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During its introductory year, Lincoln-Mercury
assembled driving greats Parnelli Jones (15), Ed
Leslie (98), and Dan Gurney (16 & 98) to campaign
Team Cougar red & silver cars in the 1967 Sports
Car Club of America's (SCCA) Trans-American Sedan
Series.
Initially
manufactured as a prototype at the Dearborn, Michigan
factory, under the direction of Lincoln-Mercury racing
program manager Fran Hernandez, the race-prepared
Cougar was on hand for the Cougar’s 3-day press
release party in Monterey, CA in November, 1966.
Development
tests for the race-prepared car continued at Virginia
International Raceway with driver Parnelli Jones
(setting a new track record) and at Riverside with
team drivers Dan Gurney and Ed Leslie in December of
1966 demonstrating the car was likely to win “more
than a few races”.
The
transformation from sedan to racecar was conducted by
NASCAR legend Bud Moore at his shop in Spartanburg,
South Carolina with such modifications as fiberglass
bumpers, dual quad intake, 37-gallon fuel tank and
trailing arm traction bars introduced late in the race
season.
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Team
Cougar’s first victory at Green Valley looked more
like drag race finish than an endurance race with
Gurney edging out Jones by only three feet at the
finish line for the closest finish in the race
series.
During
the middle of the race season, as Jones and Gurney met
other racing commitments at Indy & LeMans, the
Team Cougar cars maintained high points standings
driven by alternate drivers Peter Revson, and David
Pearson. Entering
their final race, Team Cougar was second in
points.
At
Kent, drivers Gurney (98) and Jones (15) returned to
challenge Mustang’s one point lead.
Jones’ race ended when his car failed to
restart in the pits.
Gurney’s car was flagged to repeated pit
stops for a leaky fuel filler cap.
Gurney ultimately placed third with Team Cougar
taking second place for the season; two points behind
Mustang.
Overall,
Team Cougar made quite a race debut, taking five poles
and winning four of the twelve races.
In 1968, Ford Motor Company abandoned their
Lincoln Mercury racing program to focus corporate
sponsorship on the Carroll Shelby led Mustang racing
team. |
