GT40s.com - View Single Post - It's a long way.-..to the GT40 if ya wanna educate italians..

Brian Hamilton · 09-20-07, 11:57 AM

My boss, Jim Whelan, ran a 1969 Boss 302 in Trans-Am back in the day. He was a private driver with his own team so he didn't beat the car as hard as the factory guys did, but he wrapped his motor to about 9500 RPM and it barely idled at 3000 RPM. Wish I was alive back then to hear that thing!!! He went on to modify the body by taking a little pit out of the overall height and angle of the car, people really couldn't tell the difference, but they knew something wasn't quite right.
Then the 1970 Boss 302 came out with the spoiler and the 1969's couldn't use it because it wasn't factory. So Jim put on the 1970 front end, filled in the side scoops and made the other necessary changes and entered it as a 1970 Boss 302 and utilized the spoiler, which did make a difference at higher speeds.
Listening to Jim tell his racing stories is really cool, he has owned some of the legendary cars of motorsports such as multiple Shelby GT350's, Original Shelby 289 Cobra, 1963 Split Window Corvette Factory Race Car, several Mini Cooper Race Cars, and the list goes on. It's really a treat to hear him talk about those days.

Laters,

Brian

09-20-07, 11:57 AM	#11 (permalink)
Brian Hamilton Conquest351 5 Tenths Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Austin, TX GT40: None Yet Posts: 560 Rep Power: 7	Re: It's a long way.-..to the GT40 if ya wanna educate italians.. My boss, Jim Whelan, ran a 1969 Boss 302 in Trans-Am back in the day. He was a private driver with his own team so he didn't beat the car as hard as the factory guys did, but he wrapped his motor to about 9500 RPM and it barely idled at 3000 RPM. Wish I was alive back then to hear that thing!!! He went on to modify the body by taking a little pit out of the overall height and angle of the car, people really couldn't tell the difference, but they knew something wasn't quite right. Then the 1970 Boss 302 came out with the spoiler and the 1969's couldn't use it because it wasn't factory. So Jim put on the 1970 front end, filled in the side scoops and made the other necessary changes and entered it as a 1970 Boss 302 and utilized the spoiler, which did make a difference at higher speeds. Listening to Jim tell his racing stories is really cool, he has owned some of the legendary cars of motorsports such as multiple Shelby GT350's, Original Shelby 289 Cobra, 1963 Split Window Corvette Factory Race Car, several Mini Cooper Race Cars, and the list goes on. It's really a treat to hear him talk about those days. Laters, Brian