I've mentioned a couple of friends of mine previously in the Trans Am threads (Bob Christiansen and Bob Mitchell), who were both engineers here in the Huntsville, AL area, who each bought new '69 Z28 cars and immediately stripped them down and modified them for SCCA racing. They ran local, regional, and national races as well as T/A and IMSA (ultimately). Bob Christiansen bought his off the local dealer lot in Dec '68 or Jan '69 (a customer ordered it and then didn't pick it up, so he bought it). His car was orange/black (with black vinyl top). He installed the OTC 'service duty' differential wtih HD clutch pack posi, big axles, and brakes, and ultimately added HD front spindles and of course a very HD roll cage. He was an independent racer, mostly self funded wtih some local support, so the cost of racing limited him, but he ran quite a bit in the early seventies, ultimately painting his orange/black car to a 'gray/black' combo using the R.A.C.E.(for Robert A Christiansen Enterprises) logo on it. Later he upgraded to a '73 Camaro body for later GT IMSA series, and finally went to the smaller displacement cars because they were cheaper to run. I hung around Bob's shop a lot in the 70's, helping a bit when I could, and learning what I could. Bob helped me a great deal when I bought my '69 Z28/RS (orange/black) and rebuilt my engine, and even gave me some of his 'first day takeoffs' (like exhaust manifolds, an AD wheel, etc). Bob C.s Z/28 was sold to fellow racers in the Atlanta area, was raced out of there for awhile, then was sold to an SCCA racer in Chattanooga, TN area. I never was successful in tracking down the entire car, but did find/buy two sets of his Amer Racing magnesium 8x15 wheels and a 'service duty' disk brake rear end (4.11 rear with HD clutch packs and axles- with extra axles) which I bought from the Atlanta fellas who once owned the car.
Bob Mitchell's car was special ordered I believe since it came with the factory 4-wh Disk Option, and was also orange. Bob M. ran initially in SCCA, T/A, and ultimately in the smaller displacement IMSA series. My exposure wtih Bob was that I worked with him a few years in the same organization, and once got to be a 'crew member' at a Road Atlanta race (1977 or so?). I understand his Z/28 was sold to a fella in the Nashville TN area in the '70's.
I'd been trying to find some old photos of their '69 Z/28 racers without much success until today when I found the Hemmings Muscle Car article which included a couple of great photos of their cars - probably from the '69 SCCA series? the link is below. I'd be interested in any comments from guys who remember these cars on the track!
http://www.hemmings.com/mus/stories/2013/02/01/hmn_feature5.html
