Build Thread: The Roaring Season Firebird

[Steve Holmes]

As for how the car will be built, from the moment I settled on a 1967/68 Firebird, I was clear in my mind how it would look. The car will be a replica of the yellow Firebird raced by Craig Fisher in the 1968 Trans-Am series. ‘Who is Craig Fisher’, you may ask? To my mind, he is one of the great unsung heroes of the Trans-Am series, who many will be unfamiliar with, but who played an important role in regards to General Motors impact on the series.


Craig Fisher Collection photo.

The young and very shy Canadian driver Craig Fisher became the first driver to score Trans-Am points for the Camaro model when he placed second in the 1967 Daytona 300 Miles Trans-Am feature which was a support to the big Daytona 24 Hour race. This was the very first Trans-Am race in which the Camaro competed.

Fisher was a hugely accomplished driver, and very good car developer. His achievements brought him to the attention of Roger Penske, who was in partnership with another Canadian by the name of Terry Godsall, in 1967. When the Penske team required a co-driver for Mark Donohue in a couple of the longer Trans-Am races, they called upon Craig Fisher. In Round 7 of the championship at Marlboro Raceway, Fisher was drafted in to drive alongside Donohue, and the pairing claimed the very first victory for Camaro in the Trans-Am series.

For the Daytona 24 Hour and Sebring 12 Hour endurance events that opened the 1968 Trans-Am championship, Fisher was once again called upon as a Penske co-driver, and it was at Sebring the pairing of Donohue and Fisher claimed an incredible third outright in the race, headed only by a pair of factory Porsche 907s. After 12 hours of racing, they were just 5 laps behind the second placed car, and 6 laps behind the winner. The entire paddock was stunned.

For the shorter Trans-Am races of 1968, Donohue drove solo, while Craig Fisher teamed up with Terry Godsall to run their own entry. Godsall was a successful businessman whose father ran a company supplying parts to General Motors. So he had strong GM ties.


Craig Fisher Collection photo.

Fisher contested Round 4 of the championship in a Camaro, however, Godsall wanted to score a factory contract, and was busy working behind the scenes setting in motion plans to woo Pontiac into the Trans-Am series. But first he had to find a way to show the potential of the Firebird as a road racer, and do so as quickly and cheaply as possible. So he went to the SCCA, and somehow convinced them that in Canada it was possible to purchase a Pontiac Firebird fitted with a Chevy V8 motor. Whether the SCCA actually believed this or whether they were prepared to play dumb in order to have another manufacturer on-board is not known to me. Firebirds were not available in Canada with Chevy V8 engines. But regardless, they gave Godsall the green light to run a Pontiac Firebird fitted with Camaro running gear.

To that end, Craig Fisher debuted the very first Pontiac Firebird to contest the Trans-Am series at Round 7 at Meadowdale. This was not a factory backed entry. The factory money would come later. This was just a privateer effort. Fisher finished 4^th behind Donohue in the Penske Camaro, Peter Revson in a factory Javelin, and Sam Posey in the second Penske Camaro at Meadowdale. Not a bad start for the Trans-Am’s newest manufacturer.