Gerry Gregory Trans-Am Camaro (Guldstrand built)

[Jon Mello]

A Motorcade magazine feature on the Gerry Gregory Trans-Am Camaro, currently owned by our own Robert Lodewyk.












Robert Lodewyk Collection

[Jon Mello]

From the May 1970 issue of Sports Car Graphic.









Robert Lodewyk Collection

[oldtransamdriver]

Wow, this was a killer car to go T/A racing with - way above what our gang brought to the track.  An 8th and 10th place was not too shabby, but maybe Gerry expected much more?

So what happened to this car after only a few T/A races?  Is Gerry still with us?

Robert Barg

[Jon Mello]

Much more coming, Robert. Stay tuned!

[Jon Mello]

A couple of photos of Gerry Gregory's Camaro at the 1969 Laguna Seca Trans-Am. Gerry Gregory died
in a motorcycle accident back in the 1980s. We have tried to find his wife Sarah but have not had any
success. They had a son as well but we have not found him either.

[Jon Mello]

Records do not indicate that Dick Guldstrand drove the Camaro in any of the four '69 Trans-Am races it ran in however it is believed that Dick did
drive it during testing and in some SCCA A/Sedan races. Here, Dick can be seen in his driving suit in the "V" between the hood and the windshield.


1969 Trans-Am race results for the Gerry Gregory Camaro are...

Laguna Seca, 8-24-69, DNF 28th place
Kent WA, 9-7-69, DNF 31st place
Sears Point, 9-21-69, 10th place
Riverside, 10-5-69, 8th place

Gerry Gregory ran a rather strange two-car team in the 1969 Trans-Am series. The second team car was a Porsche
911 which, of course, was competing in the U-2 class. Scooter Patrick and Don Pike were the two drivers of that car.
At the end of the '69 season the Camaro was put up for sale, as seen in the ad below.



The Camaro did not sell at that time however and it is known that Gregory did run at least one A/Sedan race with
the car during the 1970 season. He did have an accident with the car at Phoenix that year. Also, during the 1970
season, Gregory formed another two-car team to run BMW 2002s in the Trans-Am U-2 class. Don Pike was the
other driver.

[Jon Mello]

Another shot of the car taken at the Laguna Seca Trans-Am. This is heading down through the famous corkscrew part of the track.
It is thought that this was taken during practice before the race due to the lack of decals seen on the car that have been seen in other photos.

Bob Tronolone photo/Robert Lodewyk collection

[Sixteen Grand Sedan #56]

THANKS Jon for your efforts on this post as well as the entire site.

When I purchased this picture from Mr. Tronolone he explained that he would sit up in a tree in the corkscrew to get these shots.
The course workers would only allow this if he agreed to stay there and only come down during a yellow flag or at the end of the race.

Very COOL that individuals like Mr. Tronolone still have these items for those of us that are interested to enjoy them 42 years later.

[Jon Mello]

Your welcome, Robert. I think that picture of your car from that angle in the corkscrew is one of the neatest shots I have
seen from that particular track. I can see why Bob Tronolone would go to the trouble of hanging out in that tree during
an entire practice session during the race weekend. And yes, that is very gracious of him to go through his archives to
locate a previously unseen photo for you. To my knowledge, he is not one of the photographers from the old days that
is actively selling his work from decades ago.

[oldtransamdriver]

Dick Guldstrand will be driving Corvette #56 in Group 5 according to the participant list for the Sonoma Historics Jun 1-3 - good for him.

Robert Barg

[Jon Mello]

That'll be nice to see Dick on the track again. Thanks for the heads-up, Robert.

[Jon Mello]

The Gerry Gregory car went to Mexico circa 1972 and was repainted blue. It was raced down
there by Raul Perez Gama, who had previously been racing Mark Donohue's '69 Penske Camaro.

Robert Lodewyk Collection


Robert Lodewyk Collection


Robert Lodewyk Collection


Here's Raul Perez Gama in the '69 ex-Donohue Camaro with the Sunoco livery still on it. It is believed that this car was
detroyed in a Mexico City earthquake and that may be one of the reasons why he purchased the ex-Gerry Gregory Camaro.

Jon Mello Collection

[Jon Mello]

Later in the car's life, it ended up in the hands of the Tristan brothers. By then the car had been pretty well
used and abused. It's not 100% certain at this point but due to the words Baja Mil on the front fenders and
the condition of the front subframe, the car may have been run in the Baja 1000.