Ford was just crazy about racing in the 60s, right up to 1970. Chevrolet had earned a lot of kudos with the Trans-Am series winning, Penske-prepared, Z-28 Camaros in ‘68 and ‘69. Since Ford had started the whole pony car craze, they wanted a piece of the Trans-Am racing pie.

Officially considered an “independent effort,” Parnelli Jones and George Follmer took their heavily modified Boss 302 Mustang to 6 wins - 5 wins for Jones and 1 win for Follmer - taking the 1970 Trans-Am Championship for Ford.

Compared to today’s Trans-Am cars, these machines were amazingly stock. Body modifications were limited to modified wheel wells for larger racing tires and bigger spoilers. Suspensions could be modified, but had to maintain their original configurations. In other words, if a car didn’t come with an independent rear suspension, you couldn’t put on on the car. Engine size was limited to 302 cubic-inches. Engines could be modified but had to have production block, heads, and induction systems had to be basically stock. And to keep racers from going overboard on weight reduction tricks, the minimum weight was 3,200 pounds.

So how fast was the car? Road & Track tested the George Follmer Mustang and clicked off 0-to-60 in 5.5 seconds, the 1/4-mile in 12.9@110 mph, and had a top speed of 151 mph. All that with open headers in a car with no sound insulation. Must have sounded WONDERFUL inside!