1969 Pontiac Trans-AM Firebird

It was a little odd that Pontiac was paying the SCCA a royalty to use the “Trans-Am” name for their “racing option” Firebird, yet Chevy was dominating the Trans-Am racing series. Much of that had to do with Chevrolet’s back-door relationship with numerous Chevy road racing teams. It also helped that they had the best sports sedan team management of the time - the Penske Racing Team.

Even though the Firebird was first cousin to the Camaro, no one associated Pontiac with road racing. There were many NASCAR and drag racing connections, but nothing in road racing. Consequently, the ‘69 Trans-Am Firebird hardly got noticed.

Pontiac backed a 70-1/2 Trans-Am racing team, but by then Penske was racing an AMC Javelin and no one could touch them, not even Jim Hall’s Chaparral Camaros.