Diversions

Video: Found footage of the 1968 Trans-Am Series

Youtube is more than just a cesspool of conspiracy theorists, teenage influencers, and rock star wannabes. If you’re a car fanatic, it’s also a place where gold occasionally appears.

This recently posted 8mm footage of the 1968 Trans-Am race at Meadowdale International Speedway, a track on the outskirts of Chicago that operated from 1958 to 1968, is a great example of that. Watch in wonder as race winner Mark Donahue in his Penske Camaro, Peter Revson in an AMC Javelin, Sam Posey, Jerry Titus, and others drift around corners and power down the straights. The only thing that would make this better is if it had sound.

Divided into two classes of over and under two liters of engine displacement, the 1968 SCCA Trans-American Championship series featured American and European sports cars racing side by side. In this film you’ll see Mustangs, Camaros, Javelins, Porsche 911s, and if you look closely an Alfa Romeo. Enjoy.

Harvey Briggs

Harvey Briggs is the Founder, Editor, and Publisher of Rides & Drives. He has also written for Car and Driver, Winding Road, and the luxury lifestyle blog, Pursuitist.com. His passions run from fast cars, small planes, boats and motorcycles to music, travel, and sports. When he's not on the road testing the latest cars, he been known to turn up on stage playing rock and blues guitar at clubs around his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. Follow Harvey's adventures on Instagram and Twitter @harvey_drives and find him on Facebook. Though keeping up could be a problem. As Harvey says, "If I don't slow down, time can't catch me."