Daytona Int. Speedway: 1968 Camaro RS/SS Conv. Pace Car for NASCAR Permatex 300

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A 1968 Camaro RS/SS 396 convertible was used as the pace car for the Permatex 300 held on Saturday, February 24, 1968 at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.  This was a NASCAR Late Model Sportsman event held the day before the Daytona 500.  It was won by Bunkie Blackburn in a three year old Dodge. 

This may or may not be the same car that was used as the pace car for the Daytona 24 hour race held a few weeks prior (see earlier thread for pictures).  Notice that this car has the same stripe package as that car with the exception of "PERMATEX 300" written on the front fenders.  Photographic evidence that I will post in an upcoming thread on the 1968 Daytona 500 demonstrates that there were at least two Camaro pace cars used at Daytona during the month of February 1968 and probably more. 

Both pictures came from the Peterson Automotive Museum SEMA Digitization Project: https://archive.petersen.org/pages/home.php

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Here is an interesting ad that I picked up from a vendor at the Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals (MCACAN) several years ago. In it you can see one of the 1968 Camaro RS/SS 396 convertible pace cars used at Daytona International Speedway during Speedweeks in 1968.

This was a two page ad for the Permatex Company, Inc. that appeared on the 2nd and 3rd pages of the April 1969 edition of Super Service Station, which was a trade publication for gas and service stations.

It is interesting to note that they used a picture of the pace car for the 1968 event in an ad that appeared in a magazine that was published several months after the 1969 event was run. Furthermore, the ad was promoting a chance to win a trip to the 1970 event. (see the body of the 2nd page of the ad in the next post)  They probably ran the same contest the year before and just continued using the same ad layout only with updated text.

Also note that the car in the ad looks to be a different one from the car in the first picture above.  The Camaro in the first picture above is missing the first quotation marks in front of the word PERMATEX.  The Camaro in the ad has them.  Also the number 300 looks to be lower on the fender in the ad than it is in the first picture.  This seems to indicate that at least two Camaro pace cars were used during the Permatex 300.

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Ticket from the Permatex 300. (worthpoint.com)

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Here you can see the Camaro lettered up with "Permatex 300" although it is sitting in front of the NASCAR Grand National cars.  This must have been taken during a practice session for the Daytona 500 held on the day they ran the Permatex 300.

Peterson Automotive Museum SEMA Digitization Project: https://archive.petersen.org/pages/home.php