Firebird and the Trans-Am series

[Jon Mello]

Bruce, I think they call that "having a really good day".  

[Bruce302]

Indeed it was a very 'good' day and even better, it wasn't expensive.

Now if I could find a Ram Air V (303) engine in the same wood pile.

Bruce.

[Jon Mello]

Good luck!   

[Jon Mello]

Craig Fisher's Firebird at Riverside, October 1968.


Petersen Publishing photo


Petersen Publishing photo


Petersen Publishing photo


Petersen Publishing photo


Petersen Publishing photo

[Swede70]

A single image forwarded to me consisting what I presume to be a '70 season Craig Fischer '69 Firebird press kit.  If more of the same are afforded to me, I'll try to post them.  Thanks...

Mike K.

[Bruce302]

Thank you Mike, it is a very nice photo, the car looks very good in that stance. From what I can gather Craig was the only person to run the factory '69 Trans Am body work combined with the Pontiac engine in the T/A series.

Indeed Craig ran that car in the early part of 1970, at least once the entrant was Godsall Racing, later it was entered by Craig himself, and also Todco were listed at entrants. Sadly it did not have a good finishing record, I think that it was Pontiac  303 powered and the engines just weren't up to the task.

Craig did the second half of the season in a Todco Camaro, but it was not this car converted. This car may have gone back to T/G (Titus/Godsall) 

[Jon Mello]

I knew I had another Firebird article. Finally found it tonight. December 1969 Stock Car Racing magazine.

[bfgrolf]

hello
i am rolf from switzerland, i searching pictures from 2 generation firebirds. ( jerry titus 8 ) (david hobbs 79 ) ( john cordts 73 ) (John cordts, larry dent 92 bfg tirebird)
can every body help me???
thanks and greets from (bleep)ing cold switzerland

[Jon Mello]

Rolf, welcome to this forum. I have been to Switzerland and enjoyed it very much. This is a 1st-generation forum and I don't have much in the way of 2nd-generation Camaros other than what has already been posted in the race reports. Not to get off on the wrong foot, some websites are OK with four-letter words or swearing but this is not one of them. That's why I had to sensor your post.

[bfgrolf]

hi john
im sorry for my worts, thank you for the answer. this forum is number 1 for trans am racing :-)

[Jon Mello]

Thanks for your understanding and for the compliment.

[yenkomark]

If I remember correctly, Buck Baker was given the inventory of 303 Pontiac engines to run in NASCAR's Grand american series , where you ran ovals and could keep the revs up with tight gearing. I think he won the championship once or twice. With the big intake passsages, lt had the same problem as the Mustang 302 tunnelport in 1968, torque at lower RPM. A real bear at higher RPM , but did not pull well off the corners.

[Jon Mello]

I think the large main and rod bearing journal diameters were the bigger problems (besides the extra weight) with the Pontiacs. Bearing speeds were too high and they had oiling problems galore. The engines did not survive but that was helped somewhat when the SCCA allowed dry sump oiling for the 1971 Trans-Am season after heavy lobbying from Roger Penske because his AMC engines weren't surviving either. Roger played up the safety aspect of the dry sumps because a blown engine would dump a lot of oil on the track and could potentially cause a catastrophic wreck.

[Jon Mello]

From my 1970 Laguna Seca Trans-Am program.

[Jon Mello]

Many thanks to Ken Ulrich (fabricator for Todco Racing and Roy Woods Racing back in the glory days of Trans-Am)
for sharing these photos with us from his personal photo album.

Milt Minter's Firebird next to one of the Roy Woods Javelins.

Ken Ulrich photo

A good shot of Milt's engine compartment.

Ken Ulrich photo

That front end is seriously low.

Ken Ulrich photo

In the pits at Donnybrooke. It appears to be during practice, not the actual race.

Ken Ulrich photo