chrisp@oliven.UUCP (Chris Prael) (06/11/84)
> Many of these cars were indeed rented strictly to race >on weekends at SCCA and other road race/Trans Am events. I don't know where you got your information on this, and I am sorry to have to step on a neat story, but I am afraid that this is pure fable. I was racing very actively (in FP and EP) between 1968 and 1973 in SCCA nationals and regionals. I never once saw a GT-350H on the track. There is a good reason for this: the mechanical differences between a street Shelby and a track machine are very extensive. Certainly a lot more than just bolting in a roll cage. (Would you believe 2 to 4 months of every night after work and all of your weekends to get a car ready from scratch?) So, while the GT-350H was a rapid road machine, it was NOT a race car! This fable seems to stem from the mention (in either Autoweek, then Competition Press, or the late Sports Car Graphic) that an unnamed National competitor at Riverside had blown his only engine on Saterday and the lads had rented a GT-350H and "borrowed" the engine for Sunday. They got a finish, but didn't run that fast since the street engine was way down on power. Chris P