Model Specific Discussions > Trans-Am Camaros
Todco and McConnell Racing, Canadian Trans-Am racers
Jon Mello:
Since we have recently had Ken Ulrich from the Todco Racing team (and later, Roy Woods' ARA team) recently join our forum, I thought it would be good to start a new thread topic which discussed the cars which ran under the Todco and McConnell Racing banners.
Todco was the racing team started by John Todds and Craig Fisher was the driver for the team when they started the '69 Trans-Am season at the Wolverine Trans-Am. The car they started the season with was white with a black hood and trunk, then in mid-season Fisher appears in a silver Camaro Z/28 with black stripes. At the end of the season, Fisher is driving a dark blue Camaro with red wheels and a red roll cage.
Ken, can you tell us a little bit about what you did while working for Todco and can you fill us in on the car or cars that you used during the 1969 season?
Photo by Ron Lathrop
kgu:
I started out by hanging around Todco in the Spring of 1968 because a buddy of mine was working there. John Todds got some sponsorship money to build a 67 or 68 Camaro to compete in local club races at Tremblant. When he found out I could weld I ended up spending evenings and weekends growing 1 1/2" tubing together and learning alot about HP cars and why John was so well known locally. The car did well that season and Don Duncan bought it at the end of the year When John McConnell stepped in with big enough money to run a professional team in 1969. And that's when it all started to come together. Although both of these photos are # 7 they are 2 different cars. The fender flairs are different and the blue car has a roll bar which leans forward at top. White car first raced at Sebring, blue car some time mid season.
Jon Mello:
Ken, thanks for that information. It's interesting that you replaced the white '69 Camaro in mid-season.
Was this due to an accident, the addition of Derek Johnson to the team, or some other reason?
Can you tell me about the car seen in the photo below? This photo is from a Todco article in the 1971
Mt Tremblant program, which is all in French. The english translation for the caption is roughly as follows:
John Todds puts a finishing touch to one of the cars of his racing stable before it heads out on the track.
Cleanliness was always synonymous with success for this very professional race team.
Courtesy of Frank Dihartce
kgu:
It was because of the addition of Derik to the team. This chassis is first 69 that we built and started out white. Fenders on this car were cut and welded for clearance. 2nd chassis (#7) fenders were stretched for clearance instead of cutting them.
kgu:
Sorry, this photo is of 1st chassis with # 7 on it because Craig was driving and liked this number. When 2nd chassis was built #7 went onto it and 1st. chassis became Derik's car. In this set of photos, photo #1 and photo #3 are the same car with Craig driving in photo #1 (early in season) and Derik as driver in photo #3. Photo #2 (red wheels) is chassis #2 and is the car I prefered, driven by Craig and shows Dwight, our engine builder checking the plugs, and John Todds (white shirt on left in background).
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