On this Day in Trans Am History: August 6, 1967

August 6, 2020

August 6, 1967             

Peter Revson scored his second victory in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli on August 6, winning a race of changing conditions at Bryar Motorsports Park.

Located in Loudon, N.H., the 1.6-mile Bryar evolved into today’s New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Mark Donohue crashed his Camaro during Saturday qualifying after breaking an axle, sending the Penske Racing team scrambling to repair the car for the next day’s race.

Racing journalist Jerry Titus captured the pole with a lap of 1:16.0-seconds in a Ford Mustang, and dominated the opening 12 of the 156-laps in the 250-mile race.

Then a light drizzle suddenly turned into a downpour, causing many of the front runners to spin.

Ed Leslie was the only contender to start on rain tires on his Mercury Cougar, and he took the lead on lap 17 when the contenders pitted for rain tires.

Leslie led for the next one-hour, 45-minutes until his engine blew and he retired. Meanwhile, Titus went around eight times triggering a pileup that eliminated his Mustang, while Donohue was never a contender, going out with another broken axle on lap 92.

With Leslie out, the lead went to Bert Everett in a Porsche 911, with Revson taking over a few laps later when Everett pitted.

As the rain let off, Revson pulled away during the final 50 laps and went on to win by one lap plus 20 seconds. Everett finished second and captured Under-2 liter honors, followed by Dr. Dick Thompson in a Mustang.

Peter Gregg placed seventh overall and fifth in U-2.

The race merited coverage in Sports Illustrated, with a feature story by Kim Chaplin with three photos.

Chaplin concluded“…If promotions like Loudon’s continue, along with the more affluent Daytona Beach and Sebring events, there is good reason to hope that the Trans-American will be as successful on the track as its competing cars are in the market place.”