gbvette62

I was at Watkins Glen last weekend, to crew for Jim Glass (Jim Glass Corvette, Kingston NY) at the annual US Vintage Grand Prix. This year was different for us than usual, because instead of racing one of his mid-year Corvettes, we had his 1967 Camaro there.

The featured race this year, was Sunday's "Governor's Cup" race for historic Trans Am cars. Jim has a 67 Camaro that was raced in the Trans Am in 1972 by Jocko Maggiacomo, and he was invited to compete in the Trans Am race, by the Historic Trans Am Registry (www.trans-amseries.com).

The first car is Jim's #15, "Jockos Racing Equipment" Camaro, while the rest of the pictures are of most of the Corvettes that competed this past weekend.

Pop Chevy

Aaargh ! I was all set to go and couldn't find a crew. Looks like I shoulda went just to watch. Some fine machinery showed up.

gbvette62

I hope it's okay to post pictures here from the vintage Trans Am race, that was part of the Watkins Glen US Vintage Grand Prix.

Though I had previously been to a few oval races, the 1969 Watkins Glen Trans Am race, was the first road race, that I ever went too. The race was the same weekend as my 15th birthday, and I had talked my father into taking me to The Glen, for my birthday. Being at The Glen 44 years later, to see many of the same cars, that were there in 69, was just plain fantastic!

Here are a number of the "Historic" 66-72 Trans Am cars, that raced at Watkins Glen last weekend.

gbvette62

More Historic Trans Am cars.

The first shot is Fox Sports commentator Mike Joy, followed by a picture of the black #89 66 Mustang that he was driving.

gbvette62

Here's a look at some of the Trans Am power plants.

Ex-Penske/Donohue and Roy Woods Racing 72 Javelin


68 Penske Camaro Cross Ram 302


One of the other Penske Cross Ram 302's


Bud Moore 68 Cougar 289


Cross Ram 302 in Brock Yates' former Genesee Beer 69 Camaro


305 in Sam Posey's ex-Autodynamics 70 Challenger


Vic Edelbrock


The following are just some just some self indulgent shots, from the weekend.

Pop Chevy

So can you tell me please, who won ?

gbvette62

The Group 6 qualifying race was won by Jody O'Donnell in the black #46 AP Corvette, but the Group 6 main feature, was won by Andre Ahrle in his AC Cobra.

Bill Ockerlund won the NY Governor's Cup Trans Am race, driving the former Parnelli Jones #15 Bud Moore 69 Boss 302. The Trans Am race was marred by Bill Bryan's hard crash in the ex-Penske/Donohue 68 Camaro #16. Bill went straight off in turn 7, of the boot, hitting ther guard rail. Both Bill, and a photographer who was standing at the guard rail, were air lifted to the hospital in Sayre NY. The photographer underwent surgery for a broken arm, and it's my understanding that Bill had some internal injuries, as well as a few broken ribs. Both are expected to be okay.

TCracingCA

A few of us did up the Monterey Reunion thread, and I think every Corvette event should get this type of picture coverage. Great job on the Watkins Glen coverage here. Thank you! The magazines have a bunch of C6 and C7 lovers and forget how interesting the C1, C2, C3 cars are! No better racing action than these super cool Vintage events where these cars are running faster than they did by far back in the day!

I will be down at Coronado Speed Festival later this month, and I always go to the great Big Bore Classic up at Willow Springs which is coming in early November.

sub006

Looks like the Edelbrock Fun Team was there, the black and gold Camaro looks like Camee's Sneaky Yunick 7/8-scale wind-cheater.

I must be getting old. All of a sudden I really LIKE C3 race cars, 'long as they're not widebodies. Sorry, Mr. Greenwood

Davids02

In another life I was a Ford guy..... Love that hi-po Mustang #89 and that #5 63 Falcon Sprint!

Great shots! What were you shooting? Lens?

camburger

Outstanding photos of what appears to have been a great event. Love seeing Corvettes in race trim for a change. Nice Posting!

gbvette62

The Falcon is absolutely cool! The car was converted to a race car in 1965, using factory Ford and Shelby "homologated" rally parts. It competed in 2 Trans Am's in 66, the Marlboro MD 12 Hour race, and the Green Valley TX 6 Hour. The car's completely street legal, and was driven to and from the TA races, back then!

Under the hood of the Falcon, is a 289 HiPo V8 with Ford C6FE race heads and a factory 2x4 intake. The engine is supposed to produce 485hp. Power is delivered through a Ford Top Loader 4 speed, and a Ford 9" Detroit Locker rear. The car has a full interior, including a rear seat, and a fiberglass driver's racing bucket covered in stock Falcon vinyl upholstery. It's pretty quick too, turning a fast lap of 2.20.8, on The Glen long course.

Thanks. The on track shots, as well as some of the paddock and pit road pictures, were taken with my Nikon D80 body, and a Nikkor 80-400 f4.5-5.6 ED AF VR lens. The balance of the paddock shots (such as the under hood ones) were shot using the same D80, with a Nikkor 18-105 f3.5-5.6 ED AF-S VR lens and a Nikon SB-700 AF Speedlight.

Bill32

Great pics, Glenn, wish I could have been there.

We (high school guys) wanted to go to the 69 race but blew all our bucks going to the Can A, the month before.

I miss being close to the Glen, but have a ton of memories.

C2Racer

Jody's 46 car got smashed in the feature and is under extensive repair. There was a bit of Corvette carnage up there. I was wishing I was there until the reports came in. Now I am thinking Monterey was enough and not much armco either!

Loren Smith

Great pics, like the photo of the 55 behind the "Restricted Area - Not of Photo Location" sign the best.

kenmo

Damn cool photos.... Many thanks for sharing and posting.....

ifitgoesfast

wow

(I've got to get up there one day, I'm in north NJ and think it's only a few hours from me)

thanks for posting the photos, exciting

gbvette62

I'm sorry to hear that. I had been there since Thursday morning, and had a 4 1/2 - 5 hour ride home, so I left as soon as we had the car loaded up. The Group 6 feature race was just starting, as I left the track.

The car's out of Duntov, sure haven't had a good year!

There were a lot more cars than usual, wrecked at The Glen. Besides O'Donnell's Corvette and Bill Bryan's Sunoco Camaro, a Donovan Racing XKE was torn up real bad on Friday.

On Saturday morning, the track was wet, and a number of cars crashed trying to race on the damp track. I watched a Volvo P1800 driver, tear up both ends of his car Saturday morning, when he spun, backed into the Armco, and then spun around nose first into it again! There was also a Triumph Sprite, that crashed Saturday morning, and a couple other cars, that I didn't see.

It was not your typical vintage race weekend.

63Corvette

Who won? ALL of the drivers who got to race and who did NOT crash!
Also, all of the spectators who watched these races.

oldsarge

Luv those vintage racers, thanks for sharing !!!!!