For 1968 Roger and Mark had a “body-in-white” acid dipped
and prepared an all new 1968 car, adding the weight back in choice areas to
balance the car and make the minimum weight. In its debut at Daytona
it suffered cracked cylinder heads and lost to a Mustang. Vince Piggins,
Mr. Camaro at Chevrolet, strongly suggested that Penske enter two cars at
Sebring, the second TransAm of the year, which would be a 12-hour event within
an event. Not having time to prepare a second car, Mark retrieved
“The Lightweight” which had gone back to Godsall, for a one-race
partnership. Roger and Mark fooled the tech inspectors by putting
1968 grille and taillights on the 1967 car and painting both cars
identically. Then they sent the legal 1968 car to tech twice, once
with Number 15 and once with Number 16, this worked so well that they repeated
the process in qualifying and “The Lightweight” actually qualified them
both. We know this because Mark put it into his book, “The Unfair
Advantage”.
“The Lightweight” went on to win the TransAm and finish 3rd overall
in the Sebring 12 Hour against a strong international prototype field,
finishing behind a pair of factory Porsche 907’s. The team went on
to win 10 of 13 events in 1968 and claimed the TransAm championship for
Chevrolet, repeating the feat in 1969. The team built two Camaro racers each of
the three years for a total of six. Four of these cars survive and
all were present at the 2010 Kohler International Challenge at Road America
where there was a reunion of Mark’s team and many of his cars. They will
also be at the Monterey Motorsports Reunion in August (Formerly Monterey
Historics.
Today the car has been restored to its 1968 Sebring
appearance by Rick Parent who along with owner-driver Pat Ryan and son Sean
Ryan comprise “Unfair Advantage Racing”, a name taken from the title
of Mark’s book. The team also campaigns the Frank Search TransAm
1971 Camaro for Sean. The Sunoco Camaro remains remarkably close to
its 1968 specifications with the 302 V-8 still built by Tra-co Engineering
and sporting a prototype cross-ram manifold first used at Sebring in
1968. SVRA rules require all TransAm cars to have original period
engine blocks, intake manifolds, cylinder heads, brakes, and
transmissions. They are limited to the original engine
displacement and must weigh no less than 3000 lbs.
This lightweight 1967 Sunoco Camaro was raced by independent
Canadian racers from 1969 through 1972 and was then stored until discovered by
Jack Boxstrom in a Sanair warehouse in 1985. Unfair Advantage Racing
has entered it at SVRA Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen events each year since
1989. It has also been a regular at the Monterey Historic Races and
has been in more than 125 SVRA events, including the TransAm reunion at Watkins
Glen in 1995, where it finished first overall.
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