1967 Trans-Am season review

[SMKZ28]

Jon, great stuff as usual.

As you know, I am always on the lookout for pace car information.   I know that a 1967 Pontiac Firebird paced the 1967 Daytona 500 NASCAR race later in February.  Do you know if they used the same 1967 Pontiac Firebird to pace the Daytona 300 Trans-Am race?  I have a picture that shows a 1967 Pontiac Bonneville convertible in front of the field before the 24-Hour Continental, so unless the Firebird is out in front of the Bonneville and out of the shot I believe the Firebird didn't pace the 24 hour race.  Do you have any pictoral evidence that shows whether the Firebird or the Bonneville was used to pace the Daytona 300 Trans Am race?  I have not been able to locate any.  Might your 1967 Daytona 300 and 24-Hour Continental program have an article about or show a picture of the Firebird?  Thanks.

Included are some of the pictures I have located.  The first one shows the Firebird and the second one shows the Bonneville convertible in front of the field during the pace lap of the 24-Hour Continental.  They both come from gettyimages.com.  The others show the Firebird as it looks today.  I think it is owned by the museum in Daytona.  Apparantly the car was signed by many of the drivers that participated in the races during Speedweeks 1967.  I can't remember where I found these pictures on the web.

[Jon Mello]

Scott, I know that Pontiac was the pace car of choice for Daytona in '67 and with the Firebird just becoming available around the February timeframe, it was only natural to feature that car. I don't recall seeing any photos of what car was used to pace the Daytona 300 Trans-Am race but I do know the race was green flagged on the back straight and not at the start/finish line. I think the blue Firebird below also did some pace car activities at Daytona in '67 but it may have been later in the year.

[SMKZ28]

Dave Friedman took a total of 384 pictures of the 1967 Daytona 300 Trans Am only race and 1967 Daytona 24-Hour Continental.   They can be seen in a portion of the Dave Friedman Collection at the Henry Ford which is labled "Daytona 24 Hr 1967 Premium Photos" here: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/collection.pl?collectionID=2658&productTypeID=62&ckon=leftNav   There is no distinction between either race so you have to look for the presence of Prototypes and Sports Cars surrounding the Trans Am cars, the presence of extra lights for night racing, or the presence of darkness to tell if it was the 24 Hour race.

I will post the pictures that include the Camaros that took part in the races here but there are several more pictures featuring Mustang, Cougar, Dart, 911 Alfa, etc.  Enjoy.

Click on the link to see a larger and more detailed version of the attached pictures
1) #40 Fisher: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91267&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
2) #46 Chitwood: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91265&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
3) #46 Chitwood: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91264&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
4) #36 Donohue: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91260&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0

[SMKZ28]

More pictures from the 1967 Daytona 300 and 1967 Daytona 24 Hour Continental from the Dave Friedman Collection at the Henry Ford.

Click on the link to see a larger and more detailed version of the attached pictures
1) #40 Fisher: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91238&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
2) #40 Fisher: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91235&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
3) #46 Chitwood: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91233&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
4) #46 Chitwood: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91227&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0

[SMKZ28]

More pictures from the 1967 Daytona 300 and 1967 Daytona 24 Hour Continental from the Dave Friedman Collection at the Henry Ford.

Click on the link to see a larger and more detailed version of the attached pictures
1) #40 Fisher: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91224&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
2) #40 Fisher: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91222&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
3) #36 Donohue: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91211&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
4) #46 Chitwood: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91209&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0

[SMKZ28]

More pictures from the 1967 Daytona 300 and 1967 Daytona 24 Hour Continental from the Dave Friedman Collection at the Henry Ford.

Click on the link to see a larger and more detailed version of the attached pictures
1) #36 Donohue: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91205&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
2) #40 Fisher: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91181&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
3) #39 Moore: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91180&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
4) #46 Chitwood: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91179&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0

[SMKZ28]

More pictures from the 1967 Daytona 300 and 1967 Daytona 24 Hour Continental from the Dave Friedman Collection at the Henry Ford.

Click on the link to see a larger and more detailed version of the attached pictures
1) #40 Fisher: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91165&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
2) #40 Fisher (24 Hour race): http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91083&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
3) #40 Fisher (24 Hour race): http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91082&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
4) #39 Moore: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91046&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0

[SMKZ28]

More pictures from the 1967 Daytona 300 and 1967 Daytona 24 Hour Continental from the Dave Friedman Collection at the Henry Ford.

Click on the link to see a larger and more detailed version of the attached pictures
1) #36 Donohue: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91045&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
2) #36 Donohue: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91044&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
3) #46 Chitwood: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91041&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
4) #36 Donohue: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91039&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0

[SMKZ28]

More pictures from the 1967 Daytona 300 and 1967 Daytona 24 Hour Continental from the Dave Friedman Collection at the Henry Ford.

Click on the link to see a larger and more detailed version of the attached pictures
1) #36 Donohue: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91036&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
2) #36 Donohue (24 Hour race): http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=91005&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
3) #36 Donohue: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=90993&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
4) #36 Donohue: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=90994&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0

[SMKZ28]

More pictures from the 1967 Daytona 300 and 1967 Daytona 24 Hour Continental from the Dave Friedman Collection at the Henry Ford.

Click on the link to see a larger and more detailed version of the attached pictures
1) #36 Donohue: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=90989&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
2) #36 Donohue: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=90987&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
3) #36 Donohue: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=90980&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0
4) #46 Chitwood: http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=90979&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0

[SMKZ28]

Last picture from the 1967 Daytona 300 and 1967 Daytona 24 Hour Continental from the Dave Friedman Collection at the Henry Ford.

Click on the link to see a larger and more detailed version of the attached picture
1) #36 Donohue (24 Hour race): http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/magnify_popup.pl?imageID=90923&staticImage=C&ckon=image&alt=0

[SMKZ28]

All of the above pictures as well as the pictures of the other Trans Am cars that Dave Friedman took of both the 1967 Daytona 300 and the 1967 24 Hour Continental can also be seen on their Flickr page here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehenryford/sets/72157633092561581/  It is much easier to navigate around the collection in this form.

[Jon Mello]

Sebring 4-Hour Trans-Am coverage from Cmpetition Press & Autoweek. (Jon Mello Collection)








==============================================















Official Sebring qualifying times and grid order for the Trans-Am race. (Jon Mello Collection)




Official Sebring schedule of events for the race week. (Jon Mello Collection)

[Jon Mello]

Sebring program cover for both the 12-Hour GP of Endurance and the 4-Hour Trans-Am. (Jon Mello Collection)



Map of the Sebring race track for 1967. The Green Park Chicane was new this year, brought on by a deadly accident the previous year.


Jon Mello Collection


Competition Press & Autoweek articles show some info on upcoming sedan races at Green Valley and again at Daytona (Paul Revere 250).


Jon Mello Collection


Don Yenko ran another ad for his Yenko Stormer Z-28 and Stomper 427 in CP&A.


Jon Mello Collection

[Jon Mello]

Sebring 4-Hour Trans-Am race report from Sports Car Graphic. (Jon Mello Collection)








Nice shot of the Penske Camaro in the hairpin turn at Sebring. I don't recall what publication this came from.


Jon Mello Collection