Chrysler and Trans Am

[JB400]

Are you saying that Roger Penske had little to do with the success of Donahue?

[Ghoste]

It was a symbitotic relationship in many ways.  They were both perfectionists and each fed off of the other's drive.

[Aero426]

One of the things that is impressive about Donohue is the sheer number of concurrent race programs that he was involved with at Penske.   At any given time, they were running Indy, Trans-Am, some Can-Am, a little F1 and F5000 and eventually NASCAR.   Not all of these at the same time, but usually there were two or three going.   I really can't think of another team that had so much going on at one time.   Donohue was also helped to be successful because of the people less visible at Penske; Karl Kainhofer, Don Cox the ex-Chevy engineer,  Ron Fournier the fabricator just to name a few.   Too many guys to mention. 

[Chryco Psycho]

 Absolutly Donohue was not alone it was a fantastic team effort , Penske had plans to have Donohue run the racing programs when he quit driving .
AJ Foyt maybe , he was involved in a lot of different racing programs at one time

[Fred]

Sorry for the delay,  still recuperating from fun with Chuck and Fred last Saturday.  

Still recuperating?
You're going to have to pull your socks up with you want to run with the big dogs.

[JB400]

Sorry for the delay,  still recuperating from fun with Chuck and Fred last Saturday. 

Still recuperating?
You're going to have to pull your socks up with you want to run with the big dogs.

YOUR bark or worse than your bite.  Your just a little yapper.

[HPP]

No, I'm not saying the Penske had nothing to do with Donahue's success. In fact, the exact opposite is probably more true and it is because of Penske that Donahue had as much success as he did. While Donahue was an excellent driver and forward thinking engineer, even Penske has admitted that it was the whole of the program that made them all successful. Like Aero pointed out, the sheer number of programs they were involved in meant they were acquiring track data and running experience that directly benefited all of their programs. That is how they took the particularly under budgeted AMC team to a championship. It wasn't because the AMC stuff was that much superior to everything else.

Chrysler was involved in 1966 and 1970. That's it. Had they stuck it out through the years and acquired the data and experience, yes, they could have given Penske/Donahue a run for the money. Look at what they did in Nascar and NHRA, where they put a concentrated effort. Had Chrysler applied that same microscope to trans am, they could have duplicated the same type of results there.

[Aero426]

And in fact, the AMC stuff as received by Penske was NOT superior at all.    And this was after two years of Ronnie Kaplan's team running the Javelins.    Donohue quickly found out that there was literally a "can't do it" attitude coming from Kenosha Engineering and there would not be much cooperation forthcoming.   

[Ghoste]

Not unlike the not invented here he encountered at Ferarri

[Chryco Psycho]

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/10/02/hemmings-find-of-the-day-1970-dodge-challenger-2/

[Aero426]

In the Chicago area, there is a surviving AAR Challenger body in white.   The car has an AAR serial number but was never completed.