1982 Pontiac Trans Am - Vintage Race Veteran

Still, for a 24-hour race, where one starts out isn't nearly as critical as a normal 500-mile event so it wasn't a huge problem. When the green flag dropped at 3:30 pm on February 5, Elliott Forbes-Robinson was able to move his way up the pack. After 40 minutes, he was in the pits with the replacement shifter stuck in second gear. He was on the track again 6 minutes later, but the stage was set for more pitting and mechanical woes. The engine's oil pressure began to drop and the coolant temperature started climbing.

Sensing that they would be out early, all 3 drivers took short shifts behind the wheel to give everyone a chance to drive. After an oil change and opening up the cooling ducts, the engine seemed to behave itself while the car was piloted by Tony Swan, though Elliott was once again experiencing some minor shifter problems during his turn driving.

At 9:21 pm, Witzenburg had once again taken over the driving chores and noticed that the oil pressure was way off and the temperature was rising. Fumes were coming into the cockpit, forcing him into the pits. A loose dry sump fitting was tightened and the Pontiac was sent out again with new oil and coolant.

Witzenburg had to come back in after just a couple of laps. He suggested that the T/A be parked, but the team wanted to continue. Swan took over but soon came to the same conclusion, the engine was history-the victim of a cracked cylinder head. It was 11:30 pm and the team had completed 121 laps, good for 55th place.

New OwnersAfter the race, Posey entered the Trans Am in one other race before parking it for good. It hibernated until 1985, when the cast-off race car was sold to SCCA racer Skeet Marino, who gave it a new lease on life. He ran the Firebird for 7 seasons, competing in GTO, GTU, and GT1 classes using small-block power.

And once again, the Pontiac went into hibernation, this time for a full decade before Marino sold the Trans Am as a roller to the Classsic Car Barn, a specialty car dealer in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. From there, it was advertised on their Web site and on eBay.

Meanwhile, 635 miles away, Greg Mroz, of Ortonville, Michigan, was looking for a race car to replace his road racing Fiat 128 sedan. He felt that he had gone as far as he could with the cube-shaped Italian and was searching the Internet for the perfect big-bore machine to fit his budget.

A friend noticed the Pontiac while online and told Mroz to check it out. As he did with the Fiat, Greg logged onto eBay and stumbled upon the vintage race Trans Am, which had been put up for bid by the Classic Car Barn. When it was all over, Mroz bid $2,000 and much to his surprise, won the auction. He bought it on a Friday in early 2002 and the following Sunday was on the road to retrieve it. "I drove out to Pennsylvania with my son to pick it up and was thrilled to see how nice it was," Mroz recalled. The paint was in great shape, so I just added the gold accents."

That's not all he did to the Trans Am to get it ready for racing. As it came sans engine and transmission and it was already set up for the ubiquitous small-block Chevy engine, the choice was obvious and in keeping with the low-buck nature of the project.

A 355 Chevy was built by Russ Coffell, owner of Westside Engines in Flint, Michigan. The 4-bolt 350 block was bored .030-inch over and fitted with TRW 12.5:1 pistons, which swing on stock-length Carillo rods and a production steel crank. Its heads are GM 3917291 64cc chamber "double-bump" units fitted with 1.94-inch intake and 1.50-inch valves. Valve actuation is courtesy of a Reed J6206 flat-tappet camshaft featuring 254/260 degrees of duration at 0.50 and .555/.557-inch lift with Crane roller rockers with a 1.5:1 ratio.

Induction chores are aptly handled by an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, which mounts a 750 Holley vacuum-secondary carb. The tightly-squeezed charge is lit off by a Mallory Unilite distributor, aided by an MSD 6AL and ACCEL coil.