For about 1200 feet, Greg Stanfield said he's got as challenging of a race car as he's ever driven. For the record, 1200 is as far as he's made it down the track under power behind the wheel of the Rod Shop Factory X Camaro.

"We still have a ways to go," Stanfield admitted.

Stanfield will compete in the inaugural season of Factory X, driving a Rod Shop Camaro fielded by team founder Gil Kirk. He was the last driver Kirk hired during the legendary days of the Rod Shop mega-team.

This time, Stanfield was the first and only.

The team hit the track for the first time recently with a private test session at the Texas Motorplex. He attempted four runs during the outing.

"Just an all-new combination that will take some time to perfect," Stanfield explained. "It's going to be a cool project."

Stanfield, a past national event winner in NHRA Pro Stock and other Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series categories, said the new Factory X car is so far off of previous combinations that it will take some time to dial in.

"Just trying to figure out what it wants," Stanfield said. "It's pretty far off what we've run in the past. We have had to start from scratch here. When you get a Pro Stock car, it's all tested with a wind tunnel-tested body. With these cars, you really don't know what they are going to do at 200 miles per hour because they haven't been put in the wind tunnel.

Stanfield said that even though the bodies are bone-stock, they are much larger than he's been accustomed to.

"It's the same wheelbase and body as a Factory Stock Showdown car, and it's got a big wing on the back," Stanfield said. "If you look at the downforce of the wing, it was putting off downforce like crazy. It is unbelievable. Then you got a big tire instead of a little radial tire, which is light and fast. Then you got this, it's not a wide tire, but it's a big tire."

So how did it feel at 1200 feet?

"We've got some work to do," Stanfield reiterated. "The car was hooked up; just the balance is wrong. It's going to take some out-of-the-box stuff, that kind of thinking."

Stanfield said he plans to debut the car at the NHRA Heartland Nationals in Topeka, Kansas, in August. However, he will display it at this weekend's Summit Racing NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio. He might even try to make a run or two.

"It's a really neat car," Stanfield said. "This class is going to take off. It's just going to need a little time. Once everybody gets cars in their hands and works on and figures out what they want, it will be cool to see some Mustangs and Dodges and everybody going at it."

Factory X, Stanfield admits, has reinvigorated a career he figured was in the final chapter.

"I figured I was down with heads-up racing," Stanfield said. "This Factory X has given me a whole new outlook on my racing life."

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