1967 Trans-Am season review

[Jon Mello]

Crow's Landing/Modesto Trans-Am program. (Jon Mello Collection)

[69Z28-RS]

'wine, women, and race cars....        What could be better? 
The program cover... brought back memories of that time...

[MO]

Cool stuff!!!

[Jon Mello]

Crow's Landing/Modesto Trans-Am coverage as found in Competition Press & Autoweek. (Jon Mello Collection)

[Jon Mello]

Crow's Landing/Modesto was supposed to be the debut of a two-car effort by Penske to help close
the points gap against the Cougars and Mustangs. Unfortunately the first car was involved in a towing
mishap on the way to the race. The car was being towed by Craig Fisher and mechanic Tom Greatorex
from Penske's shop in PA. They had been driving for a day and a half straight alternating the driving
duties. They came to a poorly lit, newly constructed freeway interchange near Fernly, Nevada when
the trailer tire got just off the side off the pavement, got sucked into some gravel and hit a drainage
culvert. The car was very badly damaged. It was so bad that Craig Fisher was told to strip all the good
parts off of it but Mark looked at it later and decided everything was still "square" and that it should
be repaired. On top of that nightmare scenario, the new lightweight (sandblasted) Camaro that they
had been preparing since June, was barely ready and was airfreighted to the race at the last moment.
It had the wrong gearing for the track and while they changed to a slightly better gear ratio, it still
ended up falling short of what they really needed.

[group/7]

3 and 5 races late to the program ! fisher at lime rock, and donohue at bryar, broke left rear axles. was this a weak link on the cars under race stresses ?

group/7

[Jon Mello]

My Johnny Moore Camaro also broke a left rear axle at Marlboro. The stock axles were having a tough time under racing stresses so GM came out with these heavier duty units.

http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=8332.0;all

[Jon Mello]

Crow's Landing/Modesto Trans-Am photos from Post*Grid and The Wheel. (Jon Mello Collection)




Kennedy International photo

Jerry and Annie Titus after winning the race.

Kennedy International photo


Kennedy International photo

[Jon Mello]

Crow's Landing/Modesto Trans-Am memorabilia. (Jon Mello Collection)

[Jon Mello]

Crow's Landing/Modesto Trans-Am bumper sticker.


Frank Dihartce Collection

[Jon Mello]

Crow's Landing/Modesto Trans-Am report from Car & Driver magazine. (Jon Mello Collection)

[Jon Mello]

Riverside Trans-Am race report from my October 7 issue of Competition Press & Autoweek. You may notice
that guys such as Mark Donohue, Dan Gurney, George Follmer and Peter Revson were not at this race. This is due
to a schedule conflict with the Can-Am series and those four were running at the Bridgehampton Can-Am on the
East Coast while this Trans-Am race was being run. Bob Johnson was the substitute driver in the Sunoco Camaro.







Note: Car #64 below is driven by Tony Settember, not Bob Johnson. The caption underneath is wrong.











                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                     Jon Mello Collection


This Competition Press and Autoweek article from the 10-14-67 issue
notes that the Penske Camaro is of legal weight even with panel thick-
nesses near 1/3 that of stock. There are rumors and folklore that state
the same car weighed 2550lbs at Kent three weeks later. I find that
completely implausible.

Jon Mello Collection

[Jon Mello]

Riverside Trans-Am coverage from Post*Grid. (Jon Mello Collection)

[Jon Mello]

Riverside Trans-Am program, from the Bob Sanders Collection, courtesy of Robert Lodewyk.


















































































Preliminary Riverside 250 Trans-Am entry list. (Jon Mello Collection)

[Jon Mello]

Selected pages from the official entry form for the Riverside 250 Trans-Am.








Bob Sanders Collection, courtesy of Robert Lodewyk