Photos: The Bill Sutton Collection

[seaqnmac27]

Have you seen the making of the Trans Am by Pontiac?

[Steve Holmes]

Follmer hustles the Javelin. He'd finish second.

[Steve Holmes]

Last photo in this amazing collection. This shot captures an epic mid-pack gaggle.

Leading the group is Skip Barber in his Camaro. Barber, in the 1960s, came up with the idea to create a race drivers school, because he believed it was possible to teach people how to become racing car drivers. In the '60s he'd been involved in a few car related movies teaching actors how to drive. At the time, there was a strong belief a person either knew how to race, or they didn't.

Barber established the Skip Barber Racing School in 1975, starting out with four students and two borrowed Formula Fords, and its since grown into a massive business, which has been copied by numerous companies around the world.

Chasing Barber is John McComb in the Shelby Mustang.

The last of the three Porsche 911s is that of Bob Bailey/Jim Locke. The number 59 Porsche they're chasing is that of Peter Gregg, who owned the Brumos Porsche dealership. In the 1970s, Gregg took on Hurley Haywood as a team mate in the racing team, and the pair enjoyed huge success together. But even prior to Haywood's arrival, Gregg himself achieved great things in the sport. Brumos always ran the number 59 on their cars, and always with white cars featuring red and blue stripes. Brumos Racing still exists to this day, although sadly Peter Gregg himself committed suicide in 1980, aged just 40 years old.

This image is typical of the Trans-Am series, and the privateer teams that made it such a success. Much of the publicity at the time, and that shown today in books and magazines tends to focus on the big dollar factory teams, but in fact it was the weekend warriors in their independent Camaros and Mustangs contesting the local races when the circus came to town that truly allowed it to thrive.

My thanks again to Derek Sutton for allowing me to share this beautiful collection here.

[khyndart in CA]

Note the "flaggies" seem to have a different course in mind !
Now that would never happen in NZ, right ?

I remember going to a new BMW introductory event at the Riverside track in 1987 and Skip Barber was one of the test drivers that day.
He was a very friendly and helpful man. I thought I was going pretty quick in a 325 and then he got behind the wheel and going into the old Turn 9 was an unforgettable experience. Another forgotten memory that has come back from my head full of mush. Thanks Steve.

[Chris Tonn]

Forgive this new guy for adding to an old thread, but I'm hoping I can reach Derek Sutton. I'm an author, working on a book focused on the Trans-Am series - specifically Mark Donohue - and I'd like to see if I could get formal permission to use some of these photos.

I can be reached either via message here on the site, or via email chtonn@gmail.com

Thanks so much!

[Steve Holmes]

Sure thing Chris, I'll dig his email address out for you.