A white or cream colored 1967 Camaro RS/SS350 convertible with Mag style wheel covers was used as the pace car for several races during the famed Bahama Speed Weeks in December of 1966. In addition, a stock appearing, blue 1967 Camaro convertible with rally wheels and blue line tires was raced in one of the events by American race driver Mike Rothschild. Correct me if I’m wrong, but this just might be the first time that a Camaro appeared in a major road race. Camaros participated in the 6th Annual Daytona Continental 24 Hours but this wouldn’t take place until February 1967.
The Bahama Speed Weeks was a week-long racing event that took place on an old air base known as Oakes Field Course on New Providence Island in the Bahamas at the end of the calendar year. It originally started out in 1954 as a promotional ploy to get more tourists to come to the Bahamas. The racers and crews used the week for rest, relaxation, partying and testing. Racers from all over the globe participated in the events because it always occurred in late November and early December. This was a period on the calendar when most racing series were dormant. As it turned out, 1966 was the last year the event was held until the recent vintage race revivals.
The week-long event consisted of several races. Some began with a pace car in a rolling start and some started with the traditional “LeMans” start where the drivers ran to their cars, got in and took off as soon as they got the car started.
For the most part, the pictures I will post were taken during two races held on Friday, December 2, 1966. These were the Governor’s Trophy/Nassau Tourist Trophy race and the Grand Prix of Volkswagens. The Governor’s Trophy race and Nassau Tourist Trophy race were supposed to be two separate events. The latter was originally scheduled to be run earlier in the week, but according to an article entitled “THE BUG IS SMALL—BUT OH MY!” in the December 12, 1966 edition of
Sports Illustrated, “a shipping foul-up caused a three-day delay in getting the 106 cars from Miami to Nassau and resulted in a five-day postponement of the Nassau Tourist Trophy Race for Grand Touring cars.” As a result the Grand Touring cars ran with the Group 7 prototype sports cars in the combined event. Read the
Sports Illustrated article here:
https://www.si.com/vault/1966/12/12/609293/the-bug-is-smallbut-oh-my These three pictures show the 1967 Camaro RS/SS 350 convertible pace car as it leads the race cars at the start of the pace lap for the combined Governor's Trophy/Nassau Tourist Trophy race held on Friday, December 2, 1966. They come from the Revs Digital Library. Click on the links to use the magnification tools.
1st picture:
http://library.revsinstitute.org/digital/collection/p17257coll1/id/4552/rec/342nd picture: Metadata from this picture states, "The Chevrolet Camaro pace car brings the field down the main straight. Directly behind the pace car is Mark Donohue driving car number 7, a Lola T70 Mk II. Front row on the left is Hap Sharp driving car number 65, a Chaparral 2E. Two cars directly behind the pace car is A.J. Foyt driving car number 83, Lola T70 Ford 427. Behind car number 65 is Skip Scott driving car number 91, a McLaren Elva Mk II. Front row, far right is Peter Revson in car number 92, a McLaren Elva Mk II. Just behind is Sam Posey in car number 82, a McLaren Elva Mk II. To the left is John Fulp driving car number 26, a Lola T70 MkII:
http://library.revsinstitute.org/digital/collection/p17257coll1/id/3975/rec/4163rd picture:
http://library.revsinstitute.org/digital/collection/p17257coll1/id/7576/rec/28
