The only other Trans Am races I can remember attending was the one held in conjunction with the inaugural Denver Grand Prix in 1990, and one in Long Beach a few years later, also in conjunction with a CART race.
In summary, the facts about the '67 CDR Trans Am, as relates to the Penske team and the original Penske Camaro are these:
1. Gas Can Man appears to have been Bill "Murph" Mayberry.
2. There is some indication that Follmer may have been at the race, although he doesn't recall it.
3. The Camaro was entered and crewed by Penske's people, although Roy Gane may not have been present.
4. The car was returned to Penske's shops in Philadelphia following the CDR race on 27 August.
5. Craig Fisher and Tom Greatorex hauled the (original) Penske Camaro from Philadelphia towards the west coast, crashing the car and tow rig in Nevada some time between the end of August 1967 and it's reappearance in Las Vegas on 1 October, where it was driven to a dnf by Bob Johnson.
6. The (original) Penske Camaro was in the Kent, WA, Trans Am a week after Las Vegas, driven to a 4th place finish by Johnson and Fisher.
An interesting question remains. What ultimately became of the original Penske Camaro? It appears to have ended 1967 in the possession of Craig Fisher, apparently as a replacement for Fisher's original Camaro which was turned into the Penske lightweight. That car (the lightweight) was campaigned by the Penske team in the 1968 Trans Am series, ultimately becoming the Pat Ryan car of today.
The Historic Trans Am web site has a list of known '67 Trans Am Camaros, none of which match the history of the original Penske car. The closest seems to be the Tom McIntyre car, although that car is referred to as a '68 Camaro.
RonS.
Ron,
I have never seen a member of the Fisher/Godsall team work as a pitcrew member for Penske. I don't think that happened.
Craig Fisher told me personally that the Camaro returned to PA after the CDR race and that he and Tom Greatorex were the two that hauled the car from PA to the West Coast before crashing it near Fernley, NV. It was not on a mountain but a poorly lit new section of Interstate that came to a junction where the accident happened.
Pat Ryan's car does have the serial number of Craig Fisher's original Camaro on it. I discovered this because I have copies of Craig's original paperwork and have looked closely at Pat's car. I discussed this with Pat. There is a very clear lineage of chain of ownership all the way back to the Sebring T/A race in '68, which the car won. Roy Gane has looked at Pat's car and pointed out to Pat many things on the car that he recognized as his work. When Pat told him that the body had Craig Fisher's serial number on it, Gane purportedly said he was "not surprised to hear that". There is a Camaro that was driven by Gordon Dewar in Canada in late '67 and '68 that is alarmingly close in appearance to Fisher's car with the exception of paint but Dewar has passed on and it is extremely difficult to find out any details on the car from others who may have been involved with it. I do believe Pat's car is the one that won at Sebring in '68 based purely on the fact that it is very easy to trace the car from there to Pat's current ownership.
Out of curiosity, did you attend other T/A races besides the one at Continental Divide?
-Jon
