Trans Am racing pace car pics...are there any?

[SMKZ28]

Here is a picture of the 1968 Shelby Mustang GT500KR convertible that was used as the pace car for the Bryar 200 Trans Am race held on August 4, 1968 at Bryar Motorsport Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire.  I found the picture somewhere on the internet (possibly on this forum).  I'm no Shelby expert but I would think that a yellow GT500KR convertible has got to be pretty rare.  I wonder if this car survives?

[SMKZ28]

Here are a couple of interesting items.  This first is a photo of the 1968 AMC AMX that paced the Trans Am race on July 7, 1968 at Meadowdale International Raceway, Carpentersville, Illinois.  The second is an article about how AMC used the Pace Car and 100 replica Javeilns to promote their product.  I found both pics on the internet at: http://www.planethoustonamx.com/stuff/badger-javelin.htm  Interesting to note that the car is an AMX but it says JAVELIN in big letters on the side!

[SMKZ28]

Here are a couple more interesting photos from the 1968 Trans Am race at Meadowdale.  The first one shows the row of 100 promotional Javelins that the previously posted article talks about.  The second one shows a stock AMX parked in front of the field on the grid.  Which one actually paced the race???  I found both of these photos on the Meadowdale International Raceway Preservation Association Facebook page.  They are dedicated to the memory of Meadowdale International Raceway: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Meadowdale-International-Raceway-Preservation-Association/400782870695?sk=taggednotes#!/pages/Meadowdale-International-Raceway-Preservation-Association/400782870695?sk=photos

[SMKZ28]

I may have answered my own question on which AMX actually paced the race.  When I posted the picture of the red AMX at the front of the grid in another thread I created for the Meadowdale Trans Am, CRG member MO pointed out that the car had a rumble seat.  I hadn't noticed this before so I decided to do some research and found out that the car is a 1968 Jeffords AMX-R and is the only one ever built.  More info on the car can be found in this article: http://www.hemmings.com/mus/stories/2009/11/01/hmn_feature7.html   
The article states that, "Jeffords convinced AMC to provide him with a pre-production Caravelle Blue 1968 AMX--its 390-cu.in. V-8 carries a December 1967 build date--sometime in December 1967 or January 1968. Jeffords then swiftly shuffled that AMX over to Dave Puhl, the customizer whose name graced Puhl's House of Kustoms in Palatine, Illinois."  This shop would have been less than 15 miles away from the racetrack!  The article also states that, "After Puhl finished it, Jeffords took the AMX-R on the road, mostly to Trans-Am races, and apparently used it as a pace car for a few of those races--at one point, the AMX-R carried the lettering "Official Car" just below the driver's and passenger's windows."  The use of the word "apparently" seems to mean that their is some doubt if the AMX-R actually paced a Trans Am race, so maybe this picture just might be the evidence needed to say that it did?  Does anyone have a picture of the actual pace lap?

In the second attached picture you can see the AMX-R behind the Trans Am Javelin.  This picture is from: http://miroldpix2.homestead.com/68transampage.html  The third picture is how the car looks today fully restored (internet picture).

[Jon Mello]

Scott, thanks for posts on several more pace cars. A video of the '69 Donnybrooke Trans-Am race, seen here, shows an AMX with a rumble seat as the pacecar. I assume it's the same car as the red one from '68 but don't know that for sure.

[SMKZ28]

That is great footage of the Donnybrooke race.  I remember seeing that for the first time as a kid on a VHS Camaro retrospective back in the 80's.  Unfortunately it doesn't contain the first 4 minutes of the original film which can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr6U4_2PgPE  The film is titled wrong on Youtube.  It should say Trans Am 1969, not 1968. 

Anyway, I don't think the AMX pacing the 1969 Donnybrooke race is the same Jeffords AMX-R that paced the 1968 Meadowdale race.  According to the Hemmings article (link posted above), Jeffords donated the AMX-R to the Brooks Stevens Museum in 1969 where it sat unaltered until it's current owner bought it in 1985.  I believe that the AMX pacing the 1969 Donnybrooke Trans Am race is a stock 1969 AMX that had the rear window removed.  If you click on the link to the first 4 minutes of film, you will notice that at 2:56 you can see the rear of the AMX.  It shows no rumble seat, just a regular trunk lid.  A few seconds later, at 3:22 in the film, someone jumps into the back and goes along for the ride on the pace lap.  The 1968-1970 AMX had no back seat but it did have a shelf in the back directly under the rear window.  If you removed the window someone could sit back there and have the top half of their body sticking out, just like it shows in the video you posted.  This is just my two cents.  Maybe someone else did make another rumble seat AMX.  I'll keep researching.

[SMKZ28]

Here is another pic of the 1969 AMX that paced the 1969 Donnybrooke Trans Am race.  Unfortunately, it does not show the back either.  It came from a thread on this web site.

[SMKZ28]

Here are some photos of the 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T convertible that paced the Trans Am race held at Donnybrooke International Speedway, Brainerd, Minnesotta on July 5, 1970.  Unfortunately I don't know where I found these pics on the internet.  I lost my list that told me this info.  If these are your photos please identify yourself for credit.

[SMKZ28]

Here is another photo of the 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T convertible that paced the 1970 Donnybrooke Trans Am race.

[SMKZ28]

Here is one more photo of the 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T convertible that paced the 1970 Donnybrooke Trans Am race.

[SMKZ28]

It seems that purple 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T convertibles were the pace cars to have during the 1970 Trans Am series.  Here is a photo of the back of the pace car for the Trans Am race at Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin held on July 19, 1970.  This car is different from the pace car at Donnybrooke by having wheel covers and the white rear stripe.  Again, I don't know where I found these pics on the internet.  I lost my list that told me this info.  If these are your photos please identify yourself for credit.

[SMKZ28]

Here is another picture of the 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T convertible that paced the 1970 Road America Trans Am race.

[SMKZ28]

Here is a picture of the 1971 Ford Mustang used as the pace car for the Trans Am race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio on June 6, 1971.  It looks to be a convertible with the top up due to the rainy weather.  I think I found this picture somewhere on this web site.

[SMKZ28]

Here are some photos of the 1971 Chevy Corvette Roadster used as the pace car for both of the Trans Am races at Watkins Glen Grand Prix Course, Watkins Glen, New York on August 15, 1971.  Again, I don't know where I found these pics on the internet.  I lost my list that told me this info.  If these are your photos please identify yourself for credit.

[MO]

Great research, posts and links SMKZ28. I'm glad that my observation helped you. That's a neat picture of the AMX-R. I have always liked that car.