CRG Discussion Forum
Model Specific Discussions => Trans-Am Camaros => Topic started by: Steve Holmes on March 19, 2021, 11:31:30 PM
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Hi everyone, I spent much of last year writing a book called Racing Camaros - An International Photographic History 1966 - 1984.
The book is approx 175 pages, and covers the advent of the Camaro and its involvement in motor racing. Much of the book spans the years 1966 through 1970, when Chevrolet played an active role in the racing programs. Although Camaros from around the world feature, the book focuses on the SCCA Trans-Am series.
It features approx 300 photos, many of which have never been published before. Although its called a Photographic History, there are over 30,000 words, plus detailed captions. I've also included some really nice pages from the Camaro homologation sheets.
Jon Mello was a huge help with the book, supplying a great amount of information and I'm forever grateful to him.
The book was published by Veloce Publishing who now have copies available. Stock is being sent to the US where you'll be able to order it from Amazon.com etc, but if you want a copy sooner, order direct from the publisher.
I'll post page and photo samples over the coming days and weeks, but Veloce Publishing have some page samples on their order page: https://www.veloce.co.uk/store/Racing-Camaros-p187276085
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I’ll be placing my order in a few minutes......looking foreword to checking it out!
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Awesome....look forward to reading your new book!!
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Just ordered - looking forward to it!
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Placed my order today as well. Forgot about your last book "Racing Mustangs"; they still had it in my que when I signed in (forgot and never pulled the trigger), so I ordered that too!
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Ordered one today. Can't wait to see it. Thanks
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Steve, thanks for the kind words. I was glad to play a small part and leave the bulk of it to you and the other contributors. That's a lot of work but I look forward to reading and enjoying the fruits of your labor!
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Got my book in the mail today!!!
Tons of pictures ....(most of which I’ve never seen before) and an outstanding write up so far...
Excellent job Steve!! This will seriously go down as a “must have” publication for most of us.
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Hi everyone, thanks for the kind words. Sorry its taken me so long to post here. Things have been hectic lately and I've just written another two books since completing Racing Camaros.
Anyway, I wanted to share some of the beautiful images from my Racing Camaros book. I've been very fortunate to be able to access some amazing collections and I'm hugely grateful for that.
We have to kick things off with this one, for obvious reasons!
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Smokey Yunick's beautiful black and gold 1967 Camaro, making its only Trans-Am appearance under Yunick's ownership at Sebring in 1968. Al Unser and Lloyd Ruby drove, and equaled the qualifying time of the fastest Penske Camaro which was also fastest of the Trans-Am cars. Unfortuntely, Smokey's motor blew on lap 43.
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One of my favorite images. This is Helmut Marko, these days head of Red Bulls youth driver program, kicking up the dust at Aspern, Austria, in early 1969. This is the very first Penske Racing Camaro. It recently returned to the US, now owned by Pat Ryan.
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Jerry Thompson's Owens Corning Camaro in the pits at the 1970 Circuit Mont-Tremblant Trans-Am. The Owens Corning team of Tony DeLorenzo and Thompson had come from A/Production sports car racing, running big block Corvettes, and decided to build two brand new Camaros for the 1970 Trans-Am. They were the only team outside the factory Chaparral squad to run the new second-gen car in 1970. The cars looked great, but their development and competitiveness suffered from early delays and they never caught up.
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Dramatic shot from the 1969 Bryar Trans-Am. Mark Donohue and Ed Leslie chase Parnelli Jones in the leading Bud Moore Mustang. The trio were about this far apart for the first 19 laps before Donohue found a way by. Leslie tried to follow, but he and Jones clashed, and the Mustang went off course. Leslie carried on to finish second, making for a Penske 1-2. This was Leslie's first race with the team, filling in for Ron Bucknum who'd broken his wrist in a road accident.
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Beautiful color image moments before the pace lap for the 1968 Bridgehampton Trans-Am. This was the first race for Sam Posey in the second Penske Racing Camaro. He was apparently paying Roger Penske $4000 per race to drive that car, with the agreement he'd purchase it at the end of the season for $12,000. Peter Revson shares the front row with Donohue in the factory Javelin, with George Follmer on row 2. The Javelins got faster as the 1968 season went on, pushing the factory Mustangs back to row 3.
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Pictured in the Kent pits during the final round of the 1967 Trans-Am. This is the second Penske Racing Camaro built in 1967, often referred to the 'lightweight' car. It made four appearances in 1967, and won two of them. Mark Donohue and Craig Fisher then drove it to third overall in the 1968 Sebring 12 Hours.
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When Penske Racing was done with the 1967 lightweight following Sebring, Terry Godsall took it to Canada, where it was driven mostly by Craig Fisher. It was given a new coat of paint; white and black. It was later converted into a Pontiac Firebird.
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Superb shot of Ron Bucknum's Penske Racing Camaro at the 1969 Lime Rock Trans-Am. This angle really illustrates the radical nose droop the Penske cars had early in the season.
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I love this photo! Jean-Guy Roy's new 1967 Camaro arrives ready for battle at Circuit Mont-Tremblant, being towed by a Chevy Impala wagon. Roy became a real Camaro advocate, and raced the models for years.
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Vic Elford looks for a short-cut in his pursuit of Sam Posey's Dodge Challenger in the 1970 Circuit Mont-Tremblant Trans-Am. This was Elford's first race at the wheel of the factory Chaparral Camaro, just vacated by Jim Hall. Although he didn't finish here, Elford went on to win the Watkins Glen race a few months later, scoring the only Trans-Am victory for a second-gen Camaro in the original 1966 - 1972 era.
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Warren Agor worked for Penske Racing in 1968, before leaving to start his own team. He purchased a brand new Hugger Orange 1969 Z/28 in late 1968, and he and his small team converted it to SCCA A/Sedan spec. Roger Penske, Mark Donohue and other Penske team memebrs called in to check progress on the new car while it was being built. This photo was taken on his parents driveway in Pittsford, New York. It was here the finishing touches were applied to the car. But it wasn't here for long; the neighbors soon got tired of the engine start-ups and test runs up and down the street! The Camaro had only just been completed here, and Agor was about to load up to attend driving school at Watkins Glen.
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Long-time Canadian Camaro racer Maurice 'Mo' Carter makes a pit stop in the 1971 Riverside Trans-Am. Carter purchased one of the 1970 Chaparral Camaros and ran it for several years. It looked great in his traditional red and white colors.
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Sam Posey acclimatizes to his new surroundings in his first race in the Penske Racing Camaro. This is the car built by Penske for the 1968 endurance races at Daytona and Sebring, before the teams second car was completed, which Donohue drove from Round 3 of the Trans-Am. This car had a different dash to the second car, and didn't feature the 'X' bars in the B-pillar section of the roll cage like the second car did. This is the car that went to Europe in late 1969.
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This photo spread is from the 1969 chapter.
On the left are some rough sketches that were supplied to me by the International Motor Racing Research Center. These sketches accompanied the 1969 Camaro homologation sheet, parts of which they also provided for the book. I'm only guessing but I thought these might have been drawn by Walt Hane, who was head SCCA tech inspector, and was battling the factory Trans-Am teams and their increasingly radical bodywork modifications. Shown here are detailed measurements taken from a stock 1969 Camaro, so they can be compared with the factory race cars.
Meanwhile, the photos on the right page are from Canadian racer Al Mason, who visited Smokey Yunick's Best Damn Garage In Town in early 1969 to purchase a Smokey race motor for his own 1968 Camaro A/Sedan. Thats Al's blue Chevy pick-up that he drove all the way to Smokey's shop and back.
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One of Penske Racings 'unfair advantages' in 1969, was its fuel rigs. The team could fill a 22 gallon tank lightning fast, but fuel went everywhere!
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Great pics, Steve. Looks like an awesome book. Thanks for posting.
Any knowledge on why it says Club Cougar on the front fender of Jean-Guy Roy's '67 Camaro?
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Hi everyone, Amazon.com finally have stock of the book. Amazon lets you view the first 15 pages. Thanks all for your patience: https://www.amazon.com/Racing-Camaros-International-Photographic-1966-1986/dp/1787115127/ref=pd_sbs_3/135-5943010-7759300?pd_rd_w=hskXg&pf_rd_p=3676f086-9496-4fd7-8490-77cf7f43f846&pf_rd_r=5WBSTDGF8BQYGBT2FC7R&pd_rd_r=df384706-6d52-4d89-9c28-8444f2cf1045&pd_rd_wg=k6asj&pd_rd_i=1787115127&psc=1
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Thanks for letting us know, Steve!
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Great book,Great pics was Smokey's 68 camaro originally 67 rs or had a few first gen's.
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Smokey had more than one 1st-gen Camaro but the car he tried to run at Riverside in late '67 was the same car that he tried to run at the Daytona 24hr. They only let him run practice laps and not the actual race. The same car was then made legal enough to run at Sebring in late March '68. Smokey had some other Camaros that ran at Bonneville (along with the '67) and which also ran in Nascar GT.
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Only Smokey would be allowed to make practice runs when the car didn't pass inspections. Any one else would have been shown the hiway.
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Thanks Jon for the info ,so Smokey had some other Camaros that ran at Bonneville were they black and gold as well.
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Here is a good read on Smokey's cars. Enjoy!
https://www.motortrend.com/news/how-smokey-yunick-broke-more-than-300-bonneville-records-with-a-stock-1967-z28/
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Thanks Jon for the info, so Smokey had some other Camaros that ran at Bonneville were they black and gold as well.
Yes, they were. Here's a link to a thread about Smokey and his cars...
http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=10535.0
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Thanks Jon.
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You're welcome!