1967 Green Valley Trans-Am photos

[Jon Mello]

Earlier this year, I was sent some racing photographs by Jerry Melton. He attended both Trans-Am races held at Green Valley, Texas and the 1969 Wolverine Trans-Am at Michigan International Speedway. Below are photos taken by Jerry at the 1967 Green Valley Trans-Am while performing corner worker duties during the race. Many thanks go out to Jerry for sharing these with us. Here's is a short bio about Jerry.

"I have been a strictly amateur racing photographer from my first days of college in 1962.  After hanging on the spectator fence at Green Valley Raceway in Texas taking photos without a telephoto for a couple of years, I became a corner worker until my move to Detroit Michigan (just in time to be welcomed by the riots that started the mass exodus from the city).  Upon joining the Detroit Region SCCA I was immediately pressed into service as their photographer, thus gaining passes to the races for a number of years until the birth of my son and a second job restricted my weekend commitments.   I continue to be a regular visitor to nearby Waterford Hills Raceway, where one needs no pass to be close to the action.

While in college, I was also a cartoonist for Sports Car Graphic Magazine until Jerry Titus became editor and eliminated ALL cartoons.  Until then the publication had been more of a club racing friendly mag, but Titus wanted to compete with Car & Driver and Road & Track.  So, where's SCG now?

I've been a Public School Art teacher for over 45 years and have long been teaching an added enrichment class in Sports Car Design to 10-14 year olds, where kids create shelf model concept cars from a 2x4 center with 1x3 fenders.  It keeps the job interesting."

[Jon Mello]

This first set of images is from the Saturday practice and qualifying sessions. Here's Mark Donohue's Camaro.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Here's Mark squinting in the bright (and hot) Texas sun during a break in the action.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Mark confers with crewman Murph Mayberry, who happens to be wearing a Wintersteen Racing shirt. Murph did work
for both George Wintersteen and Roger Penske and both had shops in close proximity to one another. Wintersteen
also drove Penske's Camaro a couple of months earlier during the Daytona 24-hour race.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Dan Gurney straps on his helmet in preparation for the practice session.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Here's Dan putting his Cougar through its paces.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Parnelli Jones, strapped in and ready to go.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Dick Thompson's Grady Davis owned Mustang. Part of the two-car Shelby team in '67.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Freddy Van Beuren's Mustang. One of 26 cars built for Group 2 (Trans-Am) racing by Shelby American Inc in 1967.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Dale Wood's Mustang has a strange bend on the roll bar's main hoop.

Photo by Jerry Melton

The Mustang of Bob Johnson of Columbus, OH. He raced a Falcon at Sebring and would race for Penske in a Camaro several months later.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Parnelli Jones dips a couple of tires into the dirt in turn 2.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Tony Adamowicz in the Group 44 team's Lotus Cortina.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Joe Starkey's Lotus Cortina gets prepped for practice.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Dave Dooley's Cortina is about to get pounced on by a Cougar.

Photo by Jerry Melton

The Alfa Romeo GTA of Jim Baker.

Photo by Jerry Melton

[Jon Mello]

The race featured a "Le Mans" style start with drivers running to their cars after the starter waved his flag.
Dick Thompson's white #11 Mustang was on the pole but you will see that he gets off to a horrible start.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Ron Dykes' Mustang gets the early jump into the lead. The weather was brutally hot with temperatures in the mid-to-high 90s
and humidity at 85%. This is a 300 mile race which will tally up 188 laps before it is over.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Dykes is followed by Fred Van Beuren, Dan Gurney in the Cougar, with Dale Wood, John McComb and Mike
Allison rounding out the top six. Just back from them are Parnelli Jones, Mark Donohue and Jerry Titus.

Photo by Jerry Melton

By the end of lap 3, Jerry Titus has blasted by everybody and taken over the lead.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Dan Gurney and Parnelli Jones in their Cougars have Ron Dykes in their sights now.

Photo by Jerry Melton

There goes Mark Donohue in pursuit of one of the white Mustangs.

Photo by Jerry Melton

[wrongwayron]

outstanding!

[Jon Mello]

The 1967 Z-28 driven by Vick Campbell of Tulsa, OK. The wheels on the back of the car were manufactured by Creitz.

Photo by Jerry Melton

The gold and black Camaro of Charlie Kolb and Fred Baker.

Photo by Jerry Melton

One of the top under-2-liter competitors, Horst Kwech and his Alfa Romeo GTA. He led the U-2 class for the first 60 laps.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Joe Starkey driving one of the Ford factory-backed Cortinas in the U-2 class.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Jim Baker from Atlanta, GA was the driver of this Alfa. Paul Richards was his co-driver.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Del Taylor and Bob Pratt co-drove this Alfa GTA.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Bob Tullius had the only Mopar at this event. He made the trip out to Texas from Falls Church, VA.
His Dart won the first Trans-Am race of the '67 season at Daytona when most of the heavy hitters broke.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Bob Grossman's Mustang. Bob made the long trip out from New Jersey.

Photo by Jerry Melton

California-based Ron Dykes in the Hilton Racing Team Mustang. He lost a wheel and later broke his front suspension.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Bill Steele's Porsche lifts its front wheel pretty high in the air.

Photo by Jerry Melton

[Jon Mello]

The Terry Godsall owned Camaro Z-28 driven by Craig Fisher. This car is the 14th Z-28 built. Note the huge 40-gallon
gas tank (not a fuel cell) sticking out underneath which was in place for Daytona and Sebring. SCCA made the team
reduce the capacity of the tank so they used plastic balls in the tank to take up the extra capacity. Unfortunately, mid-
way through the race the plastic turned to goo and clogged up the carburetor.

Photo by Jerry Melton

The Lotus Cortina of Charlie Barnes.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Allan Moffatt in the Ford-backed Lotus Cortina.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Jerry Titus' Mustang shows signs of the damage which happened when he rolled his car in practice the previous day.

Photo by Jerry Melton

A rear shot of the Barnes Cortina where you can see it is a RHD car.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Jim Baker's Alfa GTA.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Horst Kwech is continuing his strong run in his Alfa.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Dick Thompson cut the fastest lap of the race but had the coil wire come off during the race and it cost him three laps
before getting the problem rectified.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Dan Gurney in the Bud Moore Cougar.

Photo by Jerry Melton

The Mustang of John McComb from Hutchinson, KS. This is one of the '66 Shelby-built "Group II" cars.

Photo by Jerry Melton

[Jon Mello]

The pits were along the inside of the main straight, on the opposite side of where the spectators were.

Photo by Jerry Melton

The heat and humidity took a toll on Jerry Titus and he gave up the lead on lap 40 to come in and get doused with
water and ice for about 2 1/2 minutes before heading out again.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Parnelli Jones' Cougar took over the lead after Titus' pit stop but he came in shortly thereafter for a pit stop of his own.
He had trouble restarting the car, which put him nearly a lap down.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Dan Gurney took over the lead after Parnelli's pit stop and never gave it up.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Bill Steele's Porsche 911.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Richard McDaniel's Mini Cooper S. He would go on to race a Titus-built Firebird in 1969.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Bob Grossman's Mustang.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Mark Donohue's Camaro seems to be running smaller rear tires than other guys. I am taking a guess that he may have not had
the right gear ratio for the track so he went with a lower profile tire to help get more low end oomph out of the corners.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Milt Minter also suffered heat exhaustion and had to be replaced later in the race by Jim Kaufman.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Tullius' apparently mortally wounded Dart gets parked on the inside of corner 2 on lap 88, ending his day.

Photo by Jerry Melton

[mickeystoys69RSSS]

Awesome photos thanks for sharing for those of us who did not get to experience racing back in the day.

[klvn8r]

Great stuff!!!  I spent the 70s as a kid out at Green Valley watching my brothers bracket race.  Today, the strip is no more.  Its a full housing development...but if I understand right, the strip is still a main thoroughfare.  Also, Charlie Barnes is alive and well, still in Dallas.  He frequently runs his McLaren or his bright green IROC Camaro in our local vintage club, CVAR.  Corinthian Vintage Auto Racing.

[OCTARD]

Great photos, Jerry.  Thank you very much for sharing.

Great commentary, Jon.  I really appreciate the effort.

-Chad

[Jon Mello]

Thanks for the compliments, guys.


Close up of Horst Kwech in the Alfa GTA. He and John Pauly's Porsche had a hard fought duel for the win in the second half of the race.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Horst Kwech's teammate Monty Winkler. This looks like it might be the car Kwech usually drives due to the kangaroo on the door.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Bob Johnson has the throttle buried on his Mustang as he blasts down the main straight.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Here's Jim Kaufman behind the wheel of Milt Minter's Mustang after relieving him for heat exhaustion.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Dale Wood's Mustang did not make it to the finish.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Fred Baker has John Pauly's white Porsche breathing down his neck. Pauly would go on to win the U-2 class.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Freddy Van Beuren's Mustang ran well. Finished 8th overall.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Tony Adamowicz finished 7th in U-2, 14th overall. The highest placing of the Ford Cortinas.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Charlie Barnes was 8th in U-2, 16th overall.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Craig Fisher's car did not finish the race but made it to lap 115 before the fuel system got clogged.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Here's our race winner, Dan Gurney.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Another shot of Dan with the trophy.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Parnelli Jones, post race. Possibly signing an autograph.

Photo by Jerry Melton

Gurney and Jones finished 1-2 in a dominating performance that had been expected in the first two races but never materialized.
Because of the grueling heat and the pressure from Parnelli, Gurney called this one of the most satisfying wins of his career.

Photo by Jerry Melton

[Jon Mello]

Competition Press race report for Green Valley courtesy of Ron Lathrop. Thank you, Ron!

[Jon Mello]

This tongue-in-cheek ad in Sports Car Graphic shows how badly damaged Jerry Titus' Mustang was after his rollover
accident during practice before the Trans-Am. Amazingly, the car was repaired overnight and it made the race.

Jon Mello Collection

[Jon Mello]

Green Valley Trans-Am race report from Sports Car Graphic magazine, July 1967.


Jon Mello Collection



Jon Mello Collection



Jon Mello Collection



Jon Mello Collection



Jon Mello Collection

[Jon Mello]

Green Valley Trans-Am race report from the June '67 issue of SCCA Sports Car magazine.


Jon Mello Collection


Jon Mello Collection


Jon Mello Collection


Jon Mello Collection