Trans-Am, The Pony Car Wars 1966-1972
By Dave Friedman
In 1965, the SCCA’s executive director, John Bishop, had a great idea – he wanted to create an American road racing championship for 2-door sedans. At Sebring, in 1966, the first round of the Trans-American Sedan Series got under way, and for the next six years, the Trans-Am would be one of the most hotly contested manufacturer’s championships to be found anywhere on the globe. Some of America’s finest road racers, such as Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney, Mark Donohue, George Follmer and Tony Andamowicz, did battle all across the U.S. and Canada in cars that the general public could easily identify with – Camaros, Mustangs, Javelins, 911s, Datsuns, Alfas and Cortinas.
In “Trans-Am: The Pony Car Wars,” renown photographer Dave Friedman has captured the essence of this brief, but remarkable, period in the way that he does best – a photo journal format. If you’re familiar with Friedman’s previous books (and you should be), then you know not to expect a blow-by-blow account of every turn and every race. Friedman’s approach is to look at the major moments and players in each event, through a combination of eye-catching photography and firsthand accounts from the people who drove the cars and turned the wrenches. From Jerry Titus destroying his Shelby Mustang at the final race of the 1967 season to Peter Revson and Sam Posey duking it out in the pit lane at Riverside, Friedman’s book chronicles the gritty intensity of this challenging series.
At 255 pages, “Trans-Am” covers not only the ’66 – ’72 seasons for the more notorious “Big Bore” American iron, but also gives equal time to the lesser known, although every bit as interesting, under 2-liter championship. Rounding out the book is an appendix which provides all the official SCCA results for every Trans-Am race run during this period. A worthy addition to any collection.
