I was having a conversation with a co-worker yesterday about the 2010 Camaro and to say he was excited is an understatement. He put forth the proposition that the '10 Camaro was the big mack-daddy of the performance world. "It's outselling the Mustang and the Challenger and the aftermarket has come out with a ton of parts for it," he said. Me? I'm not quite convinced yet.

Couple of reasons. First, while the Camaro was doing great, the 2010 Mustang has surpassed it in sales so far since January 1—by a wide margin. That there were no Camaros built the first two weeks of January surely put it in a hole, production-wise, but let's look past that. Second, the late-model Mustang aftermarket dwarfs that of the new Camaro and likely will for years. We've got a lot of catching up to do. But biggest thing is what important race has a new Camaro won? Until it takes the late-model Mustang on in drag racing, say in the NMCA or other street-oriented classes, it hasn't accomplished anything.

Yes, I read the posts: "I've got the first red Camaro SS in the 11s with drag radials, a blower, and a Nirvana CD playing," but this is just a bunch of crap. That just makes you a time-shot artist. I remember how the Grand National guys were crowing in the early ’90s about what hot stuff they were, but in the Mustang-GN shootouts, they always got smoked.

This doesn't mean I'm some kind of Mustang lover; what it means is if fifth-gen Camaro guys want to be taken seriously, they've got to go kick some Ford butt at the track. Gee, maybe we can organize a Camaro-Mustang shootout. Would you fifth-gen guys be interested?