Some may wonder why we list this car as #1, but we follow some recent reports, that in fact the former so called prototype was not build, which would change the known number reference in former SAAC records. So let's simply place the known door #68 in this white livery as our current #1 car. Ford campaigned 3 cars in 1967 for Titus. He crashed more than once. But it was common belief that his main cars served for the first 10 races with 2 rebuilds by Shelby.
Stay tuned
for the mystery to be solved soon.
Sources
|
The History of the 1967 SA team car #1: 
Driven by Jerry Titus at Daytona 1967 in white livery (Archive W.Kohrn) 1st Race at Daytona 1967 (February 3rd) Only 3000 spectators saw the first 3-hour lasting Trans-American Sedan Race on the mammoth 3.8 mile Daytona International Speedway road course seeing many of the cars dropping by the wayside due to different problems. Qualification saw the 2 Cougars up front at the race start - Jones time was 2:10.6 (105.022mph) with the Donohue/Penske Camaro in second row with the Titus #68 Mustang. 45 minutes before the race Bud Moore detected that the rocker arm studs were pulled out of the Cougars engines and both team drivers had to watch a 35 minutes engine swap just before the race started. Donohue with his spoiler-equipped Camaro #36-had to retire due to handling problems, Dr. Peter Thompson punctured his radiator (C&D says he lost his clutch functions). Gurney's Cougar #16 was smoking badly due to a ruptured valve cover gasket (C&D says a mangled radiator). Jones Cougar #15 slid off the track in round 1 and was set out of pace during a pit stop, where a leaking battery spilling acid on the plug wires caused the engine to run only on 7 cylinders and left him behind the crowd. Dr. Dick Thompson went out on the backstretch. Bob Tullius entered the spotlight in his Dodge Dart winning the race and Jerry Titus could manage to get through despite a bent fender caused by a thumper with the 911 from Bill Bowman and finally get 4th place. One reason might have been the tire he blew on the banking before his pit crew could snip the fender parts off and change the tire, but he did not spin out at least as Car & Driver wrote in their May 1967 issue. (Editors Note: The individual and different reporting of well-known magazines adds to the confusion of listing a proper history record for sure.) 
2nd Race Sebring, March 31 Titus entered this race with door # 17 and the now in Terlingua Racing Team livery dressed Shelby Team notchback. He qualified the notchback on the pole with a 3:10, a full 1.2 seconds ahead of Parnellis Cougar #15, which later hat a rocker ball failure and lost a cylinder. In a drag race to the hairpin Titus won and Gurneys Cougar #16 looped. From that on Titus sprinted away and led the field unti his win. Donohue/Wintersteen in the Camaro#6 were second and Dr. Dick Thompson scored 3rd, Milt Minter 4th. Ed Leslies Cougar suffered from a lost starter - during the race - and could only be started in the pits after a new one was fitted - but got at least position 5 followed by R. Brown in a Camaro.  Jerry Titus at Green Valley 1967 To be continued for sure, once we have sorted out cars #1 and #2 accurate history:)  This is a rare private shot from Ron Shaw from the 1967 Continental Devide race (T/A race no. 8) of the Titus 1967 Shelby engine bay. Note the dual carb set-up and the valve cover breathers.
|
E-Mail
Back to
67/68 Notchback Mustangs overview
Back to Homepage