Trans-Am Era – The Golden Years in Photographs
By Daniel Lipetz
Ford’s introduction of the Mustang in the spring of 1964 unleashed a torrent of automotive enthusiasm that resulted in each of the other three U.S, automakers rushing to produce their own versions of the new genre. Within two years the SCCA had established a new professional racing category called the Trans-American Sedan Championship, Trans-Am for short, catering exclusively to this new class of “Pony cars.”
Over the course of the next seven seasons, the new series would welcome factory-backed teams of Ford Mustangs, Mercury Cougars, Chevrolet Camaros, Pontiac Firebirds, AMC Javelins, Plymouth Barracudas and Dodge Challengers as it went from strength to strength.
By 1970 the Trans-Am had reached maturity and hit its pinnacle as factory-backed operations battled tooth and nail for supremacy in the win-on-Sunday-sell-on-Monday sweepstakes, producing a fraught season of door-banging racing that crowned Mustang driver Parnelli Jones as its champion.
It was a grand era in American road racing—cars you could buy and drive racing against each other—but alas, once the carmakers realized that only one of them could win, interest gradually waned so that by 1972 the influence of the factories was mostly a memory. This book recaptures that time with mainly photographs, but also nicely annotated text so that the reader will be able to appreciate the accomplishments in those glorious days of yesteryear.
Available for US$69.95 at enthusiast bookstores or direct from publisher David Bull Publishing at www.bullpublishing.com
