Have you ever reflected on life and realized it’s so good you couldn’t have predicted it or made it happen on your own? For sure that is how I feel about my wife and daughter, but to say that about my cars sounds a little materialistic. So please bear with me as I explain what I mean. As most of you know, I am passionate about all things B Sedan. I race a 1969 BMW 2002 and I am restoring Vic Provenzano’s 1974 Alfa GTV. But it’s my other car, the 1965 911 that is the focus of my attention today. When I bought it a couple years ago from European Collectibles, it was to in exchange of a burgundy 1970 911S that I had bought from them two years prior. While the 1970 911S did not campaign in the B Sedan class, the 1965-1969 911’s did and they did so very successfully. Actually, that is an understatement. Porsche ran away with the under 2.0 liter Trans-Am series from 1967-1969.
You may be saying to yourself, why did a 911 get added to the B-Sedan class when it is not technically a 3-box configuration with easy access to the tiny fold down rear seats? Some say the rear seats were to satisfy an insurance company’s qualification of a sedan so that the car was not considered a sports car. Porsche aggressively lobbied the SCCA in 1966 to reclassify the 911 as a sedan. Needless to say, Porsche was successful. In 1967, the 911 could be found racing alongside Alfa GTA’s, BMW 1800’s and Lotus Cortinas. The 911 collected a total of 75 points with Alfa in second place and 59 points. Ford and BMW were a distant 3rd and 4th with only 5 and 2 points, respectively.
(Porsche leading and Alfa on August 6, 1967 at Bryar Motorsports Park)
1968 was more of the same in the Under 2.0-liter series. A total of 90 points would go to Porsche, 43 to Alfa and 9 points to BMW. The only good news for BMW was the introduction of the BMW 2002 into the B-Sedan Class with Herb Swan’s 4th place finish at Watkins Glen and Carl Fredericks 2nd place finish at Pacific Raceway in Kent Washington. They would be the first to earn points for the infamous BMW 2002 in the Trans Am series.
(Carl Fredericks campaigned two Hyde Park BMW 2002’s in the U2LTrans-Am series)
The cool thing for B-Sedan that year was The Driver of the Year would go to a B-Sedan racer and driver of the #7 Porsche 911, Tony Adamowicz. He would win 6 out of the 13 races, earning 67 points with the next closest driver, Bert Everett having 36 points in his 911.
The following year would be Porsche’s last year in the B sedan class as they moved to a 2.2-liter engine for the 1970 Porsche 911 T, E, and S configurations. 1969 would also be their most dominant season, winning all but one race and earning 81 points. Alfa won the race that Porsche did not and finished the season with 28 points.
As you can see, my 1965 Porsche 911 streetcar is coincidentally a B-sedan thanks to the lobbying efforts of its manufacturer. While I did not buy it to add to the B-Sedan collection, it kind of added itself. The more I learn about the golden era of the Trans Am series (1966-1972), the more I appreciate the cars and the people who made it what it was.
(Me heading to a Cars & Coffee at Period Correct in Costa Mesa in my B-Sedan)