SAAC Forum

A page dedicated to Team Cougar.

Unfortunately, David Pearson ended up not being able to make it.

The Marlboro 300 was a 5 hour race with two drivers per car so the Cougars were Peter Revson/Ed Leslie with NASCAR drivers Cale Yarborough and Lee Roy Yarbrough in the other. Neither finished.

Titus and Jim Adams were third in the Terlingua Mustang but Donohue and Craig Fisher dominated in the Penske Camaro.

- Phillip

Koons took out an ad in the program -

Nice blurb on Dr. Dick Thompson -

Entry list -

Track layout -

I'll post some select pages from the copy of the 1967 Trans-Am race at Marlboro that I have in my collection.

Notice how the negative was flipped on the cover.

- Phillip

No, unfortunately no engine shots 

- Phillip

BME TA Cougar twin filler necks.

Notice the notch in the trunk lid. One way to track which Cougars running in NASCAR could be ex Trans-Am Cougars.

- Phillip

Great photo on reply #80 - have not seen that one before.

Here is a vintage shot of the Estes Cougar gas filler tube.

- Phillip

Quote from: gt350shelb on December 01, 2023, 06:39:45 PM

Quote from: Bob Gaines on December 01, 2023, 11:11:34 AM

Quote from: propayne on December 01, 2023, 09:33:32 AM
Bud took his well sorted racing Cougars into the new NASCAR GT series and cleaned house, winning the '68 Championship with "Tiny" Lund driving.

Here is a shot of the engine bay of Wayne Andrews' ex-BME Cougar.

- Phillip

Notice the slightly bent Monte Carlo bar. This is the type is what I have seen on many historically correct 67  68 vintage TA cars and not the silly one with the big hoop in the front of the distributor. That hoop compromises the structural integrity of the bar in a way that renders it a little better then being totally cosmetic. The straight bar is of course structurally the best but the slight bend minimizes any adverse structural effects of a less then straight bar.

This is likely the restored gurney  car that ross myers has . when it was found it had been reskinned as a 69 and had nascar style jack screws in front towers

Remarks below are speculation on my part - gleaned from many years of collecting and reading vintage magazines and race programs and speaking with the drivers and team owners and their children. I am here to learn and share - feel free to correct me or add any additional information you might have.

I believe Ross's Cougar was resurrected from the remains of the BME TA Cougar that Bud sold to "Tiger" Tom Pistone. That is the Cougar "Tiny" Lund drove to the 1968 Grand Touring championship. The Cougar in this photo (shared with me by Dennis Andrews, son of driver Wayne Andrews. Wayne drove for Reid Shaw Racing) is one of the 2 Cougars Reid Shaw bought from Bud Moore - one Cougar was an ex-Trans-Am Cougar (this one) and the other was a dedicated Grand Touring (later Grand American) Cougar Bud built in '68.

The Pistone Cougar was converted to '69 Cougar sheetmetal and then '70 sheetmetal (I believe).

The dedicated NASCAR Cougar Bud built and sold to Shaw was also converted to 1970 Cougar sheetmetal.

I think the ex-BME TA Cougar in my picture retained it's '67/'68 sheetmetal, was sold by Shaw and can be seen racing as late as 1971 by Randy Bannister at the Citrus 250 at Daytona.

I don't think that ex Bud Moore 1967 Trans-Am Cougar's fate is known and has yet to surface - if it still even exists.

- Phillip

Which photo are you referring to Roy - one of the BME Cougar photos I posted?

- Phillip

Bud took his well sorted racing Cougars into the new NASCAR GT series and cleaned house, winning the '68 Championship with "Tiny" Lund driving.

Here is a shot of the engine bay of Wayne Andrews' ex-BME Cougar.

- Phillip

Here is an interesting shot scanned from one of my mags of a Cougar at All American Racers.

Dan lobbied hard to have Mercury offer a true high performance Cougar for the street and to use his Gurney-Eagle heads on the Trans-Am Cougars but it was not to be.

Ford didn't want an intramural rival (as Peter Revson was told, it is not Chevrolet that the Ford people hate...it is Mercury). So they pulled Bud Moore's TA Cougar funding for the '68 season - so late in fact that it left Dan, Parnelli and Ed Leslie without rides that year.

Dan never quite got over that I don't think.

- Phillip

A nice color shot by Harry E. Hurst

- Phillip