You are currently viewing Chevrolet.com (United States). Close this window to stay here or choose another country to see vehicles and services specific to your location.

Published: 11/21/2022

Showtime is Now

Author: DAN HODGDON

Photos: COURTESY of CHRIS CLARK and SHOWTIME MOTORSPORTS

Share on

Share on

Visit us at

Visit us at

Ken Thwaits calls himself a "Camaro fanatic." With one of the most extensive Camaro collections in the country, and a race team that consistently puts its Camaros near the front of the Trans Am Series field, it's clear Thwaits' fandom reaches a nearly unmatched level.

 

Ken Thwaits calls himself a "Camaro fanatic." With one of the most extensive Camaro collections in the country, and a race team that consistently puts its Camaros near the front of the Trans Am Series field, it's clear Thwaits' fandom reaches a nearly unmatched level.

 

A look at Ken Thwaits' impressive Camaro collection. Photo: Showtime Motorsports

"I think a '69 Camaro design is timeless and just so cool-looking."

 

"I've always loved Chevrolet and in particular, I think a '69 Camaro design is timeless and just so cool-looking," Thwaits says.

The collection near his home outside of Nashville in Franklin, Tennessee, covers each generation and ranges from rare numbers-matching originals to custom builds powered by Chevrolet Performance crate engines.* His race shop is in the same location, where the high-horsepower Trans Am cars are prepared to do battle at some of the most historic road courses across the country each season.

 

Thwaits began racing as a teenager and picked up the sport again in the 2010s. Photo: Chris Clark

 

Like so many stories in the motorsports world, Thwaits' began with his father, who started racing in the mid-1960s. When Thwaits was in his early teens and growing up in Southern California his dad got him a go-kart, which eventually led to Thwaits competing in Formula Ford starting in 1978 and Pro Formula Mazda by 1984. Thwaits won the latter series' championship in 1985 and then turned to showroom-stock Camaros in the late '80s as his initial driving career wound down. 

"It's the typical thing, you meet a girl, start a new business, start a family and racing was put on hold for me for 22 years," Thwaits explains.

He had always wanted to run Trans Am cars, having been a fan of the famed vehicles and drivers that populated the series during the muscle-car era in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but had simply never had the means to do so.

Thwaits instead became what he calls "a baseball dad" until his youngest son announced he was going to stop playing. At that time, Thwaits decided to start racing again and Showtime Motorsportsports was born soon after. The name comes from Thwaits' Showtime Baseball Academy, which is located next door to his race shop and car collection.

 

Thwaits currently drives a Camaro in the headlining TA class of the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli. Photo: Chris Clark

"[Trans Am] cars are just animals They're just wicked fast. I had to take my game to another level."

Thwaits found success quickly, winning the OPTIMA Search for the Ultimate Street Car championship in 2014 with a fifth-gen Camaro – one of the first in his collection. He then won the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational in 2017 piloting a turbocharged Mitsubishi Lancer Evo. 

From there, he decided he wanted to find a four-wheel drive vehicle to which he could add a turbo and win another Ultimate Street Car title. He settled on an Audi R8, but plans changed when he found an R8 LMS GT3 car built for road racing.

Ultimate Street Car took a backseat, and with the R8 Thwaits instead began to take on the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA), a series that visits some of North America's most iconic tracks – often on the same weekend as the current Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli.

With some balance of performance (BOP) adjustments, Thwaits was able to race the Audi in the SGT class of Trans Am in 2019, then won the XGT championship for GT3-based entries in 2020. Thwaits next decided to step up to the headlining TA class in 2021 after buying a Camaro and a complete team from fellow Trans Am competitor Doug Peterson.

"I think it took me a whole year to come to grips with the car," Thwaits says. "These cars are just animals, man, they're just wicked fast. I had to take my game to another level and this year has been a great year for us. I've gone much quicker."

Indeed, Thwaits turned in a solid season in his No. 7 Camaro with four podiums and a fourth-place finish in the 2022 final point standings.

Thwaits' high-horsepower Camaro has an ECR engine under the hood. Photo: Chris Clark

 "These things come off the corners like gangbusters and just pin you in the seat."

 

The cars in the ear-splittingly loud TA class are capable of 850 to 900 horsepower and Thwaits' Showtime Motorsports machines are powered by ECR Engines – the same company which has won multiple NASCAR and IMSA races, along with other prestigious events.

Thwaits and his team have worked closely with ECR to develop the carbureted Trans Am engine, which is limited to 8600 rpm and needs to accommodate turning left and right for an hour, as opposed to 500 miles on an oval. As a result, they've ground a Trans Am-specific camshaft and designed a new intake manifold to create more torque and mid-range power.

"These things come off the corners like gangbusters and just pin you in the seat," he says. "We were doing 185 at the end of the straightaway at VIR (Virginia International Raceway) – it's just a rocket ship."

Thwaits and his contemporaries believe that they can't compete in anything better or more thrilling to drive.

Thwaits counts as highlights qualifying third at Watkins Glen International in September – when he was just three-tenths of a second off the front row – along with his first TA podium at Sebring International Raceway in the opening race of the year and his three other third-place results at Road Atlanta, Sonoma Raceway and Lime Rock Park.

 

Showtime Motorsports has grown to include multiple cars across both the TA and TA2 classes. Photo: Chris Clark

 

In 2022, the team also found success in its second TA car, a No. 5 Camaro which has been piloted by the likes of former Brickyard 400 winner Paul Menard, Trackhouse Racing co-owner Justin Marks and comedian Adam Carolla. Menard has run three races with the team and scored a victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway, while Marks won at Watkins Glen during a torrential downpour in an event where Thwaits says the driver "didn't put a wheel wrong all day." Most recently, Memphis area builder and sports car driver Keith Grant piloted the car to a runner-up finish at VIR.

Additionally, in 2022 Showtime Motorsports launched a two-car operation in the Trans Am TA2 class, an ultra-competitive division that features many of the same models that appear in TA, but their fuel-injected engines are limited to just under 500 horsepower and many spec regulations level the playing field. 

For the season-long campaign Thwaits hired two-time champion and winningest TA2 driver, Cameron Lawrence, to pilot the No. 6 Camaro. A variety of drivers have driven the sister No. 4 car, but Dylan Archer was behind the wheel in year-end events and will contest the whole 2023 season with the Showtime group. In addition, Thwaits' men's boutique clothing store, Franklin Road Apparel, sponsors young upstart Brent Crews' TA2 efforts.

"We've got our fingers in all kinds of the pie here," Thwaits says.

In 2023, Marks will drive alongside Thwaits full-time in a second TA car (No. 99), with Keith Grant making spot starts in a third and additional entries available. Meanwhile, Michele Abatte and Evan Slater will join Lawrence to make up the team's three-car TA2 attack. In addition, a MAVTV documentary entitled "Road to Glory" will spotlight Showtime Motorsports throughout the season. 

 

Thwaits is involved with a wide variety of business endeavors. Photo: Showtime Motorsports

 

Thwaits' Franklin Road brand has become synonymous with Showtime Motorsports and has provided an ideal advertising outlet with steadily high sales numbers for the store. A related business, Showtime Promotions, provides custom embroidery, screen printing and promotional products.

Thwaits is an entrepreneur who has long been involved in a wide variety of businesses, including Precision Dynamics International (PDI), an automotive training and marketing company that works with multiple OEMs to train sales consultants and also puts on a variety of consumer events. In addition, with the business Thwaits tests cars and writes reports on how they compare to competitors.

The company has been in business for more than 30 years and for much of his life Thwaits lived in Phoenix, near a major client's proving ground, before the work took him to the Nashville area in 2007.

 

One of the split-bumper Camaros in Thwaits' collection. Photo: Showtime Motorsports

It was in Tennessee that he started collecting Camaros, and today, the collection features more than 25 examples spanning various generations. Although Thwaits' first car was a 1965 Chevelle, and he's also long been a fan of El Caminos, when he began collecting he decided to stick with just one model.

Among the numerous highlights in the collection are two 1969 Z/28s featuring JL8 four-wheel disc brakes, three rare split-bumper Camaros (including the famed "Envious" build), a third-gen IROC found in a trailer with 9.5 miles on the odometer, and an LS1-powered fourth-gen with only 175 miles.

The cars range from rare numbers-matching and low-mileage originals, to crate engine-powered restomods, to specially built, high-powered Pro Touring race cars. For instance, Envious features a 680 horsepower Wegner LS7, while the Z/28 Thwaits raced in the OPTIMA series has a Lingenfelter LS7 under the hood.

"I like the numbers-matching stuff because that's a valuable asset and to even drive the cars it really is a throwback; the ones I have run really well," Thwaits says. "But then I also have the cars that I've raced in OPTIMA and are built for that series. We've kept those in the barn so to speak."

Thwaits' collection covers multiple Camaro generations. Photo: Showtime Motorsports

"There's no retirement in the near future."

Although Thwaits doesn't necessarily advertise the collection, and it's a little hard to find by design, he says that if an interested party were to reach out he'd be happy to show all of his collector cars and race cars.

Thwaits clearly puts a lot on his plate – but he does so happily. 

"Between [PDI], the men's boutique, and then the race team, it kind of keeps me busy," he says. "There's no retirement in the near future for me."

*Because of their effect on a vehicle's emissions performance, these engines are intended exclusively for use in competition vehicles. These engines are designed and intended for use in vehicles operated exclusively for competition: in racing or organized competition on courses separate from public streets or highways. Installation or use of these engines on a vehicle operated on public streets or highways is likely to violate U.S., Canadian, and state and provincial laws and regulations related to motor vehicle emissions.

STORY PHOTOS