Penske Camaro Is The Ultimate Version of Chevy’s Pony Car
Rule-bending, creative planning, and a little cheaty. It’s the stories behind the Penske Camaro that make it worth a million.
Few people in motorsports changed the rulebook more than Roger Penske. An insatiable ability to see grey areas, Penske personally was responsible of the phrase “if it’s not in the rules, you can’t do it.” Penske himself started as a racer to mild success, but soon found himself as a powerhouse of a team owner. He still has an incredible run in motorsports to this day, and now owns IndyCar and Indianapolis Motors Speedway. But his time with the Camaro is what cemented him as a motorsport legend.
SCCA’s Trans-Am series was highly competitive in the late 1960’s, and Penske ran Chevrolet’s Camaro in the greatest sports car arms race in the United States. Up against the might of Ford, Dodge, AMC and others, Penske went all-out when it came to his bag of tricks. Through Petrolicious, we learn acid dipping the chassis for lighter weight was one bent rule. Other tricks were used to make the Camaro Z/28 lighter when they were on the track, then adding weight when it would come time from scrutineering. The rule bending only went on for so long. Eventually Penske was forced to play fair, so this car revolutionized something else.
SCCA had tighter control of rules in 1968, forcing Penske to find speed outside of the car. The cars would need to meet a higher weight, but it was not stated in the rules where that weight needed to be. So it went lower in the car to create a better roll-center.
Additionally, Penske found igneous ways of making pit stops ever faster. Fast flow fuel rigs cut pit stop times in half, and a unique brake package meant brake changes were far easier to perform. Many of the modern things you see happening in a pit stop during a sports car race were spawned by this very car. What maked this one special? This particular one is the first of two made for the 1968 season, where Penske dominated the season.
In 2016 this car went up for auction at RM Sotheby’s, and put up a solid fight for being one of the most expensive Camaros ever made. Tough competition from COPO versions and ultra rare ZL1 Camaros have it eked out. But still, a sale price of $990,000 is nothing to scoff at.
Photos: RM Sotheby’s
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