Assetto Corsa: 1967 Mercury Cougar at Vaca Valley

After selling 1.2 million Mustangs in just over 2 years, Ford began manufacturing the Mercury equivalent in 1966. With the new Trans Am series booming in popularity along with the muscle car craze, Lincoln-Mercury decided the best way to advertise the new Cougar was to race it in Trans Am. Bud Moore, who was already campaigning the Mercury Cyclone in Nascar, was signed on to trim the first showroom model into a racecar in just a matter of months, in time for a debut press conference in November, which served the double purpose of giving the FIA something to inspect and approve for the 1967 Trans Am season. The two drivers announced at the press conference were Dan Gurney and Parnelli Jones. After getting approval for SCCA A class (the equivalent to FIA Group 2), three cars were sent to Moore's shop in South Carolina to prepare for the 300 mile Trans Am season opener at Daytona February 3rd.

Despite not receiving as much factory support as the Shelby Mustangs, the Bud Moore Engineering team went into the final race of the season leading the point standings, but a series of misfortunes befell Gurney during the finale at Kent Pacific Raceway. While running behind Parnelli Jones, a stone was launched into his windshield, the cracks growing as the race went on. While the crew did the best they could to repair the windshield (duct tape), a crew member forgot to close the gas cap after refueling, resulting in Gurney spilling fuel onto the track during right turns. Gurney was black flagged, and spent the rest of the race clawing his way back until time ran out. Ronnie Bucknum finished 2nd in the Shelby Mustang, well ahead of Gurney in 3rd, giving the Shelby team the 1967 Trans Am championship by just 2 points.

Supposedly, the rivalry between the Mustang and Cougar teams caused a rift at Ford, resulting in Ford Motor Company cutting the Mercury Trans Am team altogether, and consolidating the whole Trans Am budget back to just the Mustangs. Feeling that the team could have competed well in 1968, Bud Moore convinced Nascar president Bill France to start a rival sedan road racing series, called Grand Touring, in 1968. Later changed to Grand Am, the Bud Moore Mercury Cougar with driver Tiny Lund won the championship in 1968 against far lesser competition than they saw in Trans Am, and the series eventually folded after the 1972 season.

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