Patrick Ryan - Fletcher, North Carolina
1967 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 #6
Originally driven by Mark Donohue, Craig Fisher, Bob Johnson, Francois Guertin, and Larry Gilbride
Documented History:
This Camaro was the 14th Z/28 built and rolled off the assembly line on December 30th, 1966. It was originally purchased through Gorries Chevrolet-Olds, LTD in Toronto by Terry Godsall, son of the GM-Euclid distributor for the eastern half of Canada. It was race-prepared at the Gorries dealership by the highly respected Doug Duncan for fellow-Canadian Craig Fisher to drive at the Trans-Am season opener at Daytona in early February 1967. Finishing second at that Daytona race, it was the first car to score points for Chevrolet in the Trans-Am series.
Engine: Traco 302 V-8 Chevy Small Block |
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In mid-1967, Craig Fisher joined the Penske team and became a teammate of Mark Donohue. This car followed Craig to the Penske team and the highlight of their success together resulted in Donohue and Fisher placing first in the Trans-Am class and third overall at the prestigious Sebring 12-hour race in 1968. It was the highest finish ever at Sebring for an American sedan, up to that point in time. The Trans-Am ran as a class within the 12-Hour race that year. The Penske team went on to win the Manufacturer’s Championship in 1968.
After the ’68 Sebring race, the car and Fisher returned to Godsall in Canada. The car was sold to another Canadian, Bob Gagnon from Montreal, and painted in new white and black livery with “Gagnon Spring” lettering on the rear quarter panel. It was raced by Craig Fisher at the Lime Rock Trans-Am in May of 1968. Craig then returned to Terry Godsall’s team to pilot a new Firebird that was being prepared. The Camaro stayed with Gagnon’s team and was primarily driven by Francois Favreau. Favreau drove the Camaro to the Eastern Canadian Touring Championship in 1968 and placed second in the finals at Westwood.
In early 1968, the car was sold to Larry Gilbride and Jean Hrab. Their only Trans-Am experience that year was at Mt. Tremblant (St. Jovite) where Mark Donohue told them many secrets about their car. They had no idea it was an ex-Penske race car. Gilbride sold the car at the end of the year to Francois Guertin and he entered many Trans-Am races in 1970, 1971, and 1972.
It is restored now to its 1968 Sebring livery.
The entire history of this Camaro has been documented with the help of Jon Mello of Santa Barbara as part of his extensive research of 1967 Z/28 Camaro race cars. Many of the original parts that remained on the car were verified by Wayne Guinn, author of the book “Camaro-Untold Secrets” which detailed many of the special parts which were used by the Penske team during the 1967-1969 Trans-Am racing seasons.
