Penske Camaros racing in Europe

[Jon Mello]

This is a thread intended to discuss the Penske Camaros that got sold and went to Europe to race. The first Penske Camaro
from '67, the one that Mark Donohue drove at Daytona, Sebring and other tracks early in the season, was taken by Penske
crew member Peter Reinhardt to Europe where he raced the car for McNamara Racing.

"Racing the Sunoco Camaro in Europe" report comes from Sun Oil's Jerry Kroninger via Wayne Guinn.

[369]

Very cool article!! I had no idea these cars would fit into a class in europe...thanks for sharing it. Any idea where this thing ended up at?

[oldtransamdriver]

This is the Craig Fisher camaro built at Gorries Chev in Toronto?

Robert Barg

[Jon Mello]

The current whereabouts of the car, if it still exists, are unknown. This is not the car that Craig Fisher for
Terry Godsall. This is the first Penske Camaro. That car was first raced at Daytona in February '67 and it
became the back-up car driven by Craig Fisher and Bob Johnson at the end of the '67 season when a new
car was built for Donohue in time for the Modesto Trans-Am.

Below is a picture of the first Donohue car at Daytona in '67 and this is the car shown in the 5-page report
shown above, driven by Peter Reinhardt. At Daytona, the Donohue car did not have a full roll cage.


Photo by Craig Fisher

[Jon Mello]

All of the photos below are of the same Penske Camaro taken at different times during the 1967 season.
They are all the same car that Peter Reinhardt took to Europe to race in 1968.

Mark Donohue's Penske prepared Camaro, Sebring 4-Hour Trans-Am, March 1967

Photo by Craig Fisher

Rear view of Donohue's car, also from the Sebring race, March '67.

Photo by Craig Fisher

The first Penske Camaro at Mid-Ohio in June, 1967. George Follmer was driving this weekend,
substituting for Mark Donohue who was at Le Mans driving a Ford MkIV teamed up with
Bruce McLaren as his co-driver. This was George's first ever Trans-Am race. He finished 3rd.

Photo: Jon Mello Collection

The Penske Camaro at the August 12, 1967 Marlboro Trans-Am. The roll cage seen in this car
was added to it before the Bryar Trans-Am which took place on August 6th.

Photo by Andrew Keller

Original Penske Camaro interior at Marlboro.

Photo by Andrew Keller

This photo was taken at Continental Divide in late August '67. This was the last race that Donohue
used this car as his primary mount. A new Camaro was ready for him at Modesto in early September.

Photo by Ron Shaw



Below is Craig Fisher driving the original Donohue car at Kent in early October while Mark was driving the new car.

[ZLP955]

Awesome photos, thanks!

[Jon Mello]

You're welcome.

For the '69 racing season in Europe, the car was driven by Helmut Marko and the paint job was changed to reflect new sponsorship by
Dutch airlines KLM. Onwnership of the car was Francis E. McNamara and the entrant is listed as McNamara Racing. I think McNamara was
the real owner of the car in '68 also. I don't see where Peter Reinhardt had the bucks to buy the car and race it on his own.


Jeff Barley Collection

More photos at these links from May 1969. Notice the clips on the windows are the same ones as when Penske owned the car.
The roll cage design is the same also.

http://www.racingsportscars.com/etcc/1969/Brno-1969-05-25-090.jpg

http://www.racingsportscars.com/etcc/1969/Brno-1969-05-25-090a.jpg

http://www.racingsportscars.com/etcc/1969/Brno-1969-05-25-090b.jpg

[MO]

Great pics Jon! Interesting non production rear spoiler. Did SCCA rules allow for that?


This photo was taken at Continental Divide in late August '67. This was the last race that Donohue
used this car as his primary mount. A new Camaro was ready for him at Modesto in early September.

Photo by Ron Shaw

[Jon Mello]

Fred, the rules should not have allowed that spoiler but they ran the car with it for at least three races during the middle of the season.
I'm not sure how they got away with it but they did. The car was wrecked in a trailering accident on the way to the Modesto Trans-Am
race and was out of commission for a couple of races while they rebuilt it. When it returned, a standard rear spoiler was installed.

[Jon Mello]

Here is a picture of the engine compartment of the KLM-liveried car circa 1969. I do not know the history of this car beyond
1969. Does anybody out there have more info on this car, any subsequent owners or drivers, and what may have become of it?

[Jon Mello]

Here's the other Penske Camaro that went to Europe. This article is from the March 1971 issue of Motor Sport magazine.
There is some conflicting information on this car. Some statements from the era claim that the car was a back-up Penske
car for the '68 season that had not been completely built-up. The story goes that it was taken to Germany by Peter Reinhardt
and finished over there by him before he raced it during the '69 season. On the other hand, the story has been told that this
is the car that was raced by Donohue at Daytona in '68 and used by Sam Posey as the 2nd team car during the middle of the
'68 Trans-Am season. That car was sold to Sam after he left the Penske team but Roger bought it back from Sam to keep in
reserve as a back-up car during the '69 season. It was not used in the Trans-Am series in '69 and the story goes that it went
to Europe after that. This car was brought back to the U.S. by David Tom and restored by George Mongon as the first '68
Penske car. It is currently being raced by new owner Bill Bryan in Historic Trans-Am.



Jon Mello Collection