[a70eliminator]

Were 69-70 Cougars not in any competition? I can't find one single picture of a 70 in any stock form competition, unlike the 69-70 Boss 302 Mustangs that were dominate.

 

[propayne]

Yes, both '69 and '70 bodied Cougars were raced in the NASCAR Baby Grand series. Although, in most cases they may have been new sheet metal hung on the '67 Trans Am Cougar chassis.

 

[dmac]

Hey propayne, Thanks for posting the pics. Do you know of anymore??

 

[a70eliminator]

Yea thanks those are cool pics. Never heard of the BabyGrand series until now.

 

[bosselim69]

Tiny Lund ran that series with a 68 Bud Moore Cougar re skinned into a 69 and then a 70. The car is now restored back to the original 68 body.

 

[propayne]

The Baby Grand or Grand American Series (later the Grand Touring Division, or GT for short) was created by NASCAR founder Bill France as an answer to the very popular Trans-Am Series. It's purpose was to also pit pony cars and imported passenger cars against each other but on the NASCAR circuit.

1968 was it's inaugural year, tho they did hold a sort of "try-out" race in 1967 at Daytona - the "Paul Revere 250" was won by Parnelli Jones in his Bud Moore Engineering Trans-Am Cougar (Jerry Titus finished 2nd in his Shelby Mustang). Unfortunately, it was a non-points race and PJ's win has been largely lost to history (it is often quoted that Parnelli never won a race in his Cougar).

It is believed Bud built three 1967 Trans-Am Cougars. At the end of the season, he sold one and took the other two over to the Baby Grand. He also built at least one more Cougar in 1968 exclusively for the Baby Grand. From there it gets very confusing. Tiny raced Cougars with both the '67/68 sheet metal and then later with '69 Sheet metal. Wayne Andrews also raced a Cougar for Bud Moore in the GT series. Period pictures from racing magazines and programs show him racing a '67/68 bodied Cougar and later a '70 bodied Cougar. But then even later, he is back in a '67/68 bodied Cougar. Japanese driver Seiichi Suzuki is also pictured driving a 67/68 bodied Cougar and later a '70 bodied Cougar. Also of note, is another driver after 1970 with the last name of Bannister driving what appears to be one of the 1967 ex-Trans-Am Bud Moore Cougars (you can see where the rear trunk lid is notched for the twin filler caps used on the BME Cougars in '67).

Very confusing!

Anyway, here is a pic of what is, according to the article that appeared in the Shelby American magazine, a 1970 Eliminator with '69 sheet metal that was raced in the '80s!!

 

[yeloxr7]

Pics of the 70 with the Japanese characters on the side were in an article about the 70 Daytona race were in an issue of Car&Driver that year.

 

[woodsnake]

Are these pictures in any other publication?

 

[COUGRRRMAN]

Very cool photo's. Thanks for posting.

 

[propayne]

Are these pictures in any other publication?

Your best bet is "Stock Car Racing" magazine from 1967 (some Trans Am coverage) until about '75. Those are pretty common at swap meets like Carlisle. It is just VERY time consuming digging thru them. My pals in the Delmarva Cougar Club have learned to be VERY patient with me, as I love vintage print collateral.

A little tougher to find are original NASCAR racing programs from the same time period, but they are out there also. Those are really great as reference for past race statistics.