The Pontiac Firebird is an American automobile built and produced by Pontiac from the 1967 to 2002 model years. Designed as a pony car to compete with the Ford Mustang, it was introduced on February 23, 1967, five months after GM's Chevrolet division's platform-sharing Camaro. This also coincided with the release of the 1967 Mercury Cougar, Ford's upscale, platform-sharing version of the Mustang. The name "Firebird" was also previously used by GM for the General Motors Firebird in the 1950s and early 1960s concept cars.
Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track located in the town of Dix just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It was long known around the world as the home of the Formula One United States Grand Prix, which it hosted for twenty consecutive years (1961–1980). In addition, the site has also been home to road racing of nearly every class, including the World Sportscar Championship, Trans-Am, Can-Am, NASCAR Cup Series, the International Motor Sports Association and the IndyCar Series. The facility is currently owned by NASCAR.
The Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types including road courses and street circuits. Trans-Am is split into the TA and TA2 classes for silhouette racing cars, while its production classes are the GT, SGT, and XGT.
Tommy Kendall is an American race car driver and television broadcaster. He is best known for his IMSA GT Championship and SCCA Trans-Am Series career.
Dorsey Schroeder is an American race car driver. Since August 2015, he has served as Race Director for the Pirelli World Challenge series and since 2018 Race Director for the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli SCCA Pro Racing. Over the course of his career in Sports car racing, he has won 40 professional races in 242 starts, including seventeen Trans-Am series wins. He also oversees the competition on-track at HSR events and enjoys racing vintage cars.
Michael John Borkowski is an American race car driver. Borkowski has raced in a variety of cars and series, is experienced in both road and oval racing, but is best known for his victory over Tommy Kendall in the 1997 Trans-Am Series race at Pikes Peak International Raceway, ending Kendall's historic run of 11 consecutive race wins. Borkowski also went on to win the final race of the 1997 Trans-Am Series at the Reno Grand Prix.
Justin Derek Bell is a British race car driver, who after a successful career behind the wheel, transitioned into the media world in front of the camera and established himself as one of the top US based automotive content hosts. He is the son of Derek Bell.
IROC XX was the twentieth season of IROC competition, which started on February 16, 1996. It was the first year that the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am was used in competition, and contested races at Daytona International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, and Michigan International Speedway. Mark Martin won the first night race in the history of the series in race three at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and won again in the season finale at Michigan International Speedway to win $225,000 in a come-from-behind IROC championship, his second in three seasons.
The Circuit Trois-Rivières is a street circuit in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada. The circuit has been the home of the annual Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières, the longest-running street race in North America, since 1967. The circuit is located on the Terrain de l'Exposition (fairgrounds) and is unusual in that it passes through Porte Duplessis, the narrow concrete gateway of the grounds at turn 3.
IROC XXI was the twenty-first season of the International Race of Champions, which started on February 17, 1997. The series used identically prepared Pontiac Firebird Trans Am race cars, and contested races at Daytona International Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, California Speedway, and Michigan International Speedway. Mark Martin won $225,000 and the IROC championship, his second straight win and third in four seasons.
IROC XXII was the twenty-second season of the International Race of Champions, which started on February 13, 1998. The series used identically prepared Pontiac Firebird Trans Am race cars, and contested races at Daytona International Speedway1, California Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mark Martin won $225,000 and the IROC championship, his third straight win and fourth in five seasons.
The 2010 Trans-Am Series was the 42nd season of the SCCA's Trans-Am Series. It began on May 8 and ran for ten rounds. Chevrolet nearly swept the season, with Jaguar winning the opening round at New Jersey. 2010 was also the first Trans Am season since 2002 in which an American manufacturer won the championship.
The 1977 Trans-Am Series was the twelfth running of the Sports Car Club of America's premier series. Porsche swept the season. All races except for the Six Hours of Watkins Glen ran for approximately one hundred miles. With the revival of the Can Am Series that year, 1977 also began a resurgence of interest in SCCA events. Trans Am would contribute with a slight resurgence in the eighties.
The 1987 Trans-Am Series was the 22nd running of the Sports Car Club of America's premier series. Merkur nearly swept the season, with Porsche winning at Brainerd.
The 1990 Trans-Am Series was the 25th running of the Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series. Tommy Kendall won his first of four driver's championships, driving a Spice Engineering-run Chevrolet Beretta.
The 1994 Trans-Am Series was the 29th season of the Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series.
The 1995 Trans-Am Series was the thirtieth season of the Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series.
The 1996 Trans-Am Series was the 31st season of the Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series.
The 1998 Trans-Am Series was the 33rd season of the Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series.
The 1997 Mosport Festival was a professional sports car racing event held at Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada on August 29 to the 31st, 1997. It was the seventh round of the 1997 Professional SportsCar Racing Championship season. The weekend featured a separate 1 hour 45 minute, 52 lap Exxon Supreme GT Series race for GT cars on the Saturday and a 2-hour, 86 lap Exxon World SportsCar Championship race for World Sports Cars on the Sunday. The split races were the only time since the 1995 revival of the Mosport IMSA round that the race has gone two instead of three hours.
Tommy Kendall