John Paul Jr. is best known for his successes in IMSA cars, particularly the mighty and terrifying 935s he drove to victories with his infamous father, John Paul Sr.
But Junior had an outing in a Trans Am car, and it turned into a win at Trois Rivieres, Quebec. That car will be campaigned at this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, along with several other Trans Am cars, as part of the Historic Motorsports Association’s tribute to Trans Am. (HMSA always has something interesting at Long Beach—last year was Formula 1 cars.)
This particular Trans Am is owned by racer and collector Cary Eisenhower, who is entering it in this year’s HMSA event at Long Beach. It was originally built as part of the DeAtley Trans Am team that dominated the sport in the 1980s.
“DeAtley had three of these cars in 1983,” Eisenhower said. “They were really early on in the period when Trans Am had just come into tube cars.”
That would be tube-frame race cars, where welded chromoly roll cages were used as structural members of the chassis, increasing structural rigidity and thus making cars corner much, much better.
Mark Vaughn
“They went in and just absolutely dominated the series,” he said. “They won 10 out of 12 races.” All in these red and white Camaros.
Their driver team helped. David Hobbs was the key guy; he won the driver’s championship in 1983. They also had young rising start named Willy T. Ribbs.
Of the original three cars, two survive.
“We restored the cars side by side. They’re absolutely identical in every single fashion back to the way they were done originally. The Willy T. Ribbs car, from what we understood, was destroyed back 20-some years ago.”
It went off course at Road Atlanta “in a big way.” So bad that “They just cut it up and threw it away.” There’s a rumor that a guy in Australia has it, but no one knows for sure. Which brings us to this car.
“At one of the races, David couldn’t make it. It was up in Canada (at Trois Revieres). They called up John Paul Jr. and asked him if he wanted to come up and he said, ‘Sure.’ He’d done some Trans Am.”
He took to it quickly, but not quite quickly enough.
Mark Vaughn
“He was doing mostly IMSA racing and that kind of thing. So he gets in the car and he qualified either 5th or 6th.”
Any good racer wouldn’t be happy with 5th or 6th.
“He was very upset with himself that he qualified that far back. And so he was going to get on Willy’s bumper and go. And so they took off and they went.”
And went, all the way.
“He got by Willie T. and he actually won the race.”
That turned out to be the only Trans Am race John Paul Jr. ever won.
Cary Eisenhower and the CamaroMark Vaughn
“So this happens to be that car that he did it in.”
The car has a 310 Chevy engine in it, Eisenhower said, which is a little unfortunate because the group they run in now – 1981 to 1991 – allows bigger engines. The car here has been restored just as it was in 1983, with the 310 V8.
“I probably should put a little more engine in it because I can’t keep up down the straightaways. Especially here where I’m going down that long straight. I just watch them drive away from me in some places.”
Having raced in both IMSA and Trans Am, Eisenhower still has the racing bug, and doesn’t like being beaten, no matter the displacement. He intimates that he once beat a young racer back in the day.
“I have to tell you; in 1985 I beat this guy who had just finished second in Boston. His name was Tommy Kendall. That was the big joke we heard last time. He goes, ‘Fake news!’ But no, no. I actually beat Tommy Kendall.”
There’s more to it than that. Maybe.
“So there’s a lot to that story and I won’t tell the whole story because I have the little medallion and he doesn’t. So that’s all that matters, right? At the end of the day?”
So if you’re in Long Beach next weekend, be sure and cheer when the DeAtley Camaro comes around. Who knows? Maybe it’ll win again?