by Harold Pace/autoMedia.com

Until the mid-1960s, road racing in America had been the province of European sports cars and the Corvette. They were nimble, sophisticated and attractive, with brakes that would slam you against the dash and cornering speeds that were only a tick slower than all-out racing cars. On the other hand, the typical American sedan was huge, boring and a potential accident from the moment you moved the steering wheel off dead center or mashed down on the spongy brake pedal

Then the first wave of sports sedans started trickling over from Europe. Cars like the Alfa Romeo GTV, the Lotus-Cortina and the Mini Cooper S were small in size and fully capable of ripping the lungs out of the majority of pure sports cars, both in a turn and a straight line. They were the "Import Tuner Cars" of their time. Advanced thinkers in Detroit took notice and decided they could play the same game. Thus was born the "pony cars" that led to the greatest and longest-lived road racing in the United States, the Trans-Am series.

Trans-Am cars have a huge following both in the collector car and vintage racing worlds. Cars with a confirmed Trans-Am race history bring over $100,000 at auctions, but for many fans it is enough to rebuild a standard model Mustang, Camaro or other pony car into a race-ready clone of the real thing. To help get your Trans-Am project started, some background is in order.

Early Arrivals

The Mustang and the Barracuda debuted in 1964, and even the stodgy Dodge Dart was fitted with a potent 273-cu. in. V-8. The Corvair received a hot four-carburetor engine and even an optional turbocharger to put it in the sports sedan category.

The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) had been putting on road racing events for sports cars since the early 1950s and had taken notice of the popularity of a few stand-alone sedan races that were held at Green Valley Raceway in Texas and at Lime Rock, Connecticut. The organization realized that the time was right to create a racing series that would welcome factory involvement from America and across the pond.

Ford and Chrysler quickly signed up and European manufacturers also pledged their support. The first Trans-Am race was held at Sebring in 1966. It was four hours long and the winner was Formula 1 star Jochen Rindt in an Alfa Romeo sedan, followed by Bob Tullius in a Dodge Dart.

There were two classes: over (O2) and under (U2) two liters, while the top class was restricted to five-liter engines. The Darts, Mustangs and Barracudas were the best of the big-bore class, Alfas and Lotus Cortinas ruled the small-bore class and the Corvairs were completely out of the hunt.

The rest of the seven-race season was a tag-team wrestling match between the Mustangs and the Mopars, with Ford's pony car on top at the end. The Alfas took U2, and everyone couldn't wait for the 1967 season to do it all over again!

The next year saw the emergence of a new face, the Camaro (and its cousin, the Pontiac Firebird). Although Mustangs (joined by their Mercury sibling, the Cougar) again won the championship, by the end of the season Mark Donahue in his Roger Penske Camaro was cleaning up, and the writing was on the wall.

In 1968 and 1969, the blue Penske Sunoco Camaros ruled Trans-Am. Scarcely noticed during the epic Ford-vs.-Chevy duels was the emergence of another new name, the AMC Javelin. At first slow and unreliable, the Javelin was to prove a major player in the coming years.

In the U2 class, the all-conquering Alfas had a rude shock as the Porsche 911 was somehow legalized as a sedan. Guess who cleaned up. Stuttgart ruled U2 from 1967 to 1969.

In 1970 the Penske/Donahue juggernaut switched to Javelins and Ford wrested for control of the series with its orange Bud Moore fastback Mustangs. This despite the appearance of a revitalized Mopar effort with Dan Gurney-prepared Barracudas, and Dodge Challengers run by Ray Caldwell's Autodynamics operation.

In U2 the Porsche 911 was suddenly discovered to be a sports car (duh!) and dropped from U2 sedan legality. The Alfas came back with a vengeance. The popularity of the Trans-Am was at an all-time high, with 11 races and over 210,000 spectators showing up to watch the battles. No one could figure out how it could get any better. Unfortunately, they were right.

Decline

Although the racing hadn't changed during the 1971 season, the pony car market was in a slump. Ford, Mopar and Chevy all withdrew factory support for the Trans-Am, leaving Penske's Javelins the only works team. Needless to say, Donahue steamrollered the series. However, in the U2 class there was new support as Nissan launched two teams of Datsun 510s, which took over from the previously dominating Alfas. The Japanese invasion had begun!

The series sank further in 1972 when the Penske Javelins were passed on to the Roy Woods team and continued their winning ways. The only opposition came from some privately entered Firebirds and Mustangs, and the championship went to AMC-mounted George Follmer (O2) and Datsun's John Morton (U2). It was the end of the original Trans-Am, and it would never be the same. (However, the series came back to life later on and we will look at its revival in a future article.)

Roll Your Own

Fancy having your own Trans-Am car to compete in vintage racing events? The Historic Trans-Am Registry keeps a list of cars that competed in the Trans-Am series. These cars are invited to the premier events and have price tags to match. Most vintage racing clubs, though, do not require a Trans-Am history for pony cars to compete in club-level events. A few clubs do require some sort of racing history (such as SCCA amateur events), while others are perfectly happy with a correctly prepared racer that started life as a street machine. Whatever you start with, inspect it thoroughly for structural damage and corrosion during restoration.

Before you get started, be sure to get a copy of the regulations from whatever club you decide to race with and build your car accordingly. Do not listen to hearsay advice or make decisions based on what seems reasonable to you. No one likes to be put on the trailer before they get on the track.

What most groups will allow is a 5-liter V-8 with a Holley four-barrel carburetor, a four-speed transmission and eight-inch wide wheels. There were many tricks that took place in the series, including acid-dipping body panels to reduce their weight, and the use of stronger Ford rear axles in cars of other makes.

However, modern performance parts are frowned upon in vintage racing, so be sure to check before you change anything. If you prefer the smaller cars, the Datsun 510, Alfa Romeo and BMW sedans still make fun racers. Although they are scarcely any cheaper to prepare than a V-8 car, they do use a lot less $4 per gallon race gas and $200 plus vintage racing tires. Either way, you can have a good time and relive one of the best racing series ever!