Born into a racing family, Cory Clemens dreamed about one day wheeling a wild drag car of his own. Now, at 22 years old, the aspiring racer is taming the small-tire world and climbing the ranks of Pro 275 with his “King of the Jungle II” 1987 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am GTA.
Cory grew up around cars thanks to his father, Wayne Clemens. Wayne’s involvement in racing – first on the streets, then in Outlaw 10.5, and finally in Pro Modified – inspired Cory to follow a similar path. “The louder and faster they were, the better,” recalled the young man of how he loved the fast-paced adrenaline of drag racing. “I remember all the action and competition, and knew that one day, I wanted to be in that seat going fast!”
Always one to “live on the edge” with sports and crazy adventures, young Cory satisfied his speed addiction with go karts and sport bikes, then quelled his craving for competition by driving a Junior Dragster when he was 10 years old. Eventually, the scaled-down dragster was sold and replaced with a Pro Street 1994 Pontiac Trans Am for Wayne, which Cory helped wrench on every night.
Several other cars came and went, and a 2000 Chevrolet Camaro SLP became Cory’s high school hot rod and his first love. “I did some street racing with it and got a name around town,” he confessed. He was 15 at the time, and that’s when his father found his current 1987 Trans Am for sale on Craigslist. Cory checked out the car but didn’t think much of it, as he was “more of a fourth-gen kind of guy.”
One blistering cold day, Wayne picked up Cory and his brother, Colten, from school and took them on a three-hour road trip from their home in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, to St. Louis just to take a peek at the third-generation Firebird. “Everything had been tossed in the guy’s trailer, but it was in great condition,” Cory said of how the car still had all of its original pieces except for the interior. “My dad and I went back and forth while we were there and inevitably bought it!”
Thinking that the GTA would be a great start to let Cory learn to build a drag car from scratch, the men liked that the F-body was not as common as a Camaro or other platforms. At the time, he had been racing his Camaro and even a dragster sporadically, but the Trans Am quickly became his main focus.
Working together at the family’s business, Clemens Motorsports Unlimited LLC, the Clemens men spent every day after school, as well as days off…
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