SEBRING, Fla.—2016 marks the 50th anniversary a classic American racing series, the Sports Car Club of America’s Trans Am Sedan Championship. Trans-Am pitted modified street cars against one another. Popular domestic models like the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang could face off on track, while imports like the Porsche 911 and Datsun 240-Z could show that cars didn’t need big V8s to be fast.
The series provided great advertising material for the manufacturers. Factories responded by supporting teams and hiring some of the world’s best drivers. manufacturers produced special models and option packages for their street cars so that they could have an edge on track—hence Pontiac’s iconic “Trans-Am.”
Pontiac created its "Trans-Am" Firebird specifically to compete in the Trans-Am series. Bill Kent/Epoch Times
