In the world of drag racing, John Force is king. After all, the legendary figure has 16 Funny Car championships to his credit in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, has scored more than 150 victories and recently claimed his fifth win in the prestigious Chevrolet Performance U.S Nationals.

Both his success and his willingness to spend time signing and talking with fans has made him one of the most popular drivers in the history of the sport. He also recently signed a three-year extension with Chevrolet for his four-car John Force Racing team, consisting of two Camaro SS Funny Cars and two Chevrolet Top Fuel dragsters. As part of that special relationship with the Bowtie, a 2020 Chevrolet COPO Camaro John Force Concept has been unveiled during this year’s SEMA Show in Las Vegas. The program follows the introduction of the 2016 COPO by Force’s daughter, former Funny Car driver Courtney.

“My daughter had a COPO Camaro, it was unveiled in Detroit and it was really exciting for me to see her name splashed on this red Camaro, and of course everybody was there,” Force said. “Jim Campbell (Chevrolet U.S. Vice President, Performance and Motorsports) unveiled it and it was really a lot of fun. I saw [Courtney’s] excitement because she designed it.”

So, when Chevrolet asked John if he would be interested in creating his own edition of the COPO, he jumped at the chance. After its introduction during the SEMA Show, the car will then be taken to a Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in the near future.  “I want to be there for it, I want to be on the stage,” Force said. “I want to be there because I want to help pitch it and I want to say this is for a charity.”  That charity will be Donors Choose, which funds programs for teachers.

The COPO is not just designed to turn heads. As a true purpose-built race car, it is built to perform as well. Each week, many COPOs are seen in Stock and Super Stock competition at drag strips around the country, and the car also takes part in the NHRA Factory Stock Showdown and NMCA Factory Super Cars programs.

“The car is stylish, it has aerodynamics that come from NASCAR and IndyCar, but also come from drag racing, because that’s what we race are the Camaros,” Force explained. “Of course under the hood it’s unbelievable, it’s got performance. The transmission, the drivetrain, it’s a real race car.”
The exterior of the COPO Camaro John Force Concept features black exterior paint, a white center stripe and John Force signature graphics in red. These signature graphics include the John Force “X” on the bumper, which shows up on all of the John Force Racing cars and represent the patriarch’s 10 championships in a row. The hood also displays a ghosted graphic of the American flag.The paint scheme is the one that fans first saw Force run during the 2019 of the “Night Under Fire” exhibition event at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. Force won this year’s event. The car also carries a 2020COPO-FORCE nameplate meaning it is not part of the production run of the 69 COPO Camaro race cars.

Force’s relationship with Chevrolet goes back decades. In fact, his first-ever sponsor was a Chevrolet dealer near his home in California. His first car was a ’54 four-door Chevy sedan with a six-cylinder engine and an automatic transmission, and he calls himself a “General Motors buff,” having also owned Tri-Five Chevrolets from 1955-1957. His parents each drove GM products, too.

Through early November of 2019, Force had won 20 times in a Chevrolet Funny Car and had accumulated a total of 73 victories with GM.
“I’m honored to be a part of General Motors, it’s just a great American company,” he said.  He also notes his teams receive plenty of help in the aerodynamics department thanks to Chevrolet engineers and learn from all of the motorsports disciplines in which GM is involved. “At the end of the day I’m lucky to be here and Jim Campbell knows where I come from,” Force said. “The guy’s really into his teams, his drivers, his owners, the employees of the companies that work on the race cars. He gets it all.”

As for the COPO, Force has high praise for both his own designers (Brandon Baker and Armando Villa) at John Force Racing and designers Jason Bliss and Marc Mainville at Chevrolet. Also, don’t be surprised if Force shows up behind the wheel at some point. “We’ll probably get it in a race, we’ll have some fun with it,” he said. “Our job is to focus on winning races and championships, but I’m going to get a shot at racing that COPO and I’m going to.”

Registration for a chance to purchase the 2020 COPO Camaro is now open. Although customers won’t be able to purchase the concept designed by Force, they will be able to get the same look and feel. This year’s COPO run will offer three different tiers with specific color combinations, graphics and wheels. Everything will carry over from the 2019 model, with the exception of the 302c.i. direct-injection engine. This year, only the LSX-based 350c.i. supercharged engine and the LSX-based 427c.i. naturally aspirated power plant will be offered. All feature a TH400 three-speed automatic transmission.