1970 Texas Trans Am Cancelled- The Story
Anthony sent me the dash plaque picture which got me to searching the I-net and I came up with The story below about this cancelled 1970 Trans Am Race at Dallas Texas. There must have been entry lists and Programs produced and I would like to find examples.
Enjoy
Ken
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Texas Trans Am April 26, 1970
THE SECOND Trans-Am of the season was scheduled for Dallas International Raceway. By the time its indefinite postponement was announced at 10:45 Sunday morning, one incontrovertible fact had emerged. If you work hard enough, you can build a new racing circuit and get it finished just barely in time. Or you can have a Texas-style spring shower that brings eight inches of rain in less than 12 hours. But you sure can't have both and still put on a race.
If there hadn't been any rain at all over the weekend, there would still have been plenty of problems with the new track - dirt and gravel from the loose shoulders, mainly, but also with the minimal distances an off-course car could go before either getting into a guard rail or going over a bank. The rain simply made it impossible.
The first storm came at about four o'clock Saturday morning with lots of rain and with tornadoes dipping to earth nearby. There were two more heavy storms during the day and at 2:45 Saturday afternoon the rest of the day's activities were cancelled with the promise that everything would resume on Sunday morning.
Even before this, however, things hadn't been going well. Course workers were sinking out of sight in the mud, emergency crews were wondering what they'd do if a competitor was to leave the circuit at speed in one of the flooded areas and the only spectator areas that could be used were in the paved and graveled sections at the tower end of the course.
Saturday Practice
The cars had gotten out for brief periods before this, the under-2-liter cars for two sessions, the 5-liters for one. The circuit was mostly dry while the big cars were out and Parnelli Jones and teammate George Follmer in their Bud Moore Mustangs were easily the fastest with Sam Posey's Challenger next. The Penske Javelins didn't get out at all as they arrived late, the same for Jerry Titus's Firebird.
But it didn't really matter, even though no more real rain fell after the afternoon storm on Saturday. The drainage took care of that, more water pouring into the property from upstream than could be drained off. By midnight, the water level was higher than it had been during the rains but it was hoped that dawn would find the waters at a lower level.
Sunday Cancellation
The next morning, however, it was even worse and the water had risen to within a few feet of the course in some places. The cars were ready in the pits, the Texas and San Jacinto SCCA Region workers manned their stations, loads of hay bales were dispatched to the critical areas to be used as temporary barriers and the sky lightened. Nine o'clock, the scheduled hour, came and went. Then ten o'clock and by this time everything was ominously quiet. Finally, at 10:35 the drivers and entrants were called to a meeting at the start-finish line and there they were informed by chief steward Merle Stanfield that the stewards of the meeting had decided that the races could not be held and that the event would be rescheduled later, if possible. There were no outcries, no remonstrances, not even more than one or two questions. Later there were grumbles because the decision was so long in coming but no one disagreed that the stewards' decision was the correct one.
Refunds
Entry fees were refunded to the competitors, as required by the SCCA rule book, and the Dallas International management offered cash refunds to spectators if they would mail their tickets in. It was an historic occasion, the first professional SCCA race not to have been run on the scheduled day, but no one was happy about it. As the competitors re-packed their gear, loaded their cars back onto the transporters and began to think about Lime Rock, the sun was coming through and it was soon steamy and hot. But it didn't do any good. The waters were still high, the high ground had been abandoned to the snakes and the Dallas Trans-Am was not to be.