1968 Chevrolet Sunoco Camaro Trans Am
Images by Robin Adams courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
One of two Chevrolet Sunoco Camaro Trans Ams developed by Penske for the 1968 season, this Camaro was raced successfully by Can Am, sportscar and Trans Am legend Mark Donohue along with Sam Posey. It will head to auction at RM Sotheby’s’ Amelia Island sale.
The car was the first of two built and prepared for Roger Penske Racing’s 1968 Trans Am season. It was delivered to the team at the end of 1967 and completed for racing first thing in 1968 in its iconic Sunoco blue livery.
Mark Donohue, Craig Fisher and Bob Johnson debuted it at the 24 Hours of Daytona, where they took second in class. Following the race Donohue swapped back to his ’67 Camaro lightweight for a few rounds while this car received a few tweaks and brake upgrades to speed up pit stops when it returned to endurance racing at Sebring.
These upgrades gave it a significant bump and the car, driven by Craig Fisher, Bob Johnson and Joe Welch finished fourth overall at Sebring, just behind Penske’s sister car and two Porsche 907s driven by Jo Siffert and Hans Herrmann, and Vic Elford and Jochen Neerpasch.
At this point Penske built the second of their ’68 Camaros. Donohue hopped into the new car while Sam Posey climbed into the driver’s seat of this car. He would take third in the Bridgehampton 300, the Meadowdale 250 and the St. Jovite 3 Hours and sadly spun out of the lead at Watkins Glen to drop to a, still impressive, second place finish.
Penske developed new Camaros for 1969, but kept this car on for the first half of the year giving it a black vinyl roof and a few aesthetic tweaks to match the new cars. Having no competitive use for it, however, they soon sold it to Francis McNamara, who hired Penske mechanic Peter Reinhardt to drive it in Group 2 races. Continuing to demonstrate its incredible performance, the pair would pick up wins at Hockenheim and Salzburgring.
’69 was a busy year for the car and it would be sold again, this time moving to Malcolm Gartland who raced it in Group 2 events in Britain. Here, it claimed four victories and five second places with Brian Muir at the wheel and went on to secure the large-displacement championships in 1970 and 1971.
Terry Sanger bought the car, now registered as CAB 24H, in 1972 for competition under the Research Consultants race team in Britain. They would take it back to the international stage in 1973, and claim an impressive 11th at the 24 Hours of Spa.
In 1974 the car went to Doug Emms, who raced it for four years in British Special and Super Saloon events. Emms eventually sold it to Brian Morris, who raced it for two years in the ASCAR and ATAC V8 Series before selling it in 1981 to Henry Henderson. By this time the car had gone through several different paint jobs, and Henderson gave it another – painting it in white.
Henderson raced it until 1987, when it went back to the United States and enjoyed a full five-year restoration to its original specifications and Sunoco livery. It made it into its current owners hands in 2013.
The car is sold with a massive history file which includes plentiful research, press clippings and input from its various owners and racers including Sam Posey and a letter of authenticity from Ron Fournier.
More recently it has campaigned in vintage racing events, and has developed an impressive record at the Monterey Historics.
This exceptionally-quick Camaro has truly lived a racer’s life, and with its Penske history and development is a very significant historic racing machine. We hope to see its plentiful track time continue when it’s sold at RM Sotheby’s’ Amelia Island sale this March. Head to their official site for the full details.
Images by Robin Adams courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
