I’ve been saying for years that these retro cars from the old skool Big Three would be absolutely perfect to fire up some old skool, showroom stock style Trans Am racing. With Chrysler and Ford going whole hog on building race ready cars, could The General be too far behind? What’s that you say? The General cut his racing budget? I say poppycock!

Apparently, the Chevy boys missed that memo and showed up at Sema this week with the smoking hot Camaro GS Racecar concept. Built by the folks at Riley with the aid of GM, this “concept” appears to be a race ready addition to the Grand Am Koni Challenge series.

While they say this is an early prototype, this car arrived at Sema covered in dirt and dust, fresh off the track. That’s right, this is no show queen, its a full on race car. Seam welded, lots of carbon fibre, lightweight this and hardcore that show that Chevy means business.

Check out all the details from Chevrolet’s press release after the break

Camaro GS Racecar Concept: One of the most iconic cars of the legendary Trans Am road racing series was the distinctive blue-and-yellow Camaro of Mark Donohue. He was a dominant racer in the series and drove his #6 1969 model to the series championship that year.

With the assistance of GM’s High Performance Vehicle Operations, North Carolina-based Riley Technologies re-created the look and feel of that standout racecar with a tribute that looks, sounds and drives like it’s ready to do battle with its contemporary pony car competitors. In fact, the heritage-inspired racer is more than concept. It is an early prototype for the Grand Am Koni Challenge GS racing class. Racecars like the GS Concept are offered and manufactured by Riley Technologies for the 2009 Grand-Am season.

The GS Concept features the race-ready suspension, reinforced chassis and drivetrain conform to the specifications required of racecars certified for the series. In fact, this racecar has already logged many hours on the racetrack as Riley team members worked to dial-in the chassis and powertrain. Additional features include:

* Seam-welded production Camaro body-in-white
* Carbon fiber hood, trunk lid, doors and fenders
* Production LS3 V-8 engine (used with solid engine mounts)
* Tremec 6060 six-speed manual transmission with close-ratio gearing
* Three-inch exhaust system with Coast Fab mufflers
* C&R racing aluminum radiator
* Upgraded engine oil cooler
* Transmission and differential coolers

The GS Racecar Concept is shown at SEMA just as it was last driven off the track, with the grime, brake dust and body imperfections commensurate with a day’s worth of racing. Indeed, it isn’t a car that spent hundreds of hours in a body shop in a quest of sheet metal perfection. It displays the bruises of competition and wears them as badges of honor.

Like Donohue’s ’69 Camaro racecar, the GS Racecar Concept wears a deep blue paint scheme that is accented with yellow graphics, a yellow-painted interior and yellow racing wheels.