Welcome to the unofficial IMSA History website
This site is aimed at preserving the IMSA Camel GT series. Its purposes are mainly historical and informative. Any valuable information may be sent to me and every contributor will be properly credited.
Joe Chamberlain was an accomplished SCCA racer, who used to run a 1965 Ford Mustang until 1968. For the 1969 season, he knew that he had to switch to a more competitive car, so he purchased a new Camaro. Joe and his crew prepared the car for racing, and would use some special parts, provided by one of his friends who worked in the Chevrolet parts business. Included was a special crossram manifold, which Joe was to test, as it was an experimental one. American Racing Wheels provided sponsorship as well as Firestone. Joe experienced many failures in 1969 with the ball joints, and in 1970, he would switch to the standard cowl induction. Even though he was amongst the fastest from the private entrants, he was still slower than the factory cars, and it was disappointing. It would soon become the Lennox Camaro, as Joe Chamberlain owned Arrow Heating, a heating and air conditioning company in Oregon. He sold Lennox products, and Lennox also would become the main sponsor. By the end of the 1970 season, the car would sport a new look : it was white with red stripes. Joe had met Frank Airheart who provided him with a special setup, some kind of unfair advantage. Joe would become the Northeast division A/S Champion. In 1971, Joe would have some fine finishes with the Camaro, with a 3rd place at Edmonton. In 1973, the Trans Am would include sportscars as well as pony cars, and many of the regular teams would rather compete in A/S class. So did the Lennox team, and Joe Chamberlain now faced stronger fields. He won the Northern Pacific Division, however. Joe would enter the IMSA series in 1974. The new championship was attractive, as were prize money. In 1974, Joe was A/S Champion, taking the runoffs at Road Atlanta. Despite his strong showings in A/S, things were tough in IMSA, with the Porsche Carrera RSRs dominating the fields. He had some great showings in Trans Am 1975, each time leading the race, but hampered by bugs. For the 1976 season, Joe and his crew would try to accomplish something unbelievable for a private team : win the TA championship! Taking a 6th, a 3rd and one first place, he was 3rd in the standings. In fact, he would end up every race of the season, and he would lose the championship in the very last race, when his shift linkage had to be repaired. A very unrewarding end of season! By the end of the season, he would sell his Camaro. He would campaign an AAGT Corvette until 1985.

Joe Chamberlain drove this Chevrolet Camaro until 1976 before switching to a Chevrolet Corvette.
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The IMSA History website is aimed at bringing you everything you wanted to know about the Camel GT Series. (more...)

