1969 Trans-Am season review

[Jon Mello]

Stock Car Racing magazine's preview of the 1969 Trans-Am season. (Jon Mello Collection)










Various Competition Press & Autoweek articles prior to the start-up of the '69 Trans-Am season. (Jon Mello Collection)

[Jon Mello]

Although the Daytona 24-hour race was not on the official Trans-Am schedule for 1969, like it had been previously,
I decided to include it here because of the nice 1-2-3 finish for GM powered cars and the nice third place overall,
1st-in-class result for the Jerry Titus/Jon Ward Firebird. (Jon Mello Collection)





















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[Bruce302]

The photo of John Ward changing the rear axle at Daytona is a great shot. it is hard to make out, but the car has the chassis mounted watt linkage with the pyramid towers on the axle tubes. It is a Pontiac rear axle, not the Chev part, that the one time Camaro was originally built with. You can also see the double adjustable Koni shocks.
Bruce.

[Jon Mello]

I figured you would enjoy that Firebird photo, Bruce. Some good details there and not your typical on-track shot.

Here's more coverage of the Daytona 24-hour as found in Road & Track magazine, courtesy of Mike K (Swede70).

[Jon Mello]

Mid-January testing of the Penske Lola at Daytona plus coverage of the
'69 Daytona 24-hour from National Speed Sport News (Jon Mello Collection)

























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More coverage of the Daytona 24 Hour, this time from Racing Pictorial magazine. (Jon Mello Collection)





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Jon Mello Collection

[Jon Mello]

Various congratulatory ads (Jon Mello Collection)
The Titus/Ward "Firebird" is actually a '67 Camaro which got turned into a Firebird in late '68.

[Jon Mello]

More Daytona 24-hour race coverage from 1969, courtesy of Mike K (Swede70). Endurance racing does not have a
huge following in this country in this day and age but winning this race was a big deal back in the day.











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[MO]

An outstanding example of why you should never give up.

[Jon Mello]

Corvette News coverage of the '69 Daytona 24-hour, courtesy of Robert Lodewyk.

[Jon Mello]

Rusty Jowett/Craig Fisher Camaro from the 1969 Daytona 24-hour race.


Craig Fisher photo

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Daytona 24-Hour coverage from the Washington D.C. Region SCCA newsletter "Straightpipe". (Jon Mello Collection)

[Jon Mello]

The Citrus 250 at Daytona was the debut of the Boss 302 in competition and also the start of the
Nascar Grand Touring (GT) series, which was Nascar's version of Trans-Am. Don Yenko won the
race in his ex-Smokey Yunick Camaro but there was also another ex-Smokey Yunick Camaro in the
race driven by Lloyd Ruby, car #25, and entered by Gene White Firestone. (Jon Mello Collection)









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Coverage of the race from Racing Pictorial.

[Jon Mello]

Motor Trend coverage of the Citrus 250. (Jon Mello Collection)

[Jon Mello]

More Citrus 250 coverage from National Speed Sport News. (Jon Mello Collection)

[Jon Mello]

More coverage of the Citrus 250, courtesy of Robert Byng.














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[Robert Lodewyk Collection]

[Jon Mello]

Owner Larry Drover's '68 Camaro as prepped back in Indiana prior to the Citrus 250. Obviously,
they had hoped to use the number 15, but the presence of Parnelli Jones in the Bud Moore
Mustang had them make a change to 05 for the race. (Larry Drover Collection)