At last year’s SEMA Show in Las Vegas, the automotive aftermarket industry trade show chocked full of storylines, the biggest story of them all was the unveiling of the COPO Camaro concept car from the folks at Chevrolet. In the ensuing months, the COPO has remained a hot topic — one only further fueled by the domination of the Ford Mustang Cobra Jet this season.

Once it was revealed that the concept would truly become a reality, the question became just how quick and fast these cars would run and whether they could compete with the Cobra Jet. After all, with the reincarnation of the factory muscle car wars upon us, performance and wins are the name of the game.

After months of anticipation, the first four COPO’s rolled off the assembly line last week and were delivered to their lucky owners. New York-area class racer Paul Cambria was one of the first to receive his new toy and promptly headed to the Empire Dragway to put the supercharged Camaro through its paces.

Cambria made three passes, blowing the tires off on the first, clocking a 9.07 on the second lap, and carding an impressive 8.88 on the third at just 142 mph after hitting the chip at 1,100 feet and clicking it off early.

Prognosticators predicted that the supercharged version of the COPO would be capable of running in the mid-eight second zone after the racers got their hands on them, and with Cambria’s performance virtually out of the box, even those predictions may have been a little soft. No doubt about it, Indy will be interesting.