Hickory GT race - 6/9/69

[KurtS]

Here's an article about the GT race at Hickory Speedway in June 69. Too bad the pic isn't clearer.
Who ran the GT series? Any crossover racers/racecars between the T/A and the GT?

[lakeholme]

Racing still happens at the Hickory Speedway.
Wish they did GT nowadays....

[Jon Mello]

Yes, there were a few people who ran in both series, sometimes with the same car. Pete Hamilton, the winner at Hickory, did run one or two Trans-Am races. So did Vick Campbell in a '67 Z, Jim Murphy in a '68 Camaro, Peter Gregg in a 911, Bob Tullius in a Javelin and Don Yenko in an ex-Smokey Yunick Camaro.

[KurtS]

So the rules were generally similar?
I don't hear as much about the GT cars.

[69Z28-RS]

The 'GT' racing, such as at Hickory (an oval track), was sponsored or sanctioned by NASCAR from 1968 thru 1970..  for pony cars.   Wiki has a little on it here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_American

Some of the same cars may have raced in both, probably as an experiment, or just an opportunity to race, but I don't think there would be a lot of similarity in the racing, or the car prep, between the two.

[Jon Mello]

Most of the guys who did run Nascar GT and in Trans-Am just did the selected GT races at Daytona and not the ones on the little bullring ovals which were sometimes paved and sometimes not. Big Bill France probably slipped those guys a few extra bucks to come down and race at his track to help legitimize his racing series to a broader audience.

[Steve Holmes]

Not Hickory, but Daytona, at the Citrus 250 Nascar Grand Touring race in 1969. As Jon says, although there were some cross overs of competitors in the two categories, usually it was the higher profile paved track events the TA guys ran such as this. In amongst the GT cars are some Trans-Am regulars, including Parnelli Jones in a Bud Moore Mustang, John Martin and Don White in the Ron Kaplan Javelins, Don Yenko in the ex-Smokey Yunick Camaro, plus the Camaro of Rusty Jowett. Lloyd Ruby in another Camaro and Jim Paschal in the Javelin were GT regulars. I think Paschal may have picked up an AMC deal to run the series?

Jon, would this be one of the first races Jowett ran in this car?

[Jon Mello]

Steve, I believe this is Jowett's first outing with this red car of his. His previous Camaro was destroyed at Watkins Glen the previous August.

[yenkomark]

   The Nascar  series had slightly different rules ( floater rears, etc ) a bit heavier cars than TransAm. By the way the second Smokey Camaro  ( info provided by Smokey )was raced with success by Tiny Lund. I have a photo somewhere in my archives

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Mark, and I could be wrong, but I also thought the cars had to use steel wheels too, although the Trans-Am cars that entered from time to time appear to have retained their regular wheels.

[SMKZ28]

There were two NASCAR Grand Touring races held at Hickory Motor Speedway in 1969.  The article is talking about the first one held on June 7th.  The second one was called the Catawba 300 and it took place on July 26th.  The race was also won by Pete Hamilton.  I found this picture here: http://stockcar.racersreunion.com/forum/topics/catawba-valley-300-7-26-1969

The website also states, "Race #19 of 1969 was held at Hickory Speedway, a 4/10 mile paved oval. Pete Hamilton qualified on the pole with a GT track record of 16.38 seconds and led the first 82 laps before spinning in turn four. Wayne Andrews took over the lead until lap 100. From there Pete led the rest of the way building up a 2 lap advantage to capture win number 8.  There were 3 cautions for 23 laps with 18 of the 26 starters running at the finish."

[Steve Holmes]

What a superb image! Looks like one of the Bud Moore Cougars in behind that (Lloyd Ruby?) #25 Camaro, though I assume it was being run by another team. The Camaro in the foreground couldn't have been more than a few months old when this image was taken. Amazing how quickly brand new cars were bought and stripped out in the pursuit of racing, even on these little bullring ovals where the likelyhood of destruction was fairly high.

[Jon Mello]

That #25 car was driven by Pete Hamilton at this race although Lloyd Ruby also drove the '68 bodied Camaro for Gene White Firestone, the entrant of the car. It is believed that Smokey was involved with building the Gene White cars.

[SMKZ28]

I thought there was a dedicated thread for the NASCAR GT series here but I couldn't find it.  Anyway, here is a picture of Tiny Lund and his Cougar taken at Daytona International Speedway in 1969.  I found it on Ebay.  I know the 1967 Trans Am Bud Moore Cougars were used in this series in 1968 but is this 1969 car the re-bodied 1967 car or is it just another car?

[Jon Mello]

The car that Tiny was driving in '69 was a reskinned earlier Bud Moore Cougar, from what I have heard.