CRG Discussion Forum
Model Specific Discussions => Trans-Am Camaros => Topic started by: Bruce302 on April 19, 2017, 06:16:41 AM
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How about this ?
(http://i68.tinypic.com/29att02.jpg)
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Sad news in relation to the above post of the Larry Dent Camaro by Bruce, also seen earlier in this thread, post # 7 as a negative from Jon.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/fortwayne/obituary.aspx?n=lawrence-w-dent-larry&pid=185055246&fhid=32557 :(
Mike
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Jon in that pic of the Larry Dent Camaro ? wonder why it says "BFG TireBird" on the side ?
didn't want to ask the question in my above post.
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It would seem he had a little sponsorship money from BFG...? :)
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Would have loved to have met this gentleman, really cool cars was this guys life.
Just for memory:
LAWRENCE W. "LARRY" DENT, 83, of Auburn passed away peacefully on Monday April 10, 2017, at home. Born in Ashland, Ky., he was the son of the late Leo and Martha Dent. Larry worked at WKJG as a TV weatherman. He was the Vice President of K&K Insurance. He retired from 3M as a technical sales representative for the printing products division. Larry loved sports cars and was a 55 year member of Sports Car Club of America. He also was an area director. He was inducted in the SCCA Hall of Fame and earned the Woolf Barnato Award. He was a past Executive Director of NATMUS Museum. He was a volunteer for Junior Achievement. Surviving are his wife, Linda Dent; and one sister, Judy O Connor. He was preceded in death by one brother, Leo Dent II. Memorial contributions can be made to Junior Achievement of Northern Indiana, Hope for Animals or Black Pines Animal Sanctuary. Arrangements by FairHaven Funeral Home, 6557 N. Clinton St., Fort Wayne. To send online condolences, visit www.fairhavenfortwayne. com - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/fortwayne/obituary.aspx?n=lawrence-w-dent-larry&pid=185055246&fhid=32557#sthash.PjaWuzTo.dpuf
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Sorry to hear of Larry Dent's passing. He had a very good sense of humor and was a great story teller of some of his racing exploits. He wrote a funny story about co-driving the Larry Bock/Larry Drover Camaro at Sebring in '69. I thought I had saved it but unfortunately can't find it on my computer.
Below are some links with info about the Tirebird which began life as a T/G Firebird.
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/index.php/2010/05/21/hemmings-find-of-the-day-1970-pontiac-firebird-tirebird/
https://myclassicgarage.com/social/posts/131418-1970-pontiac-firebird-trans-am-at-canepa
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It would seem he had a little sponsorship money from BFG...? :)
T/G Racing were paid something like $ 0.50 per lap to test the T/A Radial, as well as the race sponsorship.
Bruce.
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Just to clarify, this is the negative used in the Walter Parkin thread, I just 'un-negatived' it.
But great subject matter.
How about this ?
(http://i68.tinypic.com/29att02.jpg)
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Thanks, Bruce. Can you "un-negative" the other one in the Walter Parkins thread and post both there? I don't have the capability to do that.
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Last try. By the way Jon, I simply copied the image from your thread, pasted it onto Microsoft Paint, right clicked the image in MS Paint and at the bottom of the dropdown menu, it says "Invert Colors".
(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2847/33328078544_a137816fa8_b.jpg)
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Thanks, Nick!
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There is more to the Tirebird story after Don Clement - passed thru my hands at one time.
Robert
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No problem Jon.
Got any more to that story Robert, like about when that was, condition of chassis/drivetrain, future after your ownership. Maybe something like pictures? :D
...and how you could be crazy enough to let it go. ;)
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Thanks to Steve Francis for sharing this recollection with us...
"The thread on the TireBird takes me back to how I got Minilite UK to put into production the aluminum version of the 15”x 8”T/A wheel.
Back in the 1990s I purchased a used set of four magnesium 15”x 8” Minilites from an eBay seller that owned one of the BFG TireBird show cars. Along with the wheels he included some BFG papers (complete with greasy fingers prints from prev owner) which I scanned and have attached to this email. At that time I was already the primary North American Importer of Minilites and was not happy with Minilite’s 15”x 8” “Sport” style wheel. So I asked the UK factory to consider a run of aluminum 15”x 8” T/A style in heat treated aluminum. They agreed but didn’t have the old blueprints so I shipped one of the magnesium wheels as a guide for new tooling. Once the tooling was finished I got word that the factory “lost” the single mag wheel but they gave me a set of the alum version free of charge for the error. I ended up selling the other three mag wheels to one of the HTA guys, I think they ended up on the 2nd Gen Warren Agor Camaro.
So all the aluminum 15”x 8” wheels that are out there on the race track and the street owe a big thanks to that TireBird show car."
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Nick, this car came out west to Vancouver BC in 80. I had told a local racer about this car and he
made the purchase - was raced for a few years at Westwood, then sold to a local stock car racer who
made a few mods but don't know if it actually went oval track racing. Then was sold to another Westwood
racer who cleaned it up and added some IMSA flares, but decided to sell it to me as a roller - I have a pic
somewhere.
I knew the history of the car but any restoration work was beyond my financial capabilities at that time. Bear
in mind I have no mechanical or fabrication skills, so the car was sold to David Tom of the Historic Trans-Am
Registry. Not sure of the year but probably in 93/94. He did restore the car but don't know if he raced it.
Last time I saw the car it was displayed at the Peterson Museum LA Tribute to Tran-Am event in 97. Don't know how it ended up at the Canepa enterprise.
Robert
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I'm not sure if you ha noticed but of the two cars, one stayed a Firebird, the other was converted to a Camaro and was then able to use he Chev engine which was far more reliable. No point showcasing the new street T/A tire if the engine keeps blowing.
One of the cars had the usual Second Gen door handle, the other used the First Gen door handles.
Bruce.
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Thanks for the info, Bruce. Do you know why one had First Gen door handles on it?
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The car must have been a very early pre production body shell. I will see if I have a pic of the car to show the door handle.
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Not sure if this has been posted before, or is relevant to this thread ? which car is this ?
(photo from the roaring season site)
Mike
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Thanks for the history Robert, that car really got around, but then again it was also spared a life in a junkyard, or being ruined some other way. Nonetheless I'm happy to hear your story and that the car really did have a happy and productive ending.
The TireBird car was actually an old Titus Firebird, correct?
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To my knowledge that is correct. The other remaining TG Firebird I heard also survived. Heard it had
lived a hard life as an IMSA car or perhaps oval tracker. last I heard, and that was many years ago, that
a James Thomas, I think, was the owner.
Robert
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This shows the First Gen door handles on the Titus driven T/G car, the sister to the Tirebird.
(http://i65.tinypic.com/2compg8.jpg)
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^That has got to be my favorite shot of any Trans Am era Trans Am. pun intended.
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Bruce302 & Trans Am, here's another shot of the T/G Firebird in pre season tests at Willow Springs Raceway. Wonder what the purpose of the second person might be in the car ? (auto week photo)
Mike
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Hard to say. It could be something as simple as a crewman wanting a ride for fun after the test session was over or maybe Jerry was giving a magazine story writer a ride to show him what the car was like at speed.
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That's a neat shot group/7, Thank you. The ride along for a crew or family would be my guess too. Everyone loves a free ride.
Bruce.
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Not a lot of fully prepped race cars had the luxury of extra room to mount a passenger seat, this was probably a bit of trouble. Must have been important. Great shot, thank you for posting.
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A T/A Javelin driver told me about a time at Laguna Seca he took a young female journalist for a ride in the Ronnie Kaplan Javelin, and he took delight in her fright.
She left a puddle on the passenger seat.
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I love how "flat" car is in the turn. I seem to remember a mention of how really big (for the time) 1.25" or bigger front bars had started to come into play... Ken
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For those in (or planning to be in) the area June 2-4, the "Tirebird" will take to the track at Sonoma Raceway, along with it's distant cousin, the 1964 Temeprt "Grey Ghost". Should be great stuff.
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Found some interesting professionally produced footage of the BFG Tirebird in the WSLS-TV (Roanoke, VA) News Film Collection. According to the website it was released and used in a news broadcast on January 13, 1971. See it here: https://search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/uva-lib:2214884
Info on the cars can be seen here: https://bfgtirebird.com/t%2Fg-racing-program
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That is absolutely fantastic footage!!! and the video is of really good quality, very cool. Thank you very much.
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Viewing the video and reading the info link causes me to wonder just how much BFG's marketing/racing program contributed to the immense popularity of the BFG TA radial tires on our street muscle cars over the years from the 70's thru to today? I've always thought they were the BEST radial tire for a muscle car, but part of my opinion stems from the 'appearance'.. the smaller white letters and the TA notation...
What do you fellas think?
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Viewing the video and reading the info link causes me to wonder just how much BFG's marketing/racing program contributed to the immense popularity of the BFG TA radial tires on our street muscle cars over the years from the 70's thru to today? I've always thought they were the BEST radial tire for a muscle car, but part of my opinion stems from the 'appearance'.. the smaller white letters and the TA notation...
What do you fellas think?
I'm only 43 years old and consequently too young to have seen the original Trans Am series first hand or any of the marketing that went along with it but when I got my 1971 Camaro Z28 RS back in the mid 1990's I immediately put these kind of tires on it. I always liked the look of the white raised letters and the performance they give. While I was well versed in the history of the Trans Am at the time, back then I never put 2 and 2 together to realize that the "T/A" in BFG T/A tires stood for Trans Am and hearkened back to this promotional/race program. By the 1980's/1990's when I would have been exposed to the ads for these tires in magazines and on the television the brand/type had been well established and they probably had no reason to promote the fact that they were the first street radial to participate in racing.