Troy LaCrone’s Approach to 7.90’s with a Street-Driven Camaro

Troy LaCrone’s drag racing story began with a deceptively quick nitrous 1971 Camaro that ran 9.19 at 140-plus mph while looking like an ordinary cruiser. Years later, he posted a 7.7730 average at Hot Rod Drag Week, joining an elite group of street-legal racers. He went on to beat both Lee Roberts and JJDaBoss on Memphis Street Outlaws, proving his street-driven builds could run with the genre’s biggest names.

The question was simple and direct, â€œWill you keep going after the eights?â€

Troy LaCroneâ€™s answer was succinct: â€œI hope not!â€

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It appears that he knew his quest wasnâ€™t complete.

That was how our story on started in our January 2006 issue. At that time, LaCrone was experimenting with a nitrous small-block 1971 Camaro fitted with leaf springs and slapper traction bars that he eventually cajoled into running 9.19 at 140-plus mph. It was impressive because it looked more like a 12-second cruiser than a 9-second abuser. But LaCrone sold the Camaro and was tempted by the siren song of a couple of late model turbocharged Mustangs. Those attempts were less than rewarding for various and expensive reasons.

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A nitrous small-block 1971 Camaro that ran 9.19 at over 140 mph does not sound like something you would mistake for an ordinary cruiser, but that was exactly the trick Troy LaCrone pulled off, with leaf springs and slapper bars doing the work most racers hide behind a full roll cage and slicks. His answer to whether he would keep chasing quicker numbers after that build, a blunt “I hope not,” aged about as well as most drag racers promises to slow down. Drag racing has a way of pulling people deeper in rather than letting them walk away satisfied, and LaCrone turned out to be no exception. Where did that restless streak eventually take him?

From a Deceptive 9-Second Camaro to Drag Week Contention

LaCrone eventually sold that Camaro and moved through a couple of late-model turbocharged Mustangs, experiments he later admitted were less than rewarding for various and expensive reasons. Rather than souring him on street-driven drag cars, the setbacks pushed him toward building something that could genuinely compete at the highest level of grassroots street racing — a car that could be driven to the track, run consistent numbers, and be driven home again.

That pursuit paid off in a big way. By 2018, LaCrone posted a 7.7730 average at Hot Rod Drag Week, one of the most demanding tests in street-legal drag racing since it requires competitors to drive hundreds of miles between venues on public roads and back up their number day after day. Averaging in the 7-second range over an entire week of racing put him among an elite group of street legends capable of that kind of consistency.

Taking on Street Outlaws’ Biggest Names

LaCrone’s reputation grew beyond magazine features and Drag Week results when he appeared on the Memphis Street Outlaws season premiere, beating Lee Roberts before going on to take down JJDaBoss himself — a pair of wins against established names in the streetcar racing world that cemented his standing well beyond the pages of the magazines that had covered his earlier builds.

He has also made two Hot Rod Magazine Drag Week appearances outside that 7.77 run, finishing third and second, results that show his consistency was no one-off performance but the product of a driver and a team that kept refining the same street-driven formula over years of racing.

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