| The 1970 Trans Am
season was a replay of the prior year's manufacturer wars with one major
exception, the Shelby Racing team pulled out of Trans Am racing
totally. Trans Am racing had become the top race in the country.
Attendance was way up at the races. The Ford Boss 302's and Z-28 Camaros
were competing for street sales with the public.
The competition was going to be tough in
1970. Penske took his team, including Mark Donahue to American Motors
leaving Chevy. Chrysler was back with two cars, a Plymouth Barracuda and a
Dodge Challenger. Jerry Titus was back in a Firebird for Pontiac even
though GM wasn't officially supporting racing. Chevy hired Jim Hall for
the Camaro team.
| Chrysler was serious about the'70
Trans Am series. The company was losing a lot of money and saw the
Trans Am races as a way to sell more cars. Phil Remington, late of
Shelby American, was hired to build the race cars at the All
American Racers in Costa Mesa, CA. Chief Chrysler |
Jones 1970 Trans-Am Boss 302
|
engineer, Pete Hutchinson, was tweaking the
destroked 340 engine to 460 horse power. Dan Gurney was the lead driver.
The Dodge Challenger team had an identical car to the Barracuda, except
the engine was built by Keith Black and the driver was Sam Posey, who won
his first Trans Am race in a Shelby Boss 302 at Lime Rock. Both cars had
seen little track time prior to the series beginning.
The American Motors Javelin team looked like
the team the Moore Mustangs had to beat. Chuck Cantwell, a former
suspension magician at Shelby American, had joined the team the prior
year. Mark Donahue was the lead driver. The engines were specially prepped
by Traco.
The Chevy team was at a great disadvantage.
The loss of the Penske team and a new body that wasn't scheduled for
release until mid year threatened Chevy's repeat of the 1969 win in 1970.
Jim Hall quickly put two Camaros together. One to be driven by him and the
other driver was Ed Leslie. Even though GM was officially uninvolved in
racing, the Hall Camaros were factory race cars.
|
Pontiac was at a great disadvantage.
GM wasn't supporting racing. The destroked 400 cid engine weighed
in at 75 pounds more than the Chevy 302's. And they only had one
car to race.
Ford only sponsored one team for the
'70 season and that was Bud Moore's team. Ford cut back 75% on its
racing budget. Ford didn't think the Shelby team could give the
results based on the prior year's performance.
|
Follmer 1970 Trans Am Mustang
|
The Moore cars were 1969 Mustangs with 351
4V engines and 4-speeds. They were updated to '70 sheet metal. Kar Kraft
rebuilt the cars to Trans-Am specifications and shipped them to Moore. The
cars were painted yellow with black center stripes. Parnelli Jones drove
car #15 and George Follmer piloted car #16.
The rules were changed in 1970. The minimum
production of cars was raised from the 1,000 minimum in 1969 to 1/250th of
the manufacturers total production in the prior year- a minimum of 2,500
cars. Rules were relaxed in other areas. More flexibility was allowed with
engines, rear ends and suspension. The dual 4 barrel carbs, allowed in
1969, were restricted to a single 4 barrel. Ford developed the Autolite
In-Line carb to take advantage of this rule.
Jones and Follmer drove the Trans Am
Mustangs against Mark Donahue and Pete Revson in a AMC Javelins; Swede
Savage driving a Plymouth Barracuda; Sam Posey piloting a Dodge Challenger
and Milt Minter, Vic Elford and Jim Hall in Chevy Camaros. It was a race
to the finish and to the last race. Parnelli Jones beat out Mark
Donahue by one point to give Ford its third Trans-Am Manufacturers'
Championship. |
