Trans Am Racing Series

[Steve Shauger]

There's a moment in time where our passion for these cars began. Mine was the Trans Am racing series. I was fortunate enough to live in the town that the Penske Race Team was located in Newtown Sq., PA. That moment occurred when I saw Mark Donohue power slide his orange 69 Z28 into the Sun Oil R& D facility in 1969. I've been passionate about Camaros ever since, and that same passion burns stronger today 50 years later. This manufacture series helped sell a lot of cars for the big three.....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXy1LN4GUvQ

[Steve Shauger]

I became friends with Penske Team member Bill Scott in 1975,and he provided me with some videos which I posted 5 years ago.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igO0Avx8guQ&t=7s

[70 copo]

Trans-Am inspired....

[RALLY]

There's a moment in time where our passion for these cars began. Mine was the Trans Am racing series. I was fortunate enough to live in the town that the Penske Race Team was located in Newtown Sq., PA. That moment occurred when I saw Mark Donohue power slide his orange 69 Z28 into the Sun Oil R& D facility in 1969. I've been passionate about Camaros ever since, and that same passion burns stronger today 50 years later. This manufacture series helped sell a lot of cars for the big three.....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXy1LN4GUvQ

Agree the Trans Am series was great and always loved watching them. Even today the big 3 dont sponsor but Chevy is still KING in this series. Those 302 Z-28 Engines were killers. High RPM machines that were fast. One of the best SB Chevy engines ever designed. Vince Piggins had something here and these Z-28 Camaros restored bring close to 100,000 dollars on the auction block.

[bobm67]

I order a T/A Challenger and took delivery in April of 70. I got a letter from Chrysler inviting T/A and AAR Cuda owners to Lime Rock for the first race in May. The day was free. Got to meet the race car drivers and owners. It was a great day. That was my intro into Trans-Am racing. I was into drag racing and circle track racing also. My Dad started taking me to circle tracks when I was 7 or 8 years old.

[markinnaples]

bobm67, do you have any pics of your TA? Always loved those. There was a brown (rootbeer?) one that drove around the south hills of Pittsburgh back in the late 70's/early 80's that was nice, as well as a black one. Didn't see too many AAR Cuda's, but they're cool too. Would love to see some pics of your car.

[danachevroletfor1967]

It was the Trans-Am series along with the IROC series that got me into being a Camaro buff back in 1975. Originally I was a Mopar buff being a Plymouth and Dodge guy because of NASCAR (back when it meant something) and drag racing. After getting my first permanent job in 1975 I wanted (perhaps stupidly) to buy a new car rather than an older used one. Neither Plymouth or Dodge had any cars that interested me by 1975 so my first choice was a Pontiac Trans-Am. Being a racing buff I considered the Camaro having more of a racing heritage, plus it was quite a bit cheaper than a Trans-Am. So I bought my first new Camaro in 1975, a Type LT in bright red. I have never owned anything else other than a Camaro up to the current day, except a 1978 Blazer K5, that I still own, for getting around in the snow. I consider the original Trans-Am racing series the best racing series there has ever been.

[bobm67]

bobm67, do you have any pics of your TA? Always loved those. There was a brown (rootbeer?) one that drove around the south hills of Pittsburgh back in the late 70's/early 80's that was nice, as well as a black one. Didn't see too many AAR Cuda's, but they're cool too. Would love to see some pics of your car.

Sadly I don't, it was burnt orange with black vinyl roof and rally's. I lived in Rhinebeck NY and I bought the car from GT Chrysler Plymouth and Dodge in Red Hook NY. The window stick was $4800. keep it 5 years with 25,000 miles on it. I stored it every winter, had a 67 Dodge wagon for my winter driver. Sold it for $5000. in 1975. I am giving all this info encase someone here knows or has the car.

[70-SS/RS-L78]

Steve you were not alone, I was a Trans Am and NHRA Pro Stock addict, I could not get enough of either one when I was growing up, Me and a friend of mine would bug his father to take us to the glen every year to watch Donahue in that Blue Camaro, I still like watching them race at the SVRA events, although not quite as aggressively as they used to race them back in the day. my father’s mechanic Kenny Montgomery used to Race his SS 65 HEMI Belvedere and 68 SS HEMI Barracuda, whenever he was taking either his or moms car to have repairs or inspection done I went with him to bug Kenny about his Race Cars. A good friend of mine races a SVRA Group-6 AP 69 Corvette so I go to a lot of races with him, a few years ago he decided to go Trans Am racing so he had a TA-2 Camaro built. It is a Spec car with a spec LS3 engine built by the same people. Granted it is cool but the new TA Racing is nothing like the old TA racing.. Not Even Close!!! Today’s TA-2 is like today's Pro Stock…All Camaro's and no factory wars to stimulate the competition. We were at dinner and they were talking about not being able to tweak the engines and ECM’s because they are sealed and locked.. I laughed and said, Give me a break, there is “No Way” that equipment is tamper proof. Don’t think for one second that no one is “Tweaking” the ECM or engine.. I guarantee there are people doing it.
Mark


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[JRSully]

A few years back, I bought a huge parts stash here on Long Island from a guy that was a privateer in the TA series form 68-71. He said it was extremely tough going against the factory teams, said their "cheating" was top notch! He had some great stories. He raced nothing but Camaros and used all factory Chevy parts sourced locally (had a pile of 272 and 854 BB crate motors/intakes/holleys/muncies etc.) that had not seen the light of day in 40+ years. Had the 1970 Car Life magazine on a work bench with Donohue's Sunoco Penske Camaro on it, solid half inch of dust on it. Wish they would bring this series back in earnest

[JoeC]

Don Yenko ran some 1969 Trans Am races in the ex Smokey Yunick 68 Camaro

and ran it at Daytona with many of the top TA cars

[racer67x]

bobm67, do you have any pics of your TA? Always loved those. There was a brown (rootbeer?) one that drove around the south hills of Pittsburgh back in the late 70's/early 80's that was nice, as well as a black one. Didn't see too many AAR Cuda's, but they're cool too. Would love to see some pics of your car. funny you should mention that because I've always wondered what happened to that car..I met the guy and became good friends with him when I used to cruise South Park in my ragtop Chevelle back in the early 80's. the T/A was brown with the black fiberglass hood,340 pistol grip car..the six pack intake and carbs were on a shelf in his garage and he had a single Holley under the hood. last I saw it was in his Mom and Dads Bethel Park garage with boxes piled on top..doubt it would still be there but guess you never know.

[markinnaples]

It'd be pretty cool if it was still in their garage. What was your Chevelle like?
Do you happen to remember a black T/A with flared rear wheel wells? I remember one like that as well. And since we're talking about old Pgh cars, do you remember a 71/72 Chevelle that was red/pink metal flake (I think)? May have had a tunnel ram or blower, big Cragars, etc.? There are probably a bunch of other cars that we both saw BITD in Pgh.

[racer67x]

https://i.imgur.com/MkSKtxm.jpg I graduated HS in '79..got this Chevelle SS not long after my graduation.. it was rough when I got it for a Grand,stripped it to bare metal..spent all the proceeds of my $5 an hour job to pay for it..lol used to hang at South Park with a pretty big group of guys that all had some kind of muscle car..we even had red satin jackets made with South Park Street Machines printed on..buddy of mine still has his jacket. sold it in '94 after having it 15 years...kick myself everyday..lol I had started racing dirt cars and the girl I was with at the time told me I couldn't afford the ragtop and the racecar,she was probably right :( to my credit I still race at PPMS,made my way up thru the ranks and in '05 was Rookie of the Year in the highest class..Super Late Model. run the Sportsman class now and ready for another year. have a '72 Nova I built over the last 10 years as a mid life crisis,plan to have fun till I no longer can. :) those two cars don't really ring any bells but then again my memory isn't what it used to be..lol there were so many badass rides out in that area back then it makes you wonder how many are still around. pic was taken in my Aunt's driveway in Syracuse,NY during the Car Craft Street Machine Nats..1984.

[x33rs]

Speaking of parts stashes. In the mid 1980's a retired Traco Engineering employee moved to the Glendale, AZ area and along with him he brought his personal 69 Z along with tons of engine parts and pieces.
Of interest to Jerry, a friend of mine, were 2 1178 crankshafts that he had laying there. Wish I could remember the guys name, but he told Jerry they were used in engines that were in one of the blue Penske Camaros at one time. Jerry bought both, and I ended up with them later.

I used one a few years ago when I rebuilt the engine in our 69 Z. If the story is true, and I have no reason to think otherwise, I thought it would be neat to have a little piece of that history in my engine.

I don't know what happened to that fella or if Jerry could even remember his name, but he had some cool stories.

[markinnaples]

https://i.imgur.com/MkSKtxm.jpg I graduated HS in '79..got this Chevelle SS not long after my graduation.. it was rough when I got it for a Grand,stripped it to bare metal..spent all the proceeds of my $5 an hour job to pay for it..lol used to hang at South Park with a pretty big group of guys that all had some kind of muscle car..we even had red satin jackets made with South Park Street Machines printed on..buddy of mine still has his jacket. sold it in '94 after having it 15 years...kick myself everyday..lol I had started racing dirt cars and the girl I was with at the time told me I couldn't afford the ragtop and the racecar,she was probably right :( to my credit I still race at PPMS,made my way up thru the ranks and in '05 was Rookie of the Year in the highest class..Super Late Model. run the Sportsman class now and ready for another year. have a '72 Nova I built over the last 10 years as a mid life crisis,plan to have fun till I no longer can. :) those two cars don't really ring any bells but then again my memory isn't what it used to be..lol there were so many badass rides out in that area back then it makes you wonder how many are still around. pic was taken in my Aunt's driveway in Syracuse,NY during the Car Craft Street Machine Nats..1984.

I think I remember seeing your Chevelle in South Park once in a while. I didn't start going out there until 1983/84 when I was in high school. I lived down in Curry by Griffith Funeral Home (my brother in law) but in Baldwin. Man, I loved your Chevelle.