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Daytona, Ferarri and Tony a2z: A combo for the history books

Asking Tony a-z Adamowicz what his favorite race was, he’ll anwer with the 1970 24hrs of Daytona.



Adamowicz’s route to that ’70 race began with the SCCA driving school at the previous Marlboro course in Maryland. with Bob Tullius Group 44 team in 1966. Adamowicz would immediately make his mark and make history at the same time, sharing the more than Two. liter course win with Tullius inside a Dodge Dart in the very 1st Trans-Am race ever held at Sebring. Adamowicz says That was a large break. It marked a massive chance for him as being a young driver. As soon as tony ‘a2z’ adamowicz had gotten an idea of Trans-Am racing, tony ‘a2z’ adamowicz idea, that he was proceeding somewhere. He Said that SCCA national race is great, however it wasn’t truly heading anyplace for him.

Adamowicz and Tullius would go on to win a 2nd time in Trans-Am that year, getting the 12 hour Marlboro, Maryland win, this time finishing first overall and establishing yet another milestone by becoming the to win that race in an American car. The bad news was Chrysler wasn’t committed to Trans-Am and Tullius wouldn’t otherwise discover the funding required to return to the series, leaving Tony stranded. “Then I received this call from Marvin Davidson,” states Adamowicz. Marvin was a Wall Street banker and knew Tony and thought he’d be perfect for his Trans-Am project tony ‘a2z’ adamowicz was organizing. Tony and marvin talked about running Alfa Romeros. Do you want to win? asked Adamowicz, go with Porsche. The orange No. seven Porsche 911 would go on to dominate the 1968 under Two. liter class in Trans-Am, getting the manufacturers win.

Adamowicz was now eyeing F5000 after his win in Trans-Am. He felt the open-wheel series should be his next logical move. Davidson seemed to agree. Marvin wanted to take advantage of Tony’s good results in Trans-Am and go the team to the following stage. “I could see that Formulation 5000 was also heading into the big time,” states Adamowicz, who believed the open wheel series was the next logical move. Tony felt that he could get recognition in open wheel if he could do well… and survive. “Little did I know that this was a extremely severe effort as far as performance compared to what I’m used to with all the Two.-liter Porsche.”

Tony admints that it was a mistake to underestimate the Eagle mkV. It was a 5 Liter bathtub on wheels, compared to the spritely Porsche 911; it was not an easy transition. Davidson took it upon himself to bring in previous racer and engineer Carroll Smith to manage and mentor the team.

Tony and his crew was able to take the 1969 championship by one point! Despite earlier challenges, they had also won two previous races. Adamowicz would have never won this race without Carroll’s presence.

With back-to-back championships in two various series under his belt, the future seemed bright for Tony a-z Adamowicz, but racing can sometimes be an unsteady house of cards. “Going into 1970, Marvin Davidson made the decision to get out of racing, and so, I was out of racing”, says Adamowicz. Tony quickly decided to foster a relationship with Chinetti. Since Marvin was out of the racing game, Chinetti got an idea to get a Ferrari from Davidson and put a champ behind its wheel for the 70 24 Hour Daytona.



The chance would be substantial for Adamowicz on numerous levels. Tony was a lifetime Ferrari fan and saw this as an opportunity to step into the world of endurance racing. He could hardly believe that he was going to be in command of a car that could actually win an endurance race; let alone a Ferrari. The sound of the 312P was like music to Adamowicz’s ears. At ten-thousand rpms, the Ferrari was operatic; the fat lady was definately singing! The handling, braking and engine combined to make the prototype feel like an F1 car with a body on it.

Veteran Porsche and Ferrari racer David Piper was on the team. a2z was very happy to be paired up with him. Sam Pose and Michael Parkes used a bubble top on their 312P because of their height.



As the endurance event progressed, the two Ferraris had been running nicely right up until the vehicle driven by Parkes hit the wall. While Parkes pulled in to have the damaged radiator replaced, the Adamowicz/Piper vehicle took a considerable lead. “I was thinking this was too easy, when suddenly the race became an unbelievable chain of events, a2z says.



The road started to fall apart, the surface below started bleeding through. Pieces of this stuff started bouncing up and damaging the 312P’s radiator, which poked a hole in the radiator and liquid began spraying out. The Farrari motor began to overhead, forcing Tony a2z to hit the pit area. “I came in saying ‘Aqua, aqua!” exclaims Adamowicz. Carroll Smith trotted to the car and leaned into the cockpit. Smith told Tony a2z to run the car without cooland, because Parkes had the only spare unit.

He was instructed to run the car at at most 9500rpm and keep an eye on the oil temperature. Astonishingly, Tony a2z was able to maintain second place with no water in the motor just behind the Posey/Parkes 312p that was back in the contest.

The car went up in smoke. Convinced the engine had finally blown up, Adamowicz coasted into the pits where he was instantly surrounded by Ferrari technicians with their bags of tools spread all over the ground. What a2z thought was another coolant related problem turned out to be a small oil leak. They patched it up and told a suprised Adamowicz to keep on driving. “I’d always been a Ferrari enthusiast, but after that I just thought this was the greatest car in the world.”

Despite running for 5.5 hours without coolant, the Ferrari brought in 632 laps and got 2nd place in the Prototype class and 5th place, overall. Their teammates, in basically the same car, but with water, got 1st in Prototype.

Because of this, a2z gives this feat as the sole reason for this particular race being his favorite. Adamowicz asks, “How can you top five and a half hours?”. Driving a 911 is great and winning the championship is great, but it doesn’t put you on the same level as the Europeans, racing in a significant car like the Ferrari 312E”. Adamowiczs career came full circle recently when he was reunited with his 1969 championship-winning Formula 5000 Eagle on the vintage car racing circuit. Adamowizc repeated history when he won the 2009 F5k vintage campionship in the very same car, the Gurney Eagle, that he won in 40 years ago. Currently, the car is owned by Doug Magnon and the Riverside Automobile Museum.

Adamowicz is busy with his company a2z Racer Gear, which sports a new line of racing inspired apparel. “We initially started out with the Steve McQueen Le Mans-type jackets.” Adamowicz says. “We got hooked up with Carroll Shelby and we’re doing Cobra jackets and other apparel. We’re also involved with doing performance driving shoes , building a whole new fashion line of shoes depicting some of the late 1960s into the 1970s era of world-wide endurance racing.”
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Focus on Racing History

In Trans Am, between 1966 to 1967, Group 44 Hired Tony ‘a2z’ to pilot the Lotus Cortina



Tony ‘a2z’ in the Quaker State Motor Oil 44 Lotus Cortina at Sebring in ’66

It happened all at once. Tony ‘a2z’ was hired on as a driver, mechanic, and driver of the big transporter as well. Tony ‘a2z’ was to drive the Lotus Cortina in B sedan, where Tony ‘a2z’ was already noted with the Volvo PV 544′s regional competition.



The Lotus Cortina hassles team Dart in a slow corner

We raced in various Trans-Am events and didn’t win a competition, however we were second in SCCA National runoffs in B sedan. The Lotus Cortina had a huge following in those days. Tony ‘a2z’ was excited to follow in the footsteps of such greats as Clark and Stewart who drove similar cars.



It doesn’t look as if the errant Mustang will let Tony ‘a2z’ pass



Future Formula 1 world champion Jackie Stewart on the ’66 grid at Marlboro.  Tony ‘a2z’ is 2 rows back.

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