The Laguna Seca round, taking place on May 3 to 5, is round three of Trans Am’s 12-round 2019 season, and fans there will witness professional drivers competing in race-prepped Camaros, Mustangs, Challengers, Corvettes and Vipers in the TA1 and TA2 categories as well as other domestic and foreign makes in the GT and SuperGT classes. The Trans Am races will be also supported at the Laguna Seca event by no fewer than 12 historic race groups from the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association, with cars that are prepared to the rules in which they were originally raced.
The first Trans Am visit to Laguna Seca was in 1969, just three years after the series was established. The inaugural ‘69 race was star-studded in both drivers and cars. The race was won by none other than Mark Donohue in a Penske-Hilton Camaro, followed by Ed Leslie in another Penske-Hilton Camaro, while the legendary Dan Gurney completed the podium in a Shelby Ford Mustang Boss 302. In addition, Parnelli Jones in a Bud Moore Ford Mustang Boss 302 was running strongly until a differential failure put him out at mid-distance, while George Follmer, in the second Bud Moore entry, had a wheel failure that forced him out late on.
“When Trans Am was in its heyday, we had the factories involved and good people working on them, building them, and driving them,” said Follmer who won the Trans Am championship in 1972 and ‘76. “It was very, very competitive. You never knew who would win, because everyone was pretty even. It was hard. All these teams wanted to win, so they found good people to drive them. It was pretty good in ’69, ’70. It was a dogfight.”
Images courtesy ofWeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
