Trans-Am Series
Encyclopedia
The Trans-Am Series is an automobile racing series which was created in 1966 by Sports Car Club of America
(SCCA) President John Bishop. Originally known as the Trans-American Sedan Championship it has evolved over time from its original format as a manufacturers championship for modified racing sedans to its current form as a drivers championship open to GT
style cars.
The series was formed at the dawn of the pony car
era and was derived from the SCCA's A & B Sedan amateur Club Racing classes, based upon commercially produced cars which had been modified for racing competition. Originally the series was open to FIA Group 2 Touring Cars
and it featured two classes, Over 2.0 Liter and Under 2.0 Liter, with both classes running together. The series was best known for competition among American V8 sedans such as the Ford Mustang
, Chevrolet Camaro
, Plymouth Barracuda
, Mercury Cougar
, AMC Javelin
, Pontiac Firebird
, and Dodge Challenger
in the 1960s and early 1970s. Marques such as Porsche
, Alfa Romeo
, Datsun
, Mini Cooper, Saab
, and Volkswagen
competed in the series Under 2.0 Liter category.
The Pontiac Trans Am was named after the series. According to SCCA archives, that brand has taken 7 wins in the 42-year-old series' 450+ events. The last win by a Pontiac Trans Am was in 1984. The Sports Car Club of America is the sanctioning body for the series and holds the rights to the "Trans-Am" name. The series has also been licensed by the Champ Car World Series
and ran the majority of its races in support of the parent open-wheel championship.
The first race was in 1966 at Sebring International Raceway. The overall win went to Jochen Rindt
driving an Alfa Romeo GTA
(an Under 2 Liter entry), with Bob Tullius (driving a Dodge Dart
) taking second overall, but first in the Over 2 Liter class.
Allan Moffat
in an Under 2 Liter Lotus Cortina
won the third race at Bryar. Ford had full factory effort with the Alan Mann Cortinas but suffered from reliability issues. In 1966 the Over 2 Liter manufacturers' champion was Ford and the Under 2 Liter manufacturers' champion Alfa Romeo
with the Kwech
/Andrey GTA scoring 39 of the 57 manufacturers' points for Alfa. The Alfa Romeo of Horst Kwech
and Gaston Andrey also scored the most points in the first unofficial drivers' championship, edging out Bob Johnson.
In 1967 Porsche
lobbied the SCCA to have the 911 accepted as a sedan and then dominated the Under 2 Liter field winning the manufacturers championship over Alfa Romeo. In Over 2 Liter, Ford edged out Mercury
to win the manufacturers' championship. Jerry Titus won the second unofficial drivers' championship.
, driving for Roger Penske
. Penske campaigned Camaros through 1969, when he signed with American Motors
to race the Javelin in 1970 and 1971. Donohue would chalk up 20 race victories between 1967 and 1970 and three unofficial drivers' championships, the third achieved in 1971.
The 1970 Trans Am series is regarded by most racing historians as the high water mark of American road racing. Every "pony car
" manufacturer was represented with a factory team and top driving talent: Chevrolet had the Chaparral Chevy Camaro Z28
team with Jim Hall
, Ed Leslie, and Vic Elford
. Ford's Bud Moore Boss 302 Mustang
s were driven by Parnelli Jones
and George Follmer. For Plymouth, the Plymouth Cuda' AAR (All American Racing) were handled by Dan Gurney
and Swede Savage
. Sam Posey
, and occasionally Tony Adamowicz
, drove Ray Caldwell's Autodynamics Dodge Challenger T/A (Trans Am), Jerry Titus had the Pontiac Trans Am, and Roger Penske
's Sunoco AMC Javelin team starred Mark Donohue
and Peter Revson
. The Mercury Cougar
s were driven by Charlie Rainville, Bruce Jennings, and three other drivers in two races of the 1968 season.
As evidence of the original modified production car concept, a fan favorite in the early 1970s was the "Grey Ghost", a '64 Pontiac Tempest
, prepared by legendary Pontiac
Chief Engineer Herb Adams and a group of his young proteges. The boxy six year old Tempest had once been Adams' wife's daily driver, with reportedly over 80000 miles (128,747.2 km) on the odometer when it was turned into an A Sedan racer. It proved to be surprisingly fast, at a time when even a one year old car was considered out of step with the competition. It was entered in the opening round of the 1971 Trans-Am Championship. Unable to qualify, the car was allowed to start from the back of the pack. With Bob Tullius behind the wheel, it mowed through the field, and was running second behind eventual winner Mark Donohue
's factory-supported Penske Racing
AMC Javelin
when the engine broke. Tullius would go on to win back to back Trans-Am championships in 1977 and 1978.
Most of these cars have been preserved or restored and are still racing in vintage events today. The Historic Trans Am Group events often reunite drivers from the era with the cars they raced "back in the day".
s and Alfa Romeo GTVs were dominant, until 1971 when the BRE Datsuns entered the series and dominated through 1972, when Alfa Romeo and BMW quit the series because an inability to beat the BRE prepared Datsuns. When these two marques dropped out interest in the series waned and the SCCA cancelled the series. Successful drivers included Peter Gregg
, Horst Kwech
, Bob Sharp
, and John Morton. The Vintage Sedan Racers Group or VSRG is made up of vintage race drivers, car owners, car builders and enthusiast working together to bring the excitement of Trans-Am 2.5 and B-Sedan cars to vintage racing.
Beginning in the 1970s, Trans-Am cars would also be seen competing in the IMSA GT Series.
1983 marked the emergence of a young African-American Formula Atlantic driver named Willy T. Ribbs
, whose self-described "ultra-fast, aggressive, and smooth" driving style attracted the attention of Neil DeAtley, a wealthy contractor who was assembling a two-car team of racing Camaros for the Trans-Am series. DeAtley's major sponsor was Budweiser
, the largest-selling beer in America, which also marked the association of truly major sponsor to the series. Ribbs came the team as the number two driver, with English Formula One
driver David Hobbs driving the teams primary car. Ribbs agreed, and as a team, he and Hobbs dominated the 1983 season, with Ribbs winning five races and Hobbs winning four. The smooth driving veteran Hobbs took the Trans-Am championship with his more consistent finishes, while the more brilliant, yet aggressive Ribbs was named Trans-Am Rookie of the Year.
During practice for the first round of the 1984 Trans Am season, Ribbs fought with fellow competitor, Bob Lobenberg, over an on track incident and was summarily fired from the team. Out of a ride for the first four events, Ribbs joined Roush Racing
, who had entered into Trans-Am competition that season, driving Mercury Capris. With the help of Ribbs's 3 wins, Mercury took the manufacturers' title from DeAtley's Chevrolet. For the next six years Roush entries would dominate the series, winning 46 of the 83 races. Back with Roush again for the 1985 season, Ribbs scored seven victories and became the leading money winner in Trans-Am series history, yet finished second in points, as teammate Wally Dallenbach, Jr.
used his consistently higher finishes to take the championship .
1986 was wildly competitive as the aforementioned Turbocharged, small-displacement engined cars would become more powerful and go from field fillers to race winners. The Roush Racing
Mercury Capri
V8s and Merkur XR4Ti
turbo 4s were head to head against Camaro V8s, and the turbocharged Buick Somerset, when actor/race driver Paul Newman
shocked everyone and took round 8 in his Nissan 300ZX Turbo. Dallenbach would again take the championship, this time in a Protofab Camaro.
The Roush Merkurs won of Scott Pruett
and Pete Halsmer
dominated the 1987 season, winning all but one race, with Elliott Forbes-Robinson
taking that win in his Porsche 944 Turbo. Pruett would take home the championship.
In 1988, after years of rallying, Audi
would enter the series with the 200 turbo quattro via the services of Bob Tullius's Group 44 Racing. As usual the car ran their trademark Quattro system. However this did not run without controversy as the car, piloted by Haywood and with both Walter Röhrl
and Hans Joachim Stuck
sharing duties, steamrollered the opposition taking eight out of thirteen wins. As Audi would defect to IMSA
by the end of the season, the SCCA would change the regulation to a two wheel drive only and banning cars with non American engines from taking part. The Historic Trans-am & IMSA Group is dedicated to the preservation of the cars that ran in the SCCA Trans-am series and the similar IMSA GTO class from 1980 until 1991. The variety of cars in these classes ran the gamut from turbocharged 4 cylinder Merkur
s to Corvette
s with 358 cubic inch V8s.
, in a Ford, was the driver to beat- he would take four driver's championships in this decade. Chevrolet was also prominent in this time period, with 6 drivers' champions in their cars.
Paul Gentilozzi
rose to the fore beginning in 1998 with his first championship in Trans-Am. He would win four more championships, driving a Chevrolet
, Ford
, and Jaguar
. These latter years also saw more marques enter the field, with exotics such as the Panoz Esperante
, Qvale Mangusta
and Jaguar XKR. Later in the 2004 season, a Rocketsports Racing
Jaguar XKR raced with a production-based 4.5 liter 650 hp DOHC AJ-V8.
Due to a lack of participants and interest, the series all but ceased operations after the 2005 season. However the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA
) continued to own the name and permitted Heartland Park Topeka
to run two races in September and October 2006 using Trans Am rules and the Trans Am name. Fields were shored up by a makeshift assortment of SCCA GT-1 class amateur racers in town for the National Championship Runoffs later that week.
brand, using the SCCA's GT-1 category rules. The first race was held March 22, 2009. The revived series utilized the same vehicle rules as SCCA's amateur GT-1 class, providing top GT-1 competitors a professional series to progress to. Tomy Drissi was the first champion upon the series' return.
The Trans Am Series has yet to re-establish a television contract, having lost its connections with Speed Channel upon the series' hiatus from 2007-08. Also, the World Challenge still receives priority on the Versus
television network.
In 2011, in an effort to increase grid sizes which typically numbered in the single digits in 2010, the Trans Am Series will introduce two additional classes of competition in addition to the 2010 spec which will race as "TA1". The new TA2 class will consist of SCCA GT2 and GTA class cars while the new TA3 class will consist of SCCA GT3 class cars. This is the first time that the series will feature more than one class of competition since 1979.
and the Grand American Road Racing Association
(respectively), utilize modified production-based cars sports cars and touring cars, similar in spirit to the original Trans-Am racers. With the rise of these series, Trans-Am saw decreased attention from the media. Speedvision did occasionally cover Trans-Am races until the series' demise in 2006, however.
Sports Car Club of America
The Sports Car Club of America is a club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional racers.-History:...
(SCCA) President John Bishop. Originally known as the Trans-American Sedan Championship it has evolved over time from its original format as a manufacturers championship for modified racing sedans to its current form as a drivers championship open to GT
Grand tourer
A grand tourer is a high-performance luxury automobile designed for long-distance driving. The most common format is a two-door coupé with either a two-seat or a 2+2 arrangement....
style cars.
The series was formed at the dawn of the pony car
Pony car
Pony car is an American class of automobile launched and inspired by the Ford Mustang in 1964. The term describes an affordable, compact, highly styled car with a sporty or performance-oriented image.-Origins of the breed:...
era and was derived from the SCCA's A & B Sedan amateur Club Racing classes, based upon commercially produced cars which had been modified for racing competition. Originally the series was open to FIA Group 2 Touring Cars
Group 2 (racing)
The Group 2 racing class referred to regulations for cars in touring car racing and rallying, as regulated by the FIA. Group 2 was replaced by Group A in 1982....
and it featured two classes, Over 2.0 Liter and Under 2.0 Liter, with both classes running together. The series was best known for competition among American V8 sedans such as the Ford Mustang
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was initially based on the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car. Introduced early on April 17, 1964, as a "1964½" model, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A...
, Chevrolet Camaro
Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is an automobile manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand, classified as a pony car and some versions also as a muscle car. It went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed as a competing model to the Ford Mustang...
, Plymouth Barracuda
Plymouth Barracuda
The Plymouth Barracuda is a 2-door car that was manufactured by the Plymouth division of the Chrysler Corporation from 1964-1974.The first-generation Barracuda, a fastback A-body coupe based on the Plymouth Valiant, had a distinctive wraparound back glass and was available from 1964-1966.The...
, Mercury Cougar
Mercury Cougar
The Mercury Cougar is an automobile which was sold under the Mercury brand of the Ford Motor Company's Lincoln-Mercury Division from 1967 to 2002. The name was first used in 1967 and was carried by a diverse series of cars over the next three decades. As is common with Mercury vehicles, the Cougar...
, AMC Javelin
AMC Javelin
The Javelin was a production version of one of the AMC AMX prototypes shown during the 1966 AMX project nationwide tour. Intended to rival other pony cars such as the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro. American Motor's Javelin debuted on 22 August 1967, for the 1968 model year...
, Pontiac Firebird
Pontiac Firebird
The Pontiac Firebird was built by the Pontiac division of General Motors between 1967 and 2002. The Firebird was introduced the same year as the automaker's platform-sharing model, the Chevrolet Camaro...
, and Dodge Challenger
Dodge Challenger
The Dodge Challenger is the name of three different generations of automobiles marketed by the Dodge division of Chrysler.The first generation Dodge Challenger was a pony car built from 1970 to 1974, using the Chrysler E platform and sharing major components with the Plymouth Barracuda. The second...
in the 1960s and early 1970s. Marques such as Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
, Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars...
, Datsun
Datsun
Datsun was an automobile marque. The name was created in 1931 by the DAT Motorcar Co. for a new car model, spelling it as "Datson" to indicate its smaller size when compared to the existing, larger DAT car. Later, in 1933 after Nissan Motor Co., Ltd...
, Mini Cooper, Saab
Saab
Saab AB is a Swedish aerospace and defence company, founded in 1937. From 1947 to 1990 it was the parent company of automobile manufacturer Saab Automobile, and between 1968 and 1995 the company was in a merger with commercial vehicle manufacturer Scania, known as Saab-Scania.-History:"Svenska...
, and Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
competed in the series Under 2.0 Liter category.
The Pontiac Trans Am was named after the series. According to SCCA archives, that brand has taken 7 wins in the 42-year-old series' 450+ events. The last win by a Pontiac Trans Am was in 1984. The Sports Car Club of America is the sanctioning body for the series and holds the rights to the "Trans-Am" name. The series has also been licensed by the Champ Car World Series
Champ Car
Champ Car was the name for a class and specification of open wheel cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades, primarily for use in the Indianapolis 500 auto race...
and ran the majority of its races in support of the parent open-wheel championship.
Beginnings (1966–1967)
At first, the Trans-Am vehicles were primarily modified versions of the road-going car. The competition was divided into two classes- an "Under 2 Liter" class (predominantly small European sedans) and the "Over 2 Liters" class (displacement limited to 5.0 liters, or 305 cu. in.).The first race was in 1966 at Sebring International Raceway. The overall win went to Jochen Rindt
Jochen Rindt
Karl Jochen Rindt was a German racing driver who represented Austria during his career. He is the only driver to posthumously win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship , after being killed in practice for the Italian Grand Prix...
driving an Alfa Romeo GTA
Alfa Romeo GTA
The GTA 1300 Junior had a 1300 cc engine that was based on the 1600 engine but with a short stroke crankshaft. The GTA Junior in stradale form did not have many of the light weight features of the 1600 GTA, such as the plastic windows, magnesium engine components and alloy wheels. At start...
(an Under 2 Liter entry), with Bob Tullius (driving a Dodge Dart
Dodge Dart
The Dodge Dart is an automobile built by the Dodge division of the Chrysler Corporation from 1960-1976 in North America, with production extended to later years in various other markets. The Dart was introduced as a lower-priced, shorter wheelbase, full-size Dodge in 1960 and 1961, became a...
) taking second overall, but first in the Over 2 Liter class.
Allan Moffat
Allan Moffat
Allan George Moffat, OBE is an Australian racing driver known for his four wins in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins in the Sandown 500 and his four wins in the Bathurst 1000...
in an Under 2 Liter Lotus Cortina
Lotus Cortina
The Lotus-Cortina is a high-performance car, which was produced in the United Kingdom from 1963 to 1970 by the Ford in collaboration with Lotus Cars. The original version, which was based on the Ford Cortina Mark 1, was promoted by Ford as the "Consul Cortina developed by Lotus", with "Consul"...
won the third race at Bryar. Ford had full factory effort with the Alan Mann Cortinas but suffered from reliability issues. In 1966 the Over 2 Liter manufacturers' champion was Ford and the Under 2 Liter manufacturers' champion Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars...
with the Kwech
Horst Kwech
Horst Kwech is a race car driver, race car constructor, engineer and inventor known primarily for his several wins and two championships in the early Trans-Am Series races of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s.-Biography:...
/Andrey GTA scoring 39 of the 57 manufacturers' points for Alfa. The Alfa Romeo of Horst Kwech
Horst Kwech
Horst Kwech is a race car driver, race car constructor, engineer and inventor known primarily for his several wins and two championships in the early Trans-Am Series races of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s.-Biography:...
and Gaston Andrey also scored the most points in the first unofficial drivers' championship, edging out Bob Johnson.
In 1967 Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
lobbied the SCCA to have the 911 accepted as a sedan and then dominated the Under 2 Liter field winning the manufacturers championship over Alfa Romeo. In Over 2 Liter, Ford edged out Mercury
Mercury (automobile)
Mercury was an automobile marque of the Ford Motor Company launched in 1938 by Edsel Ford, son of Henry Ford, to market entry-level luxury cars slotted between Ford-branded regular models and Lincoln-branded luxury vehicles, similar to General Motors' Buick brand, and Chrysler's namesake brand...
to win the manufacturers' championship. Jerry Titus won the second unofficial drivers' championship.
Golden era (1968–1972)
These years were largely dominated by Mark DonohueMark Donohue
Mark Neary Donohue, Jr. , nicknamed "Captain Nice", was an American racecar driver known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victories. Donohue is probably best known as the driver of the 1500+ bhp “Can-Am Killer” Porsche 917-30 and as the winner of the 1972...
, driving for Roger Penske
Roger Penske
Roger S. Penske is the owner of the automobile racing team Penske Racing, the Penske Corporation, and other automotive related businesses. A winning racer in the late 1950s, Penske was named 1961's Sports Car Club of America Driver of the Year by Sports Illustrated...
. Penske campaigned Camaros through 1969, when he signed with American Motors
American Motors
American Motors Corporation was an American automobile company formed by the 1954 merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company. At the time, it was the largest corporate merger in U.S. history.George W...
to race the Javelin in 1970 and 1971. Donohue would chalk up 20 race victories between 1967 and 1970 and three unofficial drivers' championships, the third achieved in 1971.
The 1970 Trans Am series is regarded by most racing historians as the high water mark of American road racing. Every "pony car
Pony car
Pony car is an American class of automobile launched and inspired by the Ford Mustang in 1964. The term describes an affordable, compact, highly styled car with a sporty or performance-oriented image.-Origins of the breed:...
" manufacturer was represented with a factory team and top driving talent: Chevrolet had the Chaparral Chevy Camaro Z28
Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is an automobile manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand, classified as a pony car and some versions also as a muscle car. It went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed as a competing model to the Ford Mustang...
team with Jim Hall
Jim Hall (race car driver)
Jim Hall is a former racecar driver and constructor from the United States. He competed in Formula One from to , participating in 12 World Championship Grands Prix and numerous non-Championship races....
, Ed Leslie, and Vic Elford
Vic Elford
Victor Henry Elford is a former sportscar racing, rallying and Formula One driver from England. He participated in 13 World Championship F1 Grands Prix, debuting on 7 July 1968...
. Ford's Bud Moore Boss 302 Mustang
Boss 302 Mustang
The Boss 302 Mustang is a high performance variant of the Ford Mustang originally produced in 1969 and 1970, but revived in the 2012 model year. It was produced for the Trans Am racing series, while the Mustang Boss 429 which was produced the same years was built around a larger engine.-First...
s were driven by Parnelli Jones
Parnelli Jones
Rufus Parnell "Parnelli" Jones , is a retired American racing driver and racecar owner. He is most remembered for his 1963 Indianapolis 500 win, and almost winning the 1967 Indy 500 in a turbine car...
and George Follmer. For Plymouth, the Plymouth Cuda' AAR (All American Racing) were handled by Dan Gurney
Dan Gurney
Daniel Sexton Gurney is an American racing driver, race car constructor, and team owner.The son of a Metropolitan Opera star, he was born in Port Jefferson, New York, but moved to California as a teenager...
and Swede Savage
Swede Savage
David Earl "Swede" Savage, Jr. was an American race car driver.-Early life:Born in San Bernardino, California, Savage began Soap Box Derby racing at the age of five. He moved up to racing quarter midget cars then at age twelve to Go-Kart racing. By his mid-teens he was racing motorcycles...
. Sam Posey
Sam Posey
Sam Posey is a retired American racecar driver and sports broadcast journalist.-Driving career:...
, and occasionally Tony Adamowicz
Tony Adamowicz
Tony Adamowicz is a former American racing driver from Port Henry, New York. He won the 1968 Trans-Am Under 2-Liter championship in a Porsche, then raced in the Can-Am Series and Formula 5000, winning the 1969 Formula 5000 championship...
, drove Ray Caldwell's Autodynamics Dodge Challenger T/A (Trans Am), Jerry Titus had the Pontiac Trans Am, and Roger Penske
Roger Penske
Roger S. Penske is the owner of the automobile racing team Penske Racing, the Penske Corporation, and other automotive related businesses. A winning racer in the late 1950s, Penske was named 1961's Sports Car Club of America Driver of the Year by Sports Illustrated...
's Sunoco AMC Javelin team starred Mark Donohue
Mark Donohue
Mark Neary Donohue, Jr. , nicknamed "Captain Nice", was an American racecar driver known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victories. Donohue is probably best known as the driver of the 1500+ bhp “Can-Am Killer” Porsche 917-30 and as the winner of the 1972...
and Peter Revson
Peter Revson
Peter Jeffrey Revson was an American race car driver who had successes in Formula One and the Indianapolis 500.-Background:Peter Revson was born in New York City, the son of Julie and Martin Revson....
. The Mercury Cougar
Mercury Cougar
The Mercury Cougar is an automobile which was sold under the Mercury brand of the Ford Motor Company's Lincoln-Mercury Division from 1967 to 2002. The name was first used in 1967 and was carried by a diverse series of cars over the next three decades. As is common with Mercury vehicles, the Cougar...
s were driven by Charlie Rainville, Bruce Jennings, and three other drivers in two races of the 1968 season.
As evidence of the original modified production car concept, a fan favorite in the early 1970s was the "Grey Ghost", a '64 Pontiac Tempest
Pontiac Tempest
The Pontiac Tempest was an entry-level compact produced by the Pontiac Motor Division of General Motors, introduced in September 1960 for the 1961 model year....
, prepared by legendary Pontiac
Pontiac
Pontiac was an automobile brand that was established in 1926 as a companion make for General Motors' Oakland. Quickly overtaking its parent in popularity, it supplanted the Oakland brand entirely by 1933 and, for most of its life, became a companion make for Chevrolet. Pontiac was sold in the...
Chief Engineer Herb Adams and a group of his young proteges. The boxy six year old Tempest had once been Adams' wife's daily driver, with reportedly over 80000 miles (128,747.2 km) on the odometer when it was turned into an A Sedan racer. It proved to be surprisingly fast, at a time when even a one year old car was considered out of step with the competition. It was entered in the opening round of the 1971 Trans-Am Championship. Unable to qualify, the car was allowed to start from the back of the pack. With Bob Tullius behind the wheel, it mowed through the field, and was running second behind eventual winner Mark Donohue
Mark Donohue
Mark Neary Donohue, Jr. , nicknamed "Captain Nice", was an American racecar driver known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victories. Donohue is probably best known as the driver of the 1500+ bhp “Can-Am Killer” Porsche 917-30 and as the winner of the 1972...
's factory-supported Penske Racing
Penske Racing
Penske Racing is a racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series and NASCAR. They also previously competed in road racing, and Formula One. Penske Racing is a division of Penske Corporation, and is owned and chaired by Roger Penske...
AMC Javelin
AMC Javelin
The Javelin was a production version of one of the AMC AMX prototypes shown during the 1966 AMX project nationwide tour. Intended to rival other pony cars such as the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro. American Motor's Javelin debuted on 22 August 1967, for the 1968 model year...
when the engine broke. Tullius would go on to win back to back Trans-Am championships in 1977 and 1978.
Most of these cars have been preserved or restored and are still racing in vintage events today. The Historic Trans Am Group events often reunite drivers from the era with the cars they raced "back in the day".
Two-Five Challenge
In 1969 the "U2" class was renamed when the engine displacement limit was increased to 2.5 litres. Porsche 911Porsche 911
The Porsche 911 is a luxury 2-door sports coupe made by Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. It has a distinctive design, rear-engined and with independent rear suspension, an evolution of the swing axle on the Porsche 356. The engine was also air-cooled until the introduction of the Type 996 in 1998...
s and Alfa Romeo GTVs were dominant, until 1971 when the BRE Datsuns entered the series and dominated through 1972, when Alfa Romeo and BMW quit the series because an inability to beat the BRE prepared Datsuns. When these two marques dropped out interest in the series waned and the SCCA cancelled the series. Successful drivers included Peter Gregg
Peter Gregg (racing driver)
Peter Holden Gregg was a racecar driver during the golden age of the Trans-Am Series and a four-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona...
, Horst Kwech
Horst Kwech
Horst Kwech is a race car driver, race car constructor, engineer and inventor known primarily for his several wins and two championships in the early Trans-Am Series races of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s.-Biography:...
, Bob Sharp
Bob Sharp
Councillor Robert 'Bob' Sharp was a football manager of Bradford City who also served as Deputy Lord Mayor of Bradford. He was a football visionary who called for the introduction of Third and Fourth Divisions 12 years before they were formed.-Biography:Sharp was born in October 1894 in Bradford,...
, and John Morton. The Vintage Sedan Racers Group or VSRG is made up of vintage race drivers, car owners, car builders and enthusiast working together to bring the excitement of Trans-Am 2.5 and B-Sedan cars to vintage racing.
Beginning in the 1970s, Trans-Am cars would also be seen competing in the IMSA GT Series.
Evolution
Rules evolved over the years, incorporating FIA touring and grand-touring classes as well as SCCA Club Racing classes. The different classes had restrictions placed on the allowed modifications in an effort to equalize competition between the different cars. In 1976, Trans-Am returned to the two category format, classifying FIA Group 4 and 5 cars as "Category II". During this time, Trans Am changed from a muscle-car based series to basically a support series for IMSA GT. This format was still in use when the series went on hiatus in 2006.The GT era, big money, turbos and cost escalation (1980–1988)
In 1980, the SCCA developed a weight-to-displacement ratio for handicapping cars. Five-liter, 2600 pound vehicles dominated the field. Soon, tube-frame cars, often based upon commercially available and relatively inexpensive short-track stock car chassis, would begin to appear, eventually becoming the standard for Trans-Am competitors. Turbocharged, small-displacement engined cars would also appear and proliferate as the decade wore on.1983 marked the emergence of a young African-American Formula Atlantic driver named Willy T. Ribbs
Willy T. Ribbs
William "Willy" Theodore Ribbs, Jr. is a racecar driver who competed in many forms of auto racing. After retiring, he became a sport shooter in the National Sporting Clays Association....
, whose self-described "ultra-fast, aggressive, and smooth" driving style attracted the attention of Neil DeAtley, a wealthy contractor who was assembling a two-car team of racing Camaros for the Trans-Am series. DeAtley's major sponsor was Budweiser
Budweiser
Budweiser is a German adjective describing something or someone from the city of České Budějovice in Southern Bohemia, Czech Republic.Beer brewing in České Budějovice dates back to the 13th century...
, the largest-selling beer in America, which also marked the association of truly major sponsor to the series. Ribbs came the team as the number two driver, with English Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
driver David Hobbs driving the teams primary car. Ribbs agreed, and as a team, he and Hobbs dominated the 1983 season, with Ribbs winning five races and Hobbs winning four. The smooth driving veteran Hobbs took the Trans-Am championship with his more consistent finishes, while the more brilliant, yet aggressive Ribbs was named Trans-Am Rookie of the Year.
During practice for the first round of the 1984 Trans Am season, Ribbs fought with fellow competitor, Bob Lobenberg, over an on track incident and was summarily fired from the team. Out of a ride for the first four events, Ribbs joined Roush Racing
Roush Racing
Roush Fenway Racing is a racing team competing in NASCAR racing. As one of NASCAR's largest premier racing teams, Roush runs teams in the Sprint and Nationwide Series, and formerly in the Camping World Truck Series and ARCA RE/MAX Series.Roush first entered NASCAR competition in 1988, but had...
, who had entered into Trans-Am competition that season, driving Mercury Capris. With the help of Ribbs's 3 wins, Mercury took the manufacturers' title from DeAtley's Chevrolet. For the next six years Roush entries would dominate the series, winning 46 of the 83 races. Back with Roush again for the 1985 season, Ribbs scored seven victories and became the leading money winner in Trans-Am series history, yet finished second in points, as teammate Wally Dallenbach, Jr.
Wally Dallenbach, Jr.
Wally Dallenbach, Jr. is an American former NASCAR Winston Cup driver. He competed in 226 Winston Cup races from 1991 to 2001 and had 23 top 10 finishes. The son of open wheel racer and former CART chief steward, Wally Dallenbach, Sr., Wally Jr. is also a road racer...
used his consistently higher finishes to take the championship .
1986 was wildly competitive as the aforementioned Turbocharged, small-displacement engined cars would become more powerful and go from field fillers to race winners. The Roush Racing
Roush Racing
Roush Fenway Racing is a racing team competing in NASCAR racing. As one of NASCAR's largest premier racing teams, Roush runs teams in the Sprint and Nationwide Series, and formerly in the Camping World Truck Series and ARCA RE/MAX Series.Roush first entered NASCAR competition in 1988, but had...
Mercury Capri
Mercury Capri
-First Generation :See also Ford CapriThe Mercury Capri was built in Cologne, Germany, and was sold through Lincoln-Mercury dealers in North America. The European Capri was first sold in the US in April 1970 and carried the Mercury marque identification as Ford already had a Mustang for the same...
V8s and Merkur XR4Ti
Merkur XR4Ti
The Merkur XR4Ti was a short-lived United States and Canada-market version of the European Ford Sierra XR4i. It was the brainchild of then Ford Vice President Bob Lutz. It was sold in the US from 1985 to 1989. It was the first vehicle of Ford's Merkur range, followed in 1988 by the Merkur Scorpio...
turbo 4s were head to head against Camaro V8s, and the turbocharged Buick Somerset, when actor/race driver Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
shocked everyone and took round 8 in his Nissan 300ZX Turbo. Dallenbach would again take the championship, this time in a Protofab Camaro.
The Roush Merkurs won of Scott Pruett
Scott Pruett
Scott Donald Pruett is an American race car driver who has competed in NASCAR, Champ Car, IMSA, Trans-Am and Grand-Am. He and his wife Judy have three children, and are children's book authors....
and Pete Halsmer
Pete Halsmer
Pete Halsmer , is a former driver in the CART Championship Car series. He raced in 5 seasons , with 33 career starts, and started in the Indianapolis 500 in 1981-1982. He finished in the top five three times in the CART series, with his best finish in 2nd position in 1983 at Cleveland...
dominated the 1987 season, winning all but one race, with Elliott Forbes-Robinson
Elliott Forbes-Robinson
Elliott Forbes-Robinson is a road racing racecar driver. He is known for his race wins and championships in many different series, including the American Le Mans Series , Super Vee, Trans-Am Series, CanAm, IMSA GTU, and the World Challenge. He is known in NASCAR circles as a road course ringer...
taking that win in his Porsche 944 Turbo. Pruett would take home the championship.
In 1988, after years of rallying, Audi
Audi
Audi AG is a German automobile manufacturer, from supermini to crossover SUVs in various body styles and price ranges that are marketed under the Audi brand , positioned as the premium brand within the Volkswagen Group....
would enter the series with the 200 turbo quattro via the services of Bob Tullius's Group 44 Racing. As usual the car ran their trademark Quattro system. However this did not run without controversy as the car, piloted by Haywood and with both Walter Röhrl
Walter Röhrl
Walter Röhrl is a German rally and auto racing driver, with victories for Fiat, Opel, Lancia and Audi as well as Porsche, Ford and BMW.-Career:...
and Hans Joachim Stuck
Hans Joachim Stuck
Hans-Joachim Stuck , nicknamed "Strietzel", is a German racing driver who has competed in Formula One and many other categories. He is the son of the legendary Hans Stuck. As a young boy, his father taught him driving on the Nürburgring. In 1969 he started his first ever motor race at the...
sharing duties, steamrollered the opposition taking eight out of thirteen wins. As Audi would defect to IMSA
International Motor Sports Association
The International Motor Sports Association is an American sports car auto racing sanctioning body based in Braselton, Georgia. It was started by John Bishop, a former employee of SCCA , and his wife Peggy in 1969 with help from Bill France, Sr...
by the end of the season, the SCCA would change the regulation to a two wheel drive only and banning cars with non American engines from taking part. The Historic Trans-am & IMSA Group is dedicated to the preservation of the cars that ran in the SCCA Trans-am series and the similar IMSA GTO class from 1980 until 1991. The variety of cars in these classes ran the gamut from turbocharged 4 cylinder Merkur
Merkur
Merkur , Mercury) was an automobile brand which was briefly marketed by Ford Motor Company in the United States and Canada from 1985 to 1989...
s to Corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
s with 358 cubic inch V8s.
Modern era (1989–2006)
In the 1990s Tommy KendallTommy Kendall
Tommy Kendall is an American race car driver and television broadcaster. He is best known for his SCCA Trans-Am Series career....
, in a Ford, was the driver to beat- he would take four driver's championships in this decade. Chevrolet was also prominent in this time period, with 6 drivers' champions in their cars.
Paul Gentilozzi
Paul Gentilozzi
Paul Gentilozzi is a race car driver and businessman. His non-racing business interests are real estate development, principally developing store sites for big box retailers....
rose to the fore beginning in 1998 with his first championship in Trans-Am. He would win four more championships, driving a Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
, Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
, and Jaguar
Jaguar (car)
Jaguar Cars Ltd, known simply as Jaguar , is a British luxury car manufacturer, headquartered in Whitley, Coventry, England. It is part of the Jaguar Land Rover business, a subsidiary of the Indian company Tata Motors....
. These latter years also saw more marques enter the field, with exotics such as the Panoz Esperante
Panoz Esperante
The Esperante is a sports car made by Panoz, an American car manufacturer.There are several models of the Esperante: the base model, the GT, the GTLM, the GTS, and the JRD . Additionally, Panoz is more than willing to work with the buyer to make special modifications to any of the stock models...
, Qvale Mangusta
Qvale Mangusta
The Qvale Mangusta is a sports car produced in limited numbers in Italy by the automaker Qvale between 2000 and 2002. During development and early production, it was badged as the De Tomaso Biguá in Europe, in North America it was badged De Tomaso Mangusta after the De Tomaso car built between 1967...
and Jaguar XKR. Later in the 2004 season, a Rocketsports Racing
Rocketsports Racing
Rocketsports Racing is a motor racing team from the United States based in East Lansing, Michigan.Rocketsports was founded in 1985 by racing driver Paul Gentilozzi to compete in the Trans-Am series. It competed in Trans-Am until 2004, when the championship was cancelled, and achieved 57 outright...
Jaguar XKR raced with a production-based 4.5 liter 650 hp DOHC AJ-V8.
Due to a lack of participants and interest, the series all but ceased operations after the 2005 season. However the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA
Sports Car Club of America
The Sports Car Club of America is a club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional racers.-History:...
) continued to own the name and permitted Heartland Park Topeka
Heartland Park Topeka
Heartland Park Topeka is a multi-purpose motorsports facility located south of Topeka, Kansas.When it opened in 1989, it was the first brand-new auto racing facility to be built in the United States for 20 years. Its facilities include a road-race course with 4 possible configurations , a ⅜ mile...
to run two races in September and October 2006 using Trans Am rules and the Trans Am name. Fields were shored up by a makeshift assortment of SCCA GT-1 class amateur racers in town for the National Championship Runoffs later that week.
Return (2009–present)
It was announced on December 11, 2008 that Trans Am would be returning in 2009, with former champion Greg Pickett sponsoring the series with the Muscle MilkCytoSport
CytoSport is a Benicia, California, manufacturer of sports-oriented nutritional products, or "supplements". It offers a line of protein-enhanced powders, shakes, and bars has broken into the mainstream market with a ready-to-drink form of protein supplement "Muscle Milk", a non-dairy beverage...
brand, using the SCCA's GT-1 category rules. The first race was held March 22, 2009. The revived series utilized the same vehicle rules as SCCA's amateur GT-1 class, providing top GT-1 competitors a professional series to progress to. Tomy Drissi was the first champion upon the series' return.
The Trans Am Series has yet to re-establish a television contract, having lost its connections with Speed Channel upon the series' hiatus from 2007-08. Also, the World Challenge still receives priority on the Versus
Versus (TV channel)
Versus is a sports-oriented cable television channel in the United States. It was previously known as Outdoor Life Network and was launched on July 1, 1995, focusing on fishing, hunting, and other outdoor sports...
television network.
In 2011, in an effort to increase grid sizes which typically numbered in the single digits in 2010, the Trans Am Series will introduce two additional classes of competition in addition to the 2010 spec which will race as "TA1". The new TA2 class will consist of SCCA GT2 and GTA class cars while the new TA3 class will consist of SCCA GT3 class cars. This is the first time that the series will feature more than one class of competition since 1979.
Other series based on Trans-Am concept
The Trans-Am Series has used a tube-framed based format, similar to the original IMSA GT Series, since the early 1980s, with heavy emphasis on GT cars. The SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge racing series, run by the Sports Car Club of AmericaSports Car Club of America
The Sports Car Club of America is a club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional racers.-History:...
and the Grand American Road Racing Association
Grand American Road Racing Association
GRAND-AM Road Racing or GRAND-AM is an auto racing sanctioning body that was established in 1999 to organize road racing competitions in North America...
(respectively), utilize modified production-based cars sports cars and touring cars, similar in spirit to the original Trans-Am racers. With the rise of these series, Trans-Am saw decreased attention from the media. Speedvision did occasionally cover Trans-Am races until the series' demise in 2006, however.
Champions
Trans-Am Manufacturers Championship points are awarded in both classes for 1st through 6th places, 9-6-4-3-2-1, with only the highest finishing example of a make receiving points. Beginning in 1972 SCCA instituted a Trans-Am Drivers Championship based on overall finishing position for 1st through 10th places, 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1. Beginning in 1990 the top 25 finishers were awarded points, 30-27-25-23-21-19-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-1.| Year | Champion Manufacturer | Champion Driver | Car | Team/Entrant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Over 2 liter –  United States Ford |
Drivers' championship not awarded until 1972 | ||
Under 2 liter –  Italy Alfa RomeoAlfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars... |
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| 1967 | Over 2 liter – United States Ford |
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Under 2 liter –  Germany PorschePorsche Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry.... |
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| 1968 | Over 2 liter – United States Chevrolet Chevrolet Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918... |
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| Under 2 liter – Germany Porsche Porsche Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry.... |
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| 1969 | Over 2 liter – United States Chevrolet Chevrolet Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918... |
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| Under 2 liter – Germany Porsche Porsche Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry.... |
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| 1970 | Over 2 liter – United States Ford |
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| Under 2 liter – Italy Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars... |
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| 1971 | Over 2.5 liter – United States American Motors American Motors American Motors Corporation was an American automobile company formed by the 1954 merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company. At the time, it was the largest corporate merger in U.S. history.George W... |
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Under 2.5 liter –  Japan DatsunDatsun Datsun was an automobile marque. The name was created in 1931 by the DAT Motorcar Co. for a new car model, spelling it as "Datson" to indicate its smaller size when compared to the existing, larger DAT car. Later, in 1933 after Nissan Motor Co., Ltd... |
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| 1972 | Over 2.5 liter – United States American Motors American Motors American Motors Corporation was an American automobile company formed by the 1954 merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company. At the time, it was the largest corporate merger in U.S. history.George W... |
Over 2.5 liter – United States George Follmer George Follmer George Follmer is a retired American race car driver, and one of the most successful road racers of the 1970s. He was born in Phoenix, Arizona.... |
AMC Javelin AMC Javelin The Javelin was a production version of one of the AMC AMX prototypes shown during the 1966 AMX project nationwide tour. Intended to rival other pony cars such as the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro. American Motor's Javelin debuted on 22 August 1967, for the 1968 model year... |
Roy Woods Racing |
| Under 2.5 liter – Japan Datsun Datsun Datsun was an automobile marque. The name was created in 1931 by the DAT Motorcar Co. for a new car model, spelling it as "Datson" to indicate its smaller size when compared to the existing, larger DAT car. Later, in 1933 after Nissan Motor Co., Ltd... |
Under 2.5 liter – John Morton |
Datsun 510 Datsun 510 The Datsun 510 was a series of the Datsun Bluebird sold from 1968 to 1974, and offered outside the U.S. and Canada as the Datsun 1600. According to AutoWeek's G.D... |
Brock Racing Enterprises Pete Brock Peter Brock is a former racing car designer from the United States. In the early 1960s he worked with Carroll Shelby at Shelby American where he was the designer for the iconic Shelby Daytona Cobra coupe.FIA World GT Champion 1965... |
|
Retrospective drivers' champions
Race historians have rated the overall finishers in the early Trans-Am years by the driver points scheme in place from 1972 until 1989 to crown unofficial overall Drivers Champions for 1966-1971. This listing first appeared in Albert R. Bochroch’s 1986 book Trans-Am Racing 1966-1985.| Year | Champion Driver | Car | Team/Entrant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 1966 Trans Am season The 1966 Trans-American Sedan Championship was the inaugural season of the Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series. Bob Tullius won the first race for the over 2000cc class at Sebring, while Formula One driver Jochen Rindt won the under 2000cc class. They were driving a Dodge Dart and an Alfa... |
 Austria Horst KwechHorst Kwech Horst Kwech is a race car driver, race car constructor, engineer and inventor known primarily for his several wins and two championships in the early Trans-Am Series races of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s.-Biography:...  Switzerland Gaston Andrey |
Alfa Romeo GTA Alfa Romeo GTA The GTA 1300 Junior had a 1300 cc engine that was based on the 1600 engine but with a short stroke crankshaft. The GTA Junior in stradale form did not have many of the light weight features of the 1600 GTA, such as the plastic windows, magnesium engine components and alloy wheels. At start... |
Bill Knauz |
| 1967 1967 Trans Am season The 1967 Trans-American Sedan Championship season was the second season of the Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series. After the dominance of Alfa Romeo in the under 2000cc class in 1966, Porsche would rise to prominence, starting a dynasty that would last for several years... |
United States Jerry Titus |
Ford Mustang Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was initially based on the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car. Introduced early on April 17, 1964, as a "1964½" model, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A... |
Shelby American Carroll Shelby International Carroll Shelby International was formed in 2003 from custom performance vehicle manufacturer Shelby American when, founder and owner, Carroll Shelby took the company public, and additionally forming Shelby Automobiles as a subsidiary from which to continue manufacturing vehicles and parts... |
| 1968 1968 Trans Am season The 1968 Trans-American Sedan Championship season was the third season of the Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series. 1968 marked the addition of the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Daytona, the only year that the Trans-Am Series featured those races... |
United States Mark Donohue Mark Donohue Mark Neary Donohue, Jr. , nicknamed "Captain Nice", was an American racecar driver known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victories. Donohue is probably best known as the driver of the 1500+ bhp “Can-Am Killer” Porsche 917-30 and as the winner of the 1972... |
Chevrolet Camaro Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is an automobile manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand, classified as a pony car and some versions also as a muscle car. It went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed as a competing model to the Ford Mustang... |
Penske Racing Penske Racing Penske Racing is a racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series and NASCAR. They also previously competed in road racing, and Formula One. Penske Racing is a division of Penske Corporation, and is owned and chaired by Roger Penske... |
| 1969 1969 Trans Am season The 1969 Trans-American Sedan Championship season was the fourth season of the Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series. 1969 marked the end of the use of co-drivers in the Trans-Am Series, as most of the races were between 2.5 and 3 hours. 1969 had marked the debut of the Pontiac Trans Am... |
United States Mark Donohue Mark Donohue Mark Neary Donohue, Jr. , nicknamed "Captain Nice", was an American racecar driver known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victories. Donohue is probably best known as the driver of the 1500+ bhp “Can-Am Killer” Porsche 917-30 and as the winner of the 1972... |
Chevrolet Camaro Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is an automobile manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand, classified as a pony car and some versions also as a muscle car. It went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed as a competing model to the Ford Mustang... |
Penske Racing Penske Racing Penske Racing is a racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series and NASCAR. They also previously competed in road racing, and Formula One. Penske Racing is a division of Penske Corporation, and is owned and chaired by Roger Penske... |
| 1970 1970 Trans Am season The 1970 Trans-American Sedan Championship season was the fifth season of the Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series. All races used split classes, with shorter races for the Under 2-Liter cars. With Porsche's 911 moving to a 2.2L engine, the year marked the resurgence of Alfa Romeo as... |
United States Parnelli Jones Parnelli Jones Rufus Parnell "Parnelli" Jones , is a retired American racing driver and racecar owner. He is most remembered for his 1963 Indianapolis 500 win, and almost winning the 1967 Indy 500 in a turbine car... |
Ford Mustang Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was initially based on the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car. Introduced early on April 17, 1964, as a "1964½" model, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A... |
Bud Moore Engineering Bud Moore Engineering Bud Moore Engineering was a championship-winning NASCAR team. It was owned and operated by mechanic Bud Moore and ran out of Spartanburg, South Carolina. While the team was a dominant force in the 60s and 80s, the final years were tumultuous due to lack of sponorship and uncompetitive race cars.-... |
| 1971 1971 Trans Am season The 1971 Trans-American Sedan Championship season was the sixth season of the Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series. The format was altered to an over 2500cc class and an under 2500cc class, up 500cc from past years. All races used split classes except where noted... |
United States Mark Donohue Mark Donohue Mark Neary Donohue, Jr. , nicknamed "Captain Nice", was an American racecar driver known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victories. Donohue is probably best known as the driver of the 1500+ bhp “Can-Am Killer” Porsche 917-30 and as the winner of the 1972... |
AMC Javelin AMC Javelin The Javelin was a production version of one of the AMC AMX prototypes shown during the 1966 AMX project nationwide tour. Intended to rival other pony cars such as the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro. American Motor's Javelin debuted on 22 August 1967, for the 1968 model year... |
Penske Racing Penske Racing Penske Racing is a racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series and NASCAR. They also previously competed in road racing, and Formula One. Penske Racing is a division of Penske Corporation, and is owned and chaired by Roger Penske... |
Tributes
- The Trans Am Series is a regular group at historic automobile racing events, particularly the 1966-72 years. The Wine Country Classic at Infineon RacewayInfineon RacewayInfineon Raceway, formerly Sears Point Raceway, is a road course and drag strip located on the landform known as Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains near Sonoma, California, USA. The course is a complex series of twists and turns that go up and down the hills...
in Sonoma, CaliforniaSonoma, CaliforniaSonoma is a historically significant city in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, USA, surrounding its historic town plaza, a remnant of the town's Mexican colonial past. It was the capital of the short-lived California Republic...
recently added 1980s Trans Am Series cars to race alongside its IMSA GT group. In 2010, the Monterey Historic Automobile RacesMonterey Historic Automobile RacesThe Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion is an annual event held at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. Its purpose is to provide an event for historic race cars to compete in. It takes place over the course of one weekend every mid-August. It was first established by Steve Earle in...
at Mazda Raceway Laguna SecaMazda Raceway Laguna SecaMazda Raceway Laguna Seca is a paved road racing track used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, originally constructed in 1957 near both Salinas and Monterey, California, USA....
in Monterey, CaliforniaMonterey, CaliforniaThe City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
tributed the 2000cc group. - A few teams in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, the series itself being reminiscent of the old Trans Am Series, have painted their vehicles to resemble the old Trans Am cars. Multimatic MotorsportsMultimatic MotorsportsMultimatic Motorsports is the competition arm of Multimatic's Engineering Services Group. Founded in 1992, the team has competed in the Firestone Firehawk Series, Motorola Cup, IMSA Sports Car Championship, Grand American Road Racing Association, American Le Mans Series, Grand-Am Cup, Rolex Sports...
has painted their Ford Mustangs to resemble those of Parnelli Jones and George Follmer. Matt Bell currently drives a modern version of the SunocoSunocoSunoco Inc. is an American petroleum and petrochemical manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, formerly known as Sun Company Inc. and Sun Oil Co. ....
sponsored Chevrolet Camaro.
External links
- Historic Trans-Am
- Trans-Am Racing History DVD
- Trans Am Racing News and Video Coverage
- Touring Car Racing History - Trans-Am Retrieved from homepage.mac.com/frank_de_jong on 13 August 2009
- Trans-Am Racers 1966-1972 Retrieved from www.automedia.com on 17 August 2009
- Trans-Am Racers 1973-1995 Retrieved from www.automedia.com on 17 August 2009