Messages

1

Trans-Am Camaros / Ford Flat Out.....A Camaro helps Ford make a movie !!!!

« on: September 30, 2019, 11:41:22 PM »

Almost 50 years ago late in the summer of 1969, I received a call from the Ford Motor Company asking me if we would be interested in helping them out with the filming of a movie. Their movie was called Ford Flat Out and they needed footage from the last race of the season taking place in Riverside California. At first, I thought it must be some kind of a joke, but after they assured me that everything was on the up and up so I told them to show me the money.
   Anyway, they did come through with the cash so we were off to California..... But first, a stop at Ford Carcraft in Detroit to have cameras and sound gear installed then after a long haul to Riverside qualified well and ran a strong race but 5-minute stops for film change prevented us from having a good finish.

Sadly the race didn't go well for Ford as Mark Donahue ended up winning the race and the championship, but they did get some good footage for their movie.
Here is a link to some photos of our adventure...
 https://satman.typepad.com/photos/the_transam_series/oie_jpg-6.html

2

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Engine photos

« on: September 30, 2019, 06:02:05 PM »

I can remember being at the 69 race in Quebec and the local track officials made plywood templates of the bodies for tech inspection but
SCCA decided not to use them I wonder why. (LOL)

Also 50 years ago in 1969 we were contracted by Ford Motor Company to use our Camaro as a Camera Car at Riverside the final race of the year if anyone would like some details of that story let me know and I will whip something up.

Al

3

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Bud Moore

« on: December 17, 2017, 03:25:38 AM »

Bud Moore was a hero on and off the track and I consider myself fortunate to have been able to to have met him at Riverside in 1969 while working on the movie Ford Flat out, and although I found his people skills to be somewhat lacking he was certainely one hell of a racer who left his mark on many forms of motorsports.

AL Richards

4

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: HTA 2018 schedule

« on: August 11, 2017, 01:00:45 AM »

Yes you are correct  69 was the year of the big wreck, I was at the track that weekend hanging out with Jowett's guys and it was a very exciting race......... The other thing that I remember was the local tech inspectors had made up templates for all the cars but the SCCA guys would not let them fit them on any of the factory cars..... I wonder why

5

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: HTA 2018 schedule

« on: August 09, 2017, 10:05:46 PM »

Sorry, I seem to remember working on the shifter but that must have been in a subsequent race, also I believe that was the year of the big crash that took out the entire Ford team and ended up costing them the championship.

6

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: HTA 2018 schedule

« on: August 08, 2017, 10:50:35 PM »

Thanks for the update Robert, the July 13th. weekend at St.Jovite looks interesting to me. Tremblant was one of my favorite tracks and it might be worth a revisit..... I seem to remember that you ran quite well there back in the day and except for some shifter issues in 1971 you would have had a solid finish...

AL

7

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Parnelli Jones interview !!

« on: January 20, 2017, 06:05:10 PM »

Good to hear from you Bob, hope all is well with you and family .... Right now we are enjoying the sunshine in Mexico which sure beats the snow and cold that you guys are getting up north and the only thing I am missing is being able to watch a bunch of over priced classic cars get auctioned off at Barret Jackson.

AL

8

Trans-Am Camaros / Parnelli Jones interview !!

« on: January 19, 2017, 08:20:58 PM »

Here is a link to a recent Podcast interview with Trans-Am legend Parnelli Jones and Adam Carolla.

http://www.podcastone.com/pg/jsp/program/episode.jsp?programID=317&pid=100605598

AL Richards

9

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Interview with Robert Barg, Trans-Am racer

« on: May 31, 2016, 01:02:08 AM »

         We were forced to use stock Camaro rear axles as at that time no aftermarket parts were available, the stock axles turned out to be the Camaros Achilles heel ..... Mid Ohio was especially brutal for us probably due to excessive wheel hop caused in part by Bobs aggressive driving style (LOL).
 
AL

Remember speed costs money. How fast do you want to go?

10

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Rusty Jowett's 1967 Camaro Trans-Am Race Car

« on: March 17, 2016, 01:14:46 AM »

I remember a conversation I had with Rusty's crew chief where he claimed that apparently the throttle stuck on the long back straight and after they recovered the car the only thing that they saved was one carburetor......... Looking at the pictures of the destroyed car it is a testimonial to the quality of the construction that Rusty survived the incident.

AL

11

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Cowl plenum air cleaner, cold air induction, etc

« on: February 24, 2016, 02:20:43 AM »

Good stuff ...... The cowl induction setup was a well engineered piece of kit that really preformed well.

AL

12

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: Modern day T/A pictures from Lime Rock

« on: February 24, 2016, 02:12:12 AM »

        Great stuff Lime Rock was one of my favorite Trans Am tracks ........... We competed at Lime Rock in 1970 so the video brought back a lot of great memories for me .

Thanks for posting

AL

13

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: New Zealand/Australian Camaros And Firebirds

« on: December 16, 2015, 02:00:14 AM »

   Great stuff Steve,
           
   Your pictures bring back a lot of fond memories of my visit to Kiwi Land many many years ago........ To plagiarize  a quote from a famous American " never have so many done so much with so few resources" Back in the day while I was wrenching there it almost took an act of Parliament to import a race engine from the US.
Keep em coming

       AL

14

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: 1969 Trans-Am season review

« on: December 13, 2015, 11:57:28 PM »

Hi Bob,
After 40 years I am not certain but I do believe that it is the second Camaro, you know the one you wish you still owned.......Anyway we both know somebody on this site that will let us know.
  Dicks cars were always well engineered but their pre race service sucked, I remember one year at Brainerd the boys back at the shop sent he car out with no oil in the dif and we fried the year end on the first lap of practice.

AL

15

Trans-Am Camaros / Re: 1969 Trans-Am season review

« on: December 13, 2015, 02:20:07 AM »

Sorry Jon,
         I must have exceeded my band width allotment, or perhaps the content was too risque for this conservative site. Yes I think we were having a little post qualifying celebration with the Ford boys, they had been trying to get race footage all summer but the independent  Mustangs they were using failed to make the show.
    Dick did an amazing job putting our car 12th in an extremely tough field, and we were in shape for a very strong finish but a myriad of problems changing the film in the antique 35 mm cameras during pit stops killed our day........... Originally changing film was not part of our agreement with Ford but they were so desperate for race footage I gave in and let them go ahead and make the change. As you know the race was a classic Ford Chevy duel but sadly for Ford things it did not end well .........
 After the race my friend Marc, Rusty Jowetts crew chief came by and tried to sell me their whole operation for $5000. sadly due to lack of funds I had to pass.......... As you probably know the Jowett team worked closely with Penske and while they were on the West Coast Roger arranged to have their engines tested on Traco's dyno and not surprisingly they came very close to the Traco numbers.

AL