For Sale: 1981 Chevrolet Camaro in Scotts Valley, California

Vehicle Description

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1981 Chevrolet Camaro Trans-Am
VIN: RBP-8124

Driven by Can-Am and Trans-Am champion George Follmer, IMSA GT Champion Brian Redman
Winner of the 1981 Trans-Am Laguna Seca race with George Follmer driving
Purchased from IROC and campaigned in Trans-Am by Cooke-Woods Racing with Ralph Kent-Cooke
Eligible for special inaugural 2025 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion IROC class with past racing champions
Race-prepped by Ray Evernham, in restored condition, eligible for multiple historic racing events
355 C.I.D Chevrolet V8 engine with 550hp
G-Force 4-speed manual transmission, double AP cast iron front disc brakes
Complete with thorough and original IROC documentation
IROC series founded by Roger Penske, Les Richter, and Mike Phelps

IROC's Resurgence

Through a partnership of Ray Evernham and Rob Kauffman, the IROC trademark was revived to bring one of the most exciting series back to the forefront. With many of the former IROC race cars race-prepped by Ray Evernham Enterprises, these cars spanning from 1973 to 2006 are ready to be back on a track and used in the way they were designed to be. The 2025 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion inaugural IROC racing class represents a rare opportunity to race alongside racing legends and those who raced the same cars in the original IROC series. These include Jeff Gordon, Danny Sullivan, Mark Martin, Bill Elliott, Ken Schrader, Bobby Labonte, Scott Pruett, Zak Brown, Bruce Canepa, and others.

The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, will be hosting the IROC race cars as the Featured Racing Class on Friday August 15th, 2025 at the Quail Lodge, complete with a police escort from Laguna Seca through the mountains of Carmel Valley. With Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion signing on for 3 years of IROC racing classes just to start, the IROC racing series is seeing a resurgence unlike anything else, with a driver's opportunity to racing among other racing legends and celebrities.

1981 Chevrolet Camaro Trans-Am

The International Race of Champions (IROC), an American racing series promoted as the equivalent of an all-star game, was a unique and prestigious motorsport competition that ran for several decades, from 1974 to 2006. The goal was to bring together the best drivers from various driving series to compete in identically-prepared cars at some of the world's most legendary tracks. With names racing such as Can-Am and Trans-Am champion Mark Donohue, F1 champion James Hunt, NASCAR legend and champion Dale Earnhardt, Indycar champion A.J.Foyt, Trans-Am, Can-Am champion George Follmer, and more legendary drivers were invited to join the racing championship to prove who was the best of the best.

The IROC series was founded in 1973 by Roger Penske, Les Richter, and Mike Phelps, wanting to create a championship that featured top drivers from a variety of racing categories and disciplines, such as Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR, and sports car racing. The goal? To create a series to determine the "champion of champions" by placing competitors in identically-prepared cars to level the field across the board. No secret additions, no extra power, no trick tuning, just pure raw driving ability. Still remembered as a unique and prestigious series that brought together some of the greatest drivers in motorsport, IROC created the concept of identifying the "champion of champions" and cemented it as a memorable era of racing history.

While the IROC concept seemed simple enough in theory, the implementation was slightly more difficult, especially when bringing together 12 top drivers and preparing 12 identical cars (with 3 additional spare cars) with equal performance in all aspects. Debuting in 1973 with Roger Penske, the series organizer, and the late Mark Donohue, the project supervisor and development driver, found their first cars with the help of their German counterparts. Porsche Carrera RSRs were the first cars used in the series and the first season was met with popular reception. However, there was a snag: the Porsches proved to be too expensive to build and maintain, and a suitable replacement was needed. Penske, with his ties to Chevrolet, found the next logical choice in the form of the 1974 Chevrolet Camaro. Fast and inexpensive to acquire and modify, the Camaro would end up being the platform of choice for the next 15 years.

After three successful seasons with the Gen 1 uni-body Camaros, NASCAR drivers who raced in IROC encouraged series-owners Roger Penske and Les Richter to transition to a tube-frame chassis for added safety at tracks like Daytona and Michigan. Following this direction, IROC presented the new Camaro chassis and body design for the 1977 and 1978 season. The 2nd generation of IROC Camaros started as "bodies in white" at General Motors' Norwood assembly plant in Ohio. Over the course of two weeks, Penske Racing employee Tom Ubelhour transported the unpainted bodies from Ohio to the shop of world-renowned builder Banjo Matthews. Tasked with building the first 15 tube frame chassis, and using 1977-era technology, Banjoy and his small team in Arden, NC were able to complete one Gen 2 Camaro every 7 days! A total of 19 of these cars were built, propelled by the new stream of drivers who heard from word-of-mouth how well built and prepared they were, along with new advertising via ABC's live race telecasting made these recognizable worldwide.

This car began life like all of the other Gen 2 Camaros, as a body in white and built into an IROC race car in 6 days, painted in the unique Ford paint code, "Fleet Pink."

Emerson Fittipaldi, a two-time Formula One World Champion and Indy 500 winner, was the first to drive this "fleet pink" Camaro on October 15, 1978, finishing 5th. The only other driver to race the car was Don Whittington.
Following the conclusion of IROC VII in March 1980, series co-owners Roger Penske, Les Richter, and Mike Phelps decided to place the series on hiatus. Over a dozen IROC Camaros were subsequently sold, with most eventually making their way into SCCA Trans-Am competition by late 1980 and early 1981.

Cooke-Woods Racing (CWR) purchased three IROC Camaros on October 20, 1980, repainting them in the team's signature "Cooke-Woods yellow" for the 1981 Trans-Am season. One of those cars, Camaro #02, was assigned to team co-owner Ralph Kent-Cooke and would carry the number 02 throughout the rest of its competitive life into the mid-1980s.

During the 1981 season, three drivers piloted #02 for CWR. Kent-Cooke himself drove in five races, achieving a best finish of 7th at Trois-Rivieres. Brian Redman made a single but memorable appearance over the Fourth of July weekend at Lime Rock Park. After securing pole position with a dominant performance, Redman's race ended early due to fluid on the track. The chassis was quickly repaired, receiving a new Banjo Matthews stamping: RBP 8124, a detail later verified by former Banjo Matthews employees Kerry Bodenhamer and Stacy Morgan.

The car's most successful day came at Laguna Seca Raceway on October 11, 1981. George Follmer had originally been slated to drive for another Trans-Am team, but when Kent-Cooke was unavailable for the weekend, co-owner Roy Woods arranged-at the last possible moment-for Follmer to take the wheel of #02.

As crew chief Pat McFall recalled: "George buckled into the car without any hot laps, right between qualifying sessions, and in eight laps won the pole. He led wire to wire, all 52 laps, set the fastest lap of the race, and easily won."...for more information please contact the seller.

Vehicle Details

  • 1981 Chevrolet Camaro
  • Listing ID: CC-1964967
  • Price: Contact Seller
  • Location:Scotts Valley, California
  • Year:1981
  • Make:Chevrolet
  • Model:Camaro
  • Exterior Color:Yellow
  • Interior Color:Black
  • Transmission:Manual
  • Odometer:0
  • Stock Number:7329
  • VIN:RBP 8124
Listed By:
Canepa
4900 Scotts Valley Drive
Scotts Valley, CA 95066

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