Early Trans-Am racing pictures.

[Lee]

http://public.fotki.com/gwadagone/trans-am-racing1966/

[jrkoupe]

grrrreat stuff....thanx lee

Joel

[TobyB]

Holy Pants! That's fun... Thanks!

t

[Mike Self]

corner flagman or on the timing team.

mike

[Jerzy]

That was a time when Kenosha iron shined -

[tjones02]

Cool...

The results can be found here. They do not include car number or color.

http://www.trans-amseries.com/results.htm

I must note that these BMWs here were privateer cars with little or no sponsorship, NO factory backing and were generally local SCCA racers who put up their own money to race with the big boys on Trans-Am weekends.

In 1966 for the first Trans-Am race ever, at Sebring we see 3 1800s (can't tell if Ti or TiSA).On the far left are two 1800 TiSAs... the white car may be that of of John Ryan/Lin Coleman, finished 9th overall 6th in U-2. The grey car may be that of Bill Bowman/John Pauly which DNF'd for 27th place overall. And a Charlie Kolb finished 6 laps, 4 ahead of Art Riley in his Volvo 122S.

The Ryan/Colman TiSA chasing the A.J Foyt Mustang. Though neither finished the BMW did beat Foyt!

The next race was at Mid America Raceways near Wentzville, Missouri. There was another 1800 TiSA in that race as well but there are no pictures of it on that site. Drivers were Herb Swan and Bob Birne, they finished 13th overall.

Race number three was held at Bryar Motorsport Park in Loudon New Hampshire. Vic Meinhardt and Walter Quellet finished 15th overall in their 1800tiSA.

BMW pictures of the 4th race are here though, held at Virgina International Raceway (VIR). Reid and Pinkie Rollo raced an 1800 TiSA to a great 7th overall, 4th in the Under 2-Liter class (U-2)

An early grid shot before the Rollo car gridded.

More from the VIR starting grid we have Herb Swan and a C. Dietrich who finished 27th overall right behind Dr. Dick Thompson in his Mustang.

On the far right we have the Herb Swan car on the starting grid. That's the Richard Petty Barracuda in the foreground.

Can't tell when it is but here is the Herb Swan car filling up.

Here we have Herb Swan racing in the rain at VIR in '67.

The next race, Marlboro Maryland there are no BMW pictures here, as none entered the race. Nor did any BMWs enter the remaining races at Green Valley Raceway in Texas or Riverside in California.

Next we have the '67 Trans-Am season. No BMWs entered the first few races at Daytona or Sebring Florida, Green Valley TX or Lime Rock Connecticut. Finally in the Mid-Ohio race Herb Swan entered his TiSA for a DNF of 23rd overall and 10th in U-2. No pictures of his 1800 are on the site. No BMWs entered Bryar either. Finally Pinkie Rollo ran her Tisa with an Ed Diehl and Bill Dunlap but DNF'd for 24th overall. No BMW pictures for that race. Continental Divide in Colorado and Crows Landing in California's central valley had no BMW entries.

BUT for Riverside in '67 we have a Larry Kress in an 1800, don't know if it is a Ti or TiSA but we do have a picture. That's Ed Leslie passing on the inside in the team Cougar to Dan Gurney. Larry finished 18th overall and 9th in U-2 class.

Next race of the '67 season at Stardust Raceway in Las Vegas a soon to be famous (in our world anyway) BMW driver Carl Fredricks entered an 1800 (again, don't know if it's a Ti or TiSA) for a DNF of 17th and 9th in U-2. There are no pictures of the Stardust race on the site. Carl ran the last '67 season race at Pacific Raceways in Kent Washington for another DNF, this time 23rd overall and 9th in U-2.

We have the '68 season next... For the first 3 races we see no BMWs entered, Daytona, Sebring and Lime Rock. Until Herb Swan ran his then new 2002Ti at Mid Ohio for a DNF of 17th overall. There are no BMW pictures here of Mid Ohio. Herb did not travel to the Bridgehampton New York race, but did finish the Medowdale Illinois race in 15th overall and 7th in U-2. Sad but there are no pictures of that race on the site.

Mt. Tremblant Ontario Canada and Bryar saw no BMWs. We see Herb Swan again at Watkins Glen NY to have a great finish of 10th, and 4th in U-2, ahead of Bob Tullius in a Porsche 911 (oddly though as Bob usually drove Mustangs). Can you spot the tall BMW windshield in this start photo?

We see no BMW for Continental Divide but Carl Fredricks ran the Riverside race to DNF in only 4 laps. I suspect he was having teething troubles in his then new 2002Ti. Somewhere in the dust is the 2002 Ti of Carl Fredricks.

There are no pictures there of the last '68 race in Kent WA where Carl had a great finish of 6th overall and an awesome 2nd in U-2!

On to the '69 season where we see some new names racing BMWs in Trans-Am, but first we see Herb Swan run 23rd and 9th at Michigan International Raceway in Irish Hills MI (no pictures:(. At Lime Rock we again see no BMW action, and unusually no Swain at Mid-Ohio either. We see a new driver Hans Zieries in an unknown BMW DNF Bridgehampton at 42 laps. Another new name Drake Anderson drove a 2002Ti to a finish of 8th overall and a great 3rd in U-2 at Donnybrooke International Speedway in Brainerd Minnesota (no pictures:(. No BMWs at Bryar, but Herb Swan DNF'd at Mt. Tremblant. Here he is in the back of this photo.

We see Drake Anderson again at Watkins Glen race to a DNF in 33 laps. Carl Fredricks is at it for the '69 season at the first Laguna Sesa CA Trans-Am race to finish 18th and 6th in U-2. No pictures of either, and no BMWs at Kent Washington that year. Sears Point Raceway held a Trans-Am race that year but no BMWs entered, though we do see a famous name early in his career. Elliot Forbes Robinson Jr. drove a Porsche 911 to a respectable win in U-2!

Oddly Riverside sees no BMWs, strange as we expected to see Carl Fredricks at the last race of the season.

Time for 1970 Trans-Am... And the largest BMW field to date with 4 cars running! I was truly hoping to find pictures of this race here but sadly no. What I do have may or may not be from the Trans-Am race there but an SCCA race in the same season.

These images are borrowed from Arthur Porter's Printroom files.

Here is Heinz Eckhardt racing to an awesome 3rd in U-2!

And a pace lap at the beginning of the U-2 race.

More details next time.... Enjoy....

[dhs]

Great stuff guys, thanks for sharing!

[Jerzy]

(nt)

[Mike Self]

on the timing staff for SCCA races (never did a Trans Am there) in 1964-66 when I was in college nearby. Even ran an economy run around the track in 1965--placed 2nd overall in my Renault 4CV (53 mpg!)

And I did work the 1966 Trans Am race at Green Valley Raceway in Texas--both timing and flagging--mostly big American Iron in that race but it was fun. From what I understand, the race track is now either a shopping center or a housing development--just like Austin Raceway Park in Austin TX...sigh...

mike

[Guest Anonymous]

Any pictures of Austin Raceway Park?

[kengta]

Hi All, thanks for the links. Some new to me.

I am looking for entry lists and grid position lists for the 1966 Trans Am races at Mid America and Marlboro. As well as pictures from Mid America of which there seems to be precious few available.

You may have interest in the Trans Am thread on the Alfa Romeo BB for pics of BMWs amongst the Alfas.

http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/picture-room/17978-alfas-trans-am.html

I am also seeking leads to BMW driver Peter Schuster who had a couple of Alfa rides in 1971 and would be happy to share info with other Trans Am race car owners.

Thanks and Regards

Ken Geiger

Alfa GTA Trans Am #25

[Kevin Richards]

I'd like to add this car to this thread. More to come soon. The Autosport by Jiri  BMW 2002 Trans-AM TU car. Stay tuned.