First it was the short term memory, now the long term memory has holes in it ! Who was the driver and what was the car in the SCCA series that did not have a tach, and the clock was repurposed as a tach? Clock face was rotated in the dash. Memory says Mark Donahue in a Javelin, but cannot verify. Google doesn't seem to know. Thanks in advance. Jon
Is this what you’re thinking of? Found this on the AMC forum which would explain Mark Donahue in a Javelin Dan
It wasn't Donahue's / Penske Javelin That particular car had a flat panel instrument panel with a 10k tach [clocked so the needle position was vertical at 8500 rpm] The rules were loosened in 1970 to allow Dodge, Plymouth, and AMC to enter without having to produce 1000 minimum numbers for homologation . [De-stroking was allowed to fit the rules, whereas in 1969 they had to produce an actual 5 liter model] I cannot see why a team like Penske would require a funky clock/tach conversion [unless they also raced a car in a "showroom stock" category] The Penske Javelin SCCA Trans-Am car was far from stock
Yeah none of the Penske Camaro's ran in 67-69 did that either. Dan Gurney with AAR Cuda's and Sam Posey with his Challengers had tachs as well. Im pretty confident that the Bud Moore cars had tach as well since they got stuff from Holman- Moody. The only other bigger name guy that might have done it was Jerry Titus with his Firebirds.
I read about this in a magazine article sometime about 1970~71 but cannot remember which one. Evidently nobody else remembers either. What brought this up was reminiscing about these races with a gentleman of a younger generation (my wife and I used to go to races in Missouri and Arkansas in the late 1960's early 1970's). We also went to several of the annual runoffs in Georgia. Definately a "different" time! Admission / parking was $4.00. Pit passes were an extra dollar. I cannot remember ever sitting in the grandstands. Would wander about the pits; or when watching the class races of my interest, head for a corner, and spread a blanket. Drivers were just people like us who just happened to drive race cars. I cannot remember any that were unfriendly. Once their race was finished, they were happy to lounge around, and talk to fans, even give pointers on modifications if a fan happened to have a similar car. And the fans were sufficiently respectful to not bother a driver or crew member if they happened to be busy. Watching from a respectful distance was tolerated / encouraged. For those unfamiliar with SCCA racing, "class" races were held. Races would have a set time, not distance. There would be time between races while the track was cleared, and the grid for the next race was set. At one particular race in Wentzville, a band set up at the "favored watching corner", and "performed" during breaks between races. Not a bad band, but the fans wanted the quiet between races to discuss the previous race, and other stuff. The band was booed roundly. As the band didn't seem to understand and continued to play, somewhere about the third maybe fourth intermission, one of the drivers backed up a racecar close to the band, and started "tuning" the engine, drowning out the noise from the band. The band gave up, packed up their guitars and drums, and left. The cheer that erupted from the fans drowned the "music" from the engine. Good times! Jon
I used to LOVE going to Road Atlanta for the runoffs. We always camped in the infield. Great times!....even when it rained.
The comment of Penske immediately made my mind jump to the trans am cars too, but that type of rules restriction wasn't part of that class. They were pretty heavy, having a restriction of no tach if not factory and a work around sounds like a lower class. The big three (or 4, AMC) would have homologated an over the counter part, like the chevy cross ram intakes and other stuff used on the TA cars. http://www.historictransam.com/history.html
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