THE CARS OF TRANS-AM RACING 1966-72

David Tom. Published by Car Tech 2013. Reviewer’s own copy. Sub-titled Road Racing Muscle from GM, Ford, Chrysler and AMC, this excellent book covers the glory days of the Trans-Am race series that, for a few seasons, pitted works teams against professional and amateur entrants at circuits around the USA, and left some indelible memories.

David Tom is well placed to write such a book, having ‘discovered’ and owned at least ten cars that raced in the series. For each racing year there’s a good mixture of technical detail, the lengths teams went to (often successfully!) to outwit the scrutineers, race reports, and recollections of drivers, owners and clever engineers like Bud Moore. Factories came in and out of the series and for a while it was the perfect illustration of ‘Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday’ – with Camaros, Mustangs, Cougars, Challengers, Javelins and more offering sight, sound and colour. But by the early ’70s most of that support had gone and the series wound down. But Tom brings it to life, and ends with a few pages on finding and restoring the cars and historic race events for them in the U.S.

Supplemented by plenty of good photos, this is a great way to remember a classic period of racing. And aren’t we fortunate in New Zealand to have such a growing following for spectacular cars like these?