A History of Trans Am from 1966 to 1972 - Proving that Muscle can Corner

The Trans Am series or Trans-American Sedan Championship started out in 1966 with two distinct classes: Under 2L and over 2L. Both classes had to be production car based. The under 2L class was dominated by light cars like Alfa Romeos and Lotuses. The over 2L class however contained the common American Muscle cars of the era, although some would argue that many of the cars run were pony cars and not muscle at all. The series was run entirely on road courses, creating unique challenges for the manufacturers in trying to lighten their cars and keep them from breaking.

The series grew from 1966 onwards. In 1966 the dominant manufacturer was Ford with their newly released Mustang, thoroughly beating out the other three manufacturers: Plymouth, Dodge, and Chevrolet. For 1967 Ford kept with their winning strategy, upgrading their already dominant mustang while other manufacturers went back to the drawing board. Dodge stuck with the Dart, the Plymouth Barracuda was replaced with the Mercury Cougar, and Chevrolet swapped their Corvair for the new Camaro. Ford again won the manufacturer’s title although only narrowly ahead of Mercury and Chevrolet.

The Mustang’s crown would finally fall in 1968, when Roger Penske brought his team of Camaros led by driver Mark Donohue. Donohue won 10 of 13 rounds in 1968, with Ford taking only three wins and being thoroughly crushed in the manufacturer’s championship. Chevrolet’s dominance inspired Ford to work harder, and the battle truly began. For 1969 Donohue would take only 6 wins of the 12 rounds, with various Ford drivers taking 4 wins total. The other Camaro drivers would cement the manufacturer’s victory by taking the other two wins away from Ford.

For 1970 Mark Donohue, who had proven himself to be the dominant driver in the championship, switched manufacturers and began to drive an AMC Javelin. In the first year he was only able to win 3 of 11 rounds, giving the manufacturer’s title back to Ford led by Parnelli Jones, who would become Donohue’s arch rival. Without Donohue Chevrolet dropped to third in the manufacturer’s championship, giving AMC second place.

For 1970 Donohue came in with a more fully developed car and destroyed the competition. AMC won 8 of 11 rounds with Donohue getting 7 of those. They destroyed Ford in the manufacturer’s championship by 21 points. 1971 was Donohue’s last year in Trans Am, and with his teammate George Follmer AMC nearly swept the championship, only losing out to Ford in two races. The final year of Trans Am before it began to lose it’s production based heritage was 1972. AMC again won the championship without Donohue. George Follmer carried the team to victory for the final time.

Trans Am was the pinnacle of production based racing in America in the late 60s and early 70s. It inspired development not only of the race cars but also of the production versions. Similar to Group A touring car regulations the aero packages of the cars couldn’t be modified from the production version. Many teams cheated including Donohue’s, although most agree that every team exploited the same loopholes and broke the same rules, some just more effectively than others. A common practice was acid dipping. The heavy production car body panels would be dipped in acid until they were just rigid enough to be run in the race, lightening the car significantly. The Trans Am cars remain some of the most beautiful race cars of their time, contrasting with the european and japanese styles and proving that American muscle cars weren’t just around to drag race.