1968 Trans-Am season review

[group/7]

re: yunick camaros. did smokey build two 1st generation camaros for racing ? or was the 67 updated to 68 spec's for daytona & sebring in 1968 ? I believe he also built A 70 & 1/2 bodied car which I think  only ran once once at the glen in 71 , but with A.J. foyt sponsorship on the flanks. I think this car went to europe ? does it still exist ? I have the smokey 3 vol. set as well, interesting read.

  mike in canada

[Jon Mello]

Smokey's car was the same one at Daytona that it was at Riverside in September '67 (verified by Floyd Stone and Jim Patterson who inspected the car at both places). That was a '67 Camaro, as verified by all the photos seen in Hot Rod magazine. It was the same car at Sebring too except they changed the grille to the standard version since SCCA wanted Smokey to put all the hidden headlight stuff back in if he was going to run with the RS grille.

[Jon Mello]

Here's a look at the front suspension on Smokey's car that did not pass muster with the SCCA scrutineers. Note where the inner tie rod end attaches to the drag link and compare it to the drag link on a stock Camaro. You should be able to see the pitman arm in this photo but it's not visible. Several other details stand out as "non-production".

[Jon Mello]

More Penske Camaro photos prior to the Daytona race.

[Jon Mello]

Another article about the disqualification of Smokey's Camaro, this time from the Saturday
February 3, 1968 issue of the Daytona Beach Morning Journal nespaper. (Jon Mello Collection)










The short snippet below misidentifies Bruce McLaren as Jim McLaren.

[Jon Mello]

More from the same DBMJ newspaper as above.

[Jon Mello]

[Jon Mello]

Penske crew chief Roy Gane (in blue shirt) with the #6 car in the tech inspection area.

Craig Fisher photo

A good look at the Penske Camaro high capacity fuel tank fitted for the endurance races at Daytona and Sebring.

Ron Fournier photo

The Johnny Moore Camaro in the Daytona paddock area.

Jon Mello Collection

[oldtransamdriver]

ok, that photo with Roy Gane - what is that gadget they have and what are they trying to do?

Robert Barg

[Jon Mello]

Robert, I honestly have no idea. Hopefully somebody else here might know.

[MO]

Looks like they are aerating the fuel.

[Jon Mello]

Aerating the fuel for what purpose?


Here's the Penske Camaro on the pit row grid just prior to the race.

Craig Fisher photo

A little bit further back on the grid we see the #7 Cougar of Billy Hagan and in front of him is the Camaro
of Bill Boye, the Camaro of Johnny Moore and the Mustang of Malcolm Starr.

Jon Mello Collection

The cover of Racing Pictorial shows most of the cars lined up on pit row just prior to the start of the race.

Jon Mello Collection

[Jon Mello]

Race reports from the Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal. (Jon Mello Collection)

[MO]

Aerating the fuel for what purpose?

Jon,

The thought was that oxygenating the fuel would make it burn better...more efficient, more power, etc. We tried it in stock cars, but never saw any proof of improvement.

[Jon Mello]

Thanks for the input, Fred. I can't think of much else that they might be doing so you may well be right.

The Howmet turbine car met an early demise in the Daytona 24-hour after making contact with the wall
while making the turn from the infield back onto the oval. There was a lot of interest in the turbine cars
in the years of 1967 and 1968 due to the STP turbine cars at Indy and Parnelli Jones' near victory in '67
after dominating the majority of the race.