We don't know if it has to do with the fifth-gen's muscle car styling cues being borrowed from its much older brother from the late-'60s or not, but with the modern SS packing 426 ponies under the hood, horsepower certainly wasn't a detractor.

The Middle East has officially obtained its first American Muscle cop-car, a Chevrolet Camaro SS. Buti Saeed Al Ghandi, Managing Director of Al Ghandi Auto and John Stadwick, President and Managing Director of GM Middle East, handed the keys of the Camaro SS to Dubai Deputy Police Chief Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina. In return John Stadwick received a special engraved plaque from Dubai Police.

Camaro-bodied cars of all shapes and sizes truly enjoyed a successful 2012 drag racing season that included Championship runs. Here are four of the best…

Hand-Me-Down

Pro-Crastination

Steve McDonough of Pembroke, Massachusetts, is no stranger to hopped-up muscle cars. He's owned a number of first-generation Camaros (as well as other Chevys), each with its own unique style and he's always maintained that if a car isn't a driver, it's pretty much worthless. It's his dedication to maintaining that a car should be able to hold its own on the street as well as the dragstrip that makes the evolution of his current '67, known as Sweet & Low, unique.

Most Camaro performers are multi-faceted machines that do most everything well. They are augmented by a full complement of comfort and convenience. They are driver’s cars and looked upon as islands of strength, security, and warmth in a cold world. As such, we tend to love them and treat them with respect. They’re our pals through thick and thin. But what do you say about a single-purpose machine, a tool, if you will?

Growing up in a household where performance-oriented Camaros were a major part of the landscape, Brian Hobaugh's parents performed a tricky balancing act between attending his dad, Steve's, bi-monthly autocross events and keeping a young Brian involved in youth sports programs such as soccer, baseball, and football throughout his formative years. The Hobaugh clan was a busy bunch. Although Brian excelled at ball sports up to his high school days, the overwhelming influence of his dad's racing became more attractive as he got closer to getting his driver's license. There was no doubt that racing was in his blood.

Every year, we here at Camaro Performers magazine look forward to putting together the February issue. It's the one time we get to revisit each and every Camaro featured in these pages from the previous year. We then compile a list of the top 20 Camaros based not only on the editorial staff's choices, but this year, for the first time, we are using input from our readers and Facebook followers. We then painstakingly whittled it down to the best 11 and called it good. Now we didn't blatantly ask which Camaros you felt should make our list, but we took into account the feedback we received from your emails and Facebook likes and comments.

Ultimate Prize Winner!

Being molded into a gearhead is generally a natural progression. Whether it was that “cool dude” who lived down the street with the bitchin Camaro and would fire it up with open headers or it was your favorite Hot Wheel and the fact that you knew you’d have a real one just like it someday – both are realistic scenarios in which most any budding hot rodder or muscle car enthusiast can relate to. Then there’s the family influence of hot rodding – no escape from this one, and who would want to, anyway?

In what was one of the most anticipated Sportsman racing developments of the entire 2012 season, Chevrolet’s all-new COPO Camaros have made their competition debut.

Plank Owner

Like so many high schoolers favoring the muscle car scene in the early ’70s, Dave Mausbach would secretly hide his Hot Rod magazines inside an open textbook pretending to follow along during another boring physics class lecture only to be taking in images and articles on the coolest muscle cars of the era.

“Win on Sunday, sell on Monday” is an axiom that’s been bantered about by car manufacturers for some time now. In short, it’s a correlation between winning at the racetrack and sales at the dealership. After all, everyone loves a winner, and even guys (mostly) who don’t plan on hitting any sort of track, like the idea of driving a ride that is capable of running on and kicking ass at the track.

With stock fourth-gen Camaros capable of running in the 12-second e.t. zone, it’s not uncommon to find a large amount of these cars at most any local dragstrip. But what is uncommon is finding the quicker of this specimen in show quality condition. Now, coming across an 8-second 2000 Chevrolet Camaro SS lurking in the back row of a local car show; well, this scenario falls under the guise of highly improbable. But that was exactly the case when we came upon Beau Buie’s immaculate SS at the annual Sycamore cruise in Illinois a few months back. The sheer viciousness grabbed our attention, but further inspection revealed that Beau’s passion for fast cars is equaled only by his devotion to detail. “Having a fast car is one thing,” revealed Beau. “But I also prefer my cars look good, too.”

Many times, here in Resto Shop, we have included information about low-production and/or rare-optioned first-gen COPO Camaros. The introduction of the fifth-gen COPO and ZL1 Camaros makes it obvious that there are other Camaros that will be produced in relatively low numbers and will be collectible in the future. What about the low-production third-gen Camaro dubbed the California IROC (or 1C5)?

Sustained “Sudden Impact”

Army of One

In most respects, Clay Lawson’s fifth-gen Camaro came out exactly how he had envisioned: big power, excellent handling, great stance, brilliant paint. It had it all. There was only one problem: it had a roof. For most of us, that wouldn’t be an issue, but Clay’s original plan was to build a unique 2011 Chevy Camaro SS convertible with full ’cage that was capable of running low 10’s. Oh, and it had to be able to beat his dad’s twin-turbo ’69.

Going against the grain is generally a bad idea, but it’s the danger and excitement of doing the opposite of what society–and our friends—expect us to do that proudly defines us as car guys. Or in this instance, “car girl” would be the correct term as this immaculate ’87 not only belongs to a girl, but one who would be classified as a total “car freak” by today’s khaki pants, polo shirt-wearing culture we’ve been overly exposed to lately. Fitting in might be good for some people, but not Laura Wilson.