Eddie Pettus’s 1,300-HP Chevelle Wins 2026 SEMA Build-Off
Eddie Pettus has won the 2026 SEMA Battle of the Builders overall title with a heavily reworked 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle powered by a claimed 1,300-horsepower twin-turbo LS3.
SEMA announced the result on November 6 at its Las Vegas trade show. Pettus first won the Hot Rod/Hot Rod Truck category, then advanced to the final round against the champions from the import, off-road and Young Guns divisions.
The winning car was not selected through a drag race, lap time or instrumented performance test. Battle of the Builders is a judged showcase focused on design, fabrication, execution and technical creativity.
A five-year Chevelle build with extensive body changes
SEMA says Pettus and his team spent five years and more than 15,000 labor hours on the Chevelle. The exterior may retain the identity of a 1970 model, but the proportions and structure were extensively altered.
The body was wedge-sectioned, the wheelbase was extended and the roofline was reshaped. The project also received custom rocker panels and fender extensions, flush-mounted glass, fabricated floor pans, new wheelwells and a custom firewall.
Additional one-off pieces include the wheels, grille, door handles, hood, bumpers, deck lid, lighting trim and exhaust outlets. SEMA identifies Avante Garde as the designer of the custom interior and lists Dakota Digital gauges among the cabin hardware.
Twin-turbo LS3 power and an independent-rear-suspension chassis
The official Battle of the Builders entry lists a twin-turbo LS3 V8 rated at 1,300 horsepower. It is paired with a Bowler Performance 4L80 automatic transmission.
A Roadster Shop chassis supports the car, including a cantilever independent rear suspension. Brembo brakes are part of the package. Together, those components move the Chevelle well beyond a cosmetic restoration and into the restomod and high-performance fabrication category.
SEMA does not provide a dyno sheet, torque figure, vehicle weight, acceleration time or track result for the winning build. The 1,300-hp number should therefore be understood as the specification supplied for the competition entry rather than an independently verified Chiefs Review measurement.
The other three category winners
Pettus faced three class champions in the final round. Buddy Hale won Sport Compact/Import Performance with a 1955 Volkswagen Ghia that SEMA says required more than 20,000 hours of work and uses extensive handmade and CNC-machined components.
Mark Giambalvo took the Off-Road category with a 1974 Chevrolet K10 built around an RS4 chassis, an LT4 crate engine and a Bowler 4L80E transmission. Jesse Rieger won the Young Guns division with a 1969 Ford Mustang using a fully CAD-designed chassis and a Ford Performance Aluminator crate engine.
The official Top 4 announcement confirms that each finalist reached the last round by winning a different category. That format allowed a hot rod, a compact import, an off-road truck and a younger builder’s project to compete for the same overall honor.
Why the Chevelle win matters
Battle of the Builders is one of SEMA’s most visible builder-focused programs. The result gives Pettus and the Chevelle recognition beyond any single component supplier, while highlighting the sheet-metal work, chassis engineering and interior fabrication that can be easy to miss in a quick show-floor photo.
The Chevelle also reflects the broader direction of the 2026 show, where classic bodies were frequently combined with modern engines, computer-designed chassis components and contemporary braking systems. Chiefs Review’s other SEMA coverage includes the Ford R125 Mustang restomod and the Jeep Wrangler Scrambler SRT concept.
SEMA’s release does not disclose the Chevelle’s build cost, current owner, planned sale status or whether it will compete in future events. For now, its confirmed achievement is the 2026 overall Battle of the Builders title.
Featured image: Eddie Pettus’s 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle, the 2026 SEMA Battle of the Builders overall winner. Photo supplied by SEMA; the photographer is not identified on the source page. Source: SEMA Show Battle of the Builders. Used for editorial reporting under the SEMA media toolkit, which states that high-resolution show photography is free for editorial use with SEMA credit.