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Trans-Am Racers: 1973-1995

More reasons to race

The Trans-Am series has been around for 39 years, and seems to be poised to continue for 39 more. In our first installment, we revisited the glory years of the series from 1966 to 1972, and gave some ground rules for restoring a classic pony car for vintage racing. Now we'll look at the changes that have taken place in Trans-Am since 1972, and how to get on a racetrack in your own vintage Trans-Am car.

Hard Times

In 1971 most Detroit manufacturers pulled their support from the Trans-Am series, leaving only American Motors to pick up the marbles that year and the next. Faced with declining entries, the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) changed the 1973 regulations to include European sports cars such as the Porsche Carrera RSR. This addition was made in response to the competing IMSA racing series that was getting lots of press (and sponsor dollars) at the time.

Porsche repaid the favor by carrying off the Trans-Am championship in 1973 and 1974. Although the racing was good, there weren't enough Porsches to fill the grids and the noncompetitive domestic cars dropped out. In 1974 there were only three races held, and it looked as though the end had arrived.

Desperate to save the series, the SCCA changed the rules in 1975 to entice club-racing production sports cars, mostly Corvettes and Datsun Z-cars. This led to a slight improvement, as Corvettes won six of the seven events. In 1976, still looking for a better formula, the SCCA split the series into two classes. Turbocharged Porsches and the like were in Group 1, and production-based sports cars in Group 2. George Follmer drove a Porsche 934 to the Group 1 win, and Jocko Maggiacomo herded an old Javelin to the Group 2 laurels.

Things began looking up in 1977. Jaguar XJ-S driver Bob Tullius dominated the revised Class 1 field, while in Class 2 the Porsche 934s took the honors. Fields were up and eleven races were held. The next year Greg Picket upset the favored Porsches to take Class 2 in a Corvette, while Tullius repeated in Class 1. In 1979 Tullius switched to a Triumph TR-8, but was narrowly beaten by Corvette pilot Gene Bothello. In Class 2, the champ was John Paul in a Porsche 935.

Pure Racers

More changes were in store for 1980. That year the SCCA switched to a handicapping system based on car weight and engine displacement. The two-class system was abolished as cars of different sizes and power now had a theoretical chance of winning. The 1980 champion was John Bauer, who drove a Porsche 911SC to victory over Greg Picket's Corvette.

The next year the Vettes struck back, with Eppie Wietzes taking the title after a furious battle with Tullius in a Jaguar. The faces changed in 1982 when Elliot Forbes-Robinson drove a Pontiac Firebird to victory over Doc Bundy in Porsche's newest weapon, the turbocharged 924 Carrera.

The big news came in 1983 when the series returned to its roots as an American sedan series. Most racing sedans were now being built from tube frame chassis with look-alike bodies, not modified from production cars. They could be built on a reasonable budget and provided close racing. David Hobbs pushed a Camaro to the championship while Tom Gloy was third in a Mercury Capri (a restyled Mustang). The battle was back on!

Gloy got his moment in the sun the next year when his Capri defeated the might of the mighty Roush Capri team. In 1985 Wally Dallenbach, Jr. won in a Roush Capri, then switched to a Camaro and carried home the 1986 title.

Turbos returned in 1987 when Roush prepared a team of hot Merkur XR4Tis (a Ford sports sedan) that swept the series. The next year technology went rampant as turbocharged 4-wheel-drive Audi Quattro 200s took over from the domestic iron. The SCCA could see they were going down a very expensive road and decided to return to their roots (yet again).

The news for 1989 was that V-8s were back, along with Chevy, Oldsmobile and Ford. Rookie Dorsey Schroeder took six wins, the Championship and Rookie of the Year titles in a Mustang. Tommy Kendall emerged the 1990 winner in a Chevy Baretta, and Camaros ruled from 1991 to 1994. Mustangs struck back the next year with a win by Kendall.

Just for Fun

Sound like fun? Would wailing around a track in a hot V-8 pony car make your day? Although the Trans-Am has continued to hold exciting races, now with various bodies on tube-frame chassis, if you want to be more than a bench racer, you'll need to focus on the 1995 and earlier racers. Most vintage racing clubs have classes for 1966 to 1972 Trans-Am cars, and a few even have classes for 1973 to 1995 Trans-Am cars as well. Clubs require newer cars to have a verifiable Trans-Am history and, unlike earlier sedans, look-alikes built from street cars are not allowed in the 1973-1995 class.

While confirmed Trans-Am cars from the 1966 to 1972 era sell for over $100,000, many cars from the subsequent years are bargains by comparison (Greenwood Corvettes and Porsche Carreras excepted). Dozens of tube-frame Mustangs, Camaros, Dodges, Oldsmobiles and similar domestic iron have run in the series over the years, so they are not particularly rare by racecar standards. Like NASCAR stockers, Trans-Am cars from the 1980s-onward generally sell for under $50,000, ready to race. Of course, cars raced by name drivers go for more than those run by back-markers.

If you enjoy sleuthing, you may even find a former Trans-Am car currently being raced in amateur events by someone who has no idea what it is. Most pro-series cars trickle down to club racing after their winning days are over, and histories are often forgotten. The tube-frame construction makes body and engine swapping easy, so a Mustang may have become a Camaro, a Jaguar, or whatever over the years. But before you buy, verify. "The owner said it was an old Trans-Am car" is not enough to get an entry in most vintage events.

New or Old?

Should you get an early (1966-1972) Trans-Am car, or a newer (1973-1995) example? The earlier cars with confirmed histories may be out of your price range, but you can always build a much less expensive 1966-1972 clone that looks and runs just like the original, and it will still be accepted by most of the vintage racing clubs across the country.

The newer Trans-Am racers are cheaper and faster than the early ones, but they cannot be cloned and have more limited opportunities to compete in vintage events. For more track time, many are still eligible for racing in modern club-level events put on by SCCA and NASA. The choice is yours—ride loud and proud!