School me on 67-69 barracuda circuit racing

[1967formulaS]

So me and my buddy are having a few beers last night and were talking about 67-69 barracuda's and a debate came up weather they raced on circuit racing such as the T/A series back in the day and he said, go on and name one race team or racer who raced in that series.. I couldn't think of any, but am sure I've seen old pics somewhere.
I done some digging around and found this pic but little to no info.

Surely, there would have been some success or did the camaro and mustangs and amx just dominate every track??

 

[1967formulaS]

Anyone??

 

[Mattax]

Heh heh. You're running into a language barrier - the lingo is a bit different here than the continent/UK and you'all down under. Probably the biggest USA sanctioning body for road racing is Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Most of the races were amateur - the Trans-Am series (starting in 1966) was meant to be pro and showcase for the auto manufcturers. There was a small bore and big bore class, along with series points in addition to race wins.

However most SCCA road racing was and is put on by the regional clubs. Some are enduros but most are 'sprints'. Sometimes you'll see them called club races or regional races. Its a bit confusing. The winnings are small if any and its hard to find the records. Results sometimes appeared in local papers, and of course the club newsletters and dedicated magazines like Sportscar Graphic.

That's Gerald Robinson's car according to the Trans-Am entry and race results. He entered a half dozen or so races as an independent in the 1970 season. We tracked down one namesake, current SCCA competitor whose father turned out to entered as an independent in some trans-am races. But we determined he was totally unrelated; different vehicle (chbby), different coast (Pacific), different race (one was black, the other white). We had a laugh anyway about the coincidence of names.

I also made an inquiry into the SCCA archives, but at the time they couldn't find anything. Since then I identified his hometown in an old entry list. However we can be pretty sure that Robinson ran that car in 'A Sedan'. I've seen photos of other cars with AS on them, so he wasn't alone. In fact at one local autocross there was a Forumla V owner/driver who was telling me he used tow his V with his ex-racing barracuda. He raced the Barracuda as a slant 6 to put in the most favorable class for the car (as he saw it). So I don't think it was AS.

Two pre-70 Barracuda's were raced on the continent with Chrysler France's teams. It looks like a lot of those were time-trials and hillclimbs, but some wheel to wheel as well.

Chrysler's interest in sports car racing from a corporate standpoint seems to have been rather uneven. 67-69 they practically pulled the plug. Scott Harvey was able to continue the entering rallies (with closed circuit stages) with corporate support, but not much else.

 

[mvh]

Bob Tullius won a Trans-Am race in 1966 in a Dodge Dart, with a little under-the-table factory help, and the car was generally competitive. But yes, they pulled the plug on factory support from 67-69, then came back in 1970 with Dan Gurney and Swede Savage. This team should have been a serious contender, but the E-body platform was new for 1970 and as they started late it suffered from lack of development. Meanwhile, the Ford and Chevy teams had 3 years of experience, and Penske and Mark Donohue brought in AMC with a "win now, no holds barred" attitude.

IMO, the 67-69 Barracuda notchback would have been a better platform than the E-body -- narrower, stiffer and lighter, with the same engine package. With 3 years of development it could easily have been a winner. But it was not to be.

I have noticed that in the West Coast vintage racing circuit, the ex-Sam Posey 1970 Dodge Challenger seems to be consistently fastest in the Trans-Am class. The E-body Barracudas would be shorter and lighter, so should be faster, but they don't seem to be prepped to the same level. Of course, there is a lot of questionable tweaking done to vintage racers, so the relative performance today doesn't say much about how they would have performed under different rules back in the day.

 

[1967formulaS]

Excellent info guys, thankyou.