1968 – Milestone Racing With Porsche
I left Fred Opert after the 67 season was over and returned to Falls Church, Virginia. I received a call from Marvin Davidson in Wilton, Connecticut regarding campaigning in the Trans Am series. The choice was offered to me as to Alfa or Porsche. After speaking with Mac Tilton, chief mechanic, we decided on the 911.
The team name “Milestone” derived from a milestone marker on Route 7 outside the Sunoco gas station in Wilton, CT where we were headquartered.
Tony at Bridgehampton in 1968 (Adamowicz collection – Duke Manor photo)
Once I arrived, I had certain normal duties on manning the gas pumps at Milestone Garage from 8am to noon. After that I could work on developing the 911 Trans Am car with a now famous racing brake and clutch specialty mogul, Mac Tilton and Group 44 then fledgling Don Breslauer. Our combination worked out very well, and as a team produced specially-made suspension parts for the 911 that were not yet developed by the factory.
The reason that we were so successful was that it was a total team effort. There was a lot of love and devotion put into our team and we felt nothing was impossible. It was the first time that I ever felt that I had some control over how the car was prepared. We looked at every aspect of the automobile, and we determined that if we could make some positive changes, we would. After every race, that car was completely stripped, magnifluxed, and upgraded.
Adamowicz collection
FIA homologation papers from Milestone’s files
Impressions of a forgotten Porsche 911 by Tony Adamowicz (2008)
It’s not often that a young upcoming racing driver would get a phone call from a prominent individual like Marvin Davidson asking if I would be interested in driving professional Trans Am racing for him. Marvin, an investment banker/partner with a successful Wall Street firm also had SCCA driving experience with Alfa Romeo machines.
We had met a few times before on the racing circuit and he indicated that Mac Tilton his mechanic would be heading up the project preparing the car. The major question Marvin had was “which Marque would be better for the Under 2 Liter Trans Am Championship, Alfa Romeo or Porsche”. My reply was “Did he wish to win the championship? He answered positively;” why of course.” I then said; “well we must choose the Porsche 911.”
I arrived at Milestone Racing garage in Wilton, Connecticut. In the beginning of winter with a fresh major snow on the ground. The building was a active Sunoco gas station frontage, with an antique Granite Milestone outside the building, right on Route 7, hence the name Milestone and the car number would be using # 7. We certainly had our hands full with the project as Porsche had no competition pieces for the 911. It was through the creativity of Mac Tilton and machinist Tom Genese that special suspension & brake pieces were designed and fabricated to do make this 911 a special one of the kind racer. Don Breslauer was the youngest member of the team helping with the preparation and later race team duties during the season. The daunting choir of stripping down the car and removing the heavy factory undercoating to lighten and prep the car for paint was in my hands. We were a small team that utilized all our think tank skills to produce a lightweight version of the 911 for Trans Am racing specs.
The secret of our car was hidden well within the suspension pieces, as we made up our own splined torsion bars, adjustable sway bars front rear, sending the various pieces out for heat-treating the freshly machined parts for excellence. We even created special brake pad backing plates and had Raybestos bond the special pad material to our own backing plates. The suspension rubber pieces were replaced by machined custom high-density polyethylene plastic suspension bushings, allowing the fully adjustable suspension to work for us out on the track The 2-liter specification engine was especially prepared for racing by a young Scott Kinder, a 21-year-old Stanford Engineer, finished off the induction with German Solex Carburetors. These were quite controversial, as the Webber carbs were considered to be the better choice. Everything that was done to prepare this car for battle was counterseal, right down to the removal of the rear bumpers, making this 911 look like a dune buggy.
The car was painted in visually bright burnt orange livery with large reflective background circles and the specially designed die cut # 7 properly added to the car. Our first race was at the famed Sebring racecourse in Florida, where equaled the fast race lap record, only to succumb to an engine failure. The debut race performance was uniquely noticed by the factory Porsche team manager Baron von Hunstein, who made a special effort to come to our motel to congratulate us on the fine presence and performance of our 911.
The Trans Am race season was a head of us and we quickly became a dominant force in the under 2-liter class, winning 6 out of 10 races and finishing 2nd in two other races,
Winning the 1968 Trans Am Manufactures Championship for Porsche. Milestone Racing number 7 had indeed made a convincing impact on under 2 liter racing class, beating out the best Porsche, Alfa Romeo and BMW machines. The world wind performance of this machine sent our competitors back home to the drawing board for the following season.
February 4, 1968
Daytona International Speedway 24 Hours of Daytona
Daytona Beach, Florida
Result: DNF
This was the first and only outing of this Milestone Racing 911 “#72.” It was the first time we ran the 911 determining the numerous torsion bars that we made up. Porsche had none of this, we developed the bits and pieces, Mac Tilton, Don Breslauer, Tom Geniese and myself were part of the dream 911 that ultimately would make Porsche Trans Am history.
Team owner Marvin Davidson, himself a amateur SCCA racer suffered night blindness during his first stint in the car. He wore glasses and the bright driving lights reflected from a overtaking car in the fast left hand infield sweeper that disoriented him and he hit the inside curbing and flipped the car.
Up to that point, we were really doing well with the 911 in class, had one incident in which SCCA pilot Paul Lewis was involved in on the track that caused his seat to come loose. The car was running flawless.
The original 911T qualified 15th. Milestone had entered the orange 911 for Marvin Davidson, Tony and Paul Hawkins to drive in the Trans-Am class which had been added to the Daytona roster. The plan was to have Davidson drive during the daylight while his teammates handled the darkness, along with the dawn and dusk shifts. Davidson changed the schedule, taking the sundown portion, a switch he soon came to regret when he flipped the 911 end- for-end in the infield section on lap 71, destroying it, but fortunately leaving himself relatively unhurt.
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Peter Luongo photo
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
L to R: Paul Richards, Marvin Davidson, Bill Contois, Tony, and Mac Tilton.
Wrecked Porsche on trailer in background. Note James Garner’s AIR Corvette in foreground.
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection
Remains of #72 sits among many empty beer cans.
Adamowicz collection
What’s left of the original #72 Porsche body
1968 24 Hours of Daytona Results
March 22, 1968
Sebring International Raceway
3 Hour Trans Am Championship Race
Sebring, Florida
Result: DNF
The car started out as a shell from the NY City Impound. In fact, the chassis was a 912 that we converted to 911 engine. Car owner Marvin Davidson had totaled his previous 911 in a horrendous night crash at Daytona, so we transferred all its technology to this chassis.
Porsche had no suspension parts available, so we made our own, using larger torsion bars, and sway bars, plus custom suspension bushings.
This was the beginning of a very successful run in Trans-Am, ultimately winning the Championship as #7.
Sebring was the first race for the new 911, and we DNF’d with a blown motor. We were running the standard tachometer that was not calibrated, so were consistently over revving the engine. At this discovery, we converted to a cable driven Moroso Tach with rev limiter. Our performance was obviously impressive, as Porsche’s team manager, Baron Von Hanstein, made a special trip across town, searching us out at our motel to complement us.
Up to that point Porsche only considered the 911 to be a Rally car and possible Hill Club car in Europe. If they only knew the extensive suspension mods we used at the time, they would have been blown away.
Milestone Racing press release:
“The car made its 1968 debut at the Sebring Three Hour Race. Adamowicz was running in third place and was about to move into second when engine failure sidelined the car. His brilliant performance attracted the attention of Baron Huschke von Hanstein, Porsche’s factory racing team manager, who congratulated him for excellent driving. “
Start of the 1968 race
Adamowicz, Tilton and Breslauer went shopping in the New York City Police Department’s impound area in the Borough of Queens on the site of the former 1964 World’s Fair parking lot. There they found a stolen and stripped 912 the cops were happy to get rid of. As Adamowicz remembers, it was perfect for Milestone’s purposes.
“The thieves had really done all of our work for us by stripping the car down to its shell. As for the missing parts, we already had what we needed to make a race car and as for the rest, the interior, radio and seats just didn’t matter.”
– Bill Oursler article
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection
Autosports Marketing Associates, Ltd. photo (autosportsltd.com)
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection – Philippe Moriniere photo
Adamowicz collection
May 12, 1968
War Bonnet Raceway Park Trans-American Sedan race
New Manford, Oklahoma
Result: 2nd in class
Horst Kwech had a race-long battle with Tony. Kwech protested his sixth place finish behind Tony. Forty minutes after the race was over, officials found a scoring error and awarded Kwech fifth overall and the under-two-liter win.
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Pete Luongo photo
SCCA Competition Director Jim Patterson, Horst Kwech and Tony Adamowicz at War Bonnet
Adamowicz collection – Pete Luongo photo
Adamowicz collection – Pete Luongo photo
Most of the cars that contested the U-2 championship in 1968 were 911s, but the Alfa Romeo GTV was also very competitive, and Horst Kwech, here, was one of their best, winning the U-2 portion of this round at War Bonnet Raceway in Oklahoma. Horst was a very, very competitive driver, and his Alfa was always the best and fastest, and also certainly the lightest in the world, because he was also a very competent mechanic; you know, kind of like Allan Moffat was with the Lotus Cortinas. This is a right-hand-drive car, you’ll notice, and I believe that Horst was originally from Australia, so he was very capable with right-hand drive. When you look at the car, you can see that he’s got a lot of negative camber dialed into the right front. Today, you’ll see cars on road courses with up to 3 degrees of negative camber.
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection
May 30, 1968
Lime Rock trans Am
Lime Rock Connecticut
Result: 1st in class
Adamowicz won the under 2-liter class and finished fourth overall.
Adamowicz collection – David Nadig photo
Tony and Marvin Davidson – Adamowicz collection (Barry Tenin photo)
Adamowicz collection – David Nadig Photo
Adamowicz collection – David Nadig photo
Adamowicz collection – David Nadig Photo
Adamowicz collection – David Nadig photo
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection – David Nadig Photo
Adamowicz collection – Duke Manor Photo
Adamowicz collection – Autoweek and Competition Press
A page from the team’s records with gear ratio calculations
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Left to right: Sue Donohue, Mark Donohue, Sheila Hill, Tony, track announcer Tony Muldoon holding trophy.
Adamowicz collection – David Nadig photo
Adamowicz collection
A short video of Tony and Mark can be seen here.
June 16, 1968
Mid-Ohio Trans Am Championship Race
Lexington, Ohio
Result: 2nd in class
Tony was the fastest under two-liter qualifier and finished second in class.
Adamowicz collection – Autoweek and Competition Press
Autoweek and Competition Press
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection
June 23, 1968
Bridgehampton Trans-American Championship
Bridgehampton, New York
Result: 1st in class
Tony again was the fast qualifier and won the under two-liter class leading the whole-race and finishing fifth overall.
Adamowicz collection – Pete Lyons photo (www.petelyons.com)
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Pete Loungo photo
#7 leads staunch competitor Bert Evert in the factory lightweight #14 at Bridghampton, NY
One of the biggest thrills of my racing career was sharing the winner’s circle with Mark Donohue in 1968. We were as dominant in the under 2-liter class as Mark was in the over 2-liter class. Our season was a major success, and I think we had the same “unfair advantage” that Mark had in the over 2-liter class because we did our homework.
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Graham Smith photo
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection – David Nadig photo
July 7, 1968
Meadowdale International Raceway Trans-American Sedan Race
Carpentersville, Illinois
Result: 1st in class
Tony was forced to pit on the tenth lap for a broken condenser wire while leading his class and running seventh overall. Adamowicz rejoined the race four minutes and seven seconds later by then he had dropped to seventh in class and eighteenth overall. He then began picking up five seconds a lap over the field and by the 57 lap he had regained the lead and went on to win the class and finish fifth overall.
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection – Competition Press and Autoweek
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection – Competition Press and Autoweek
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
July 21, 1968
Circuit Mont Tremblant
Quebec, Canada
Result: 1st in class
Tony was the fast qualifier, won the race and finished fifth overall. He also set a new lap record for the under two-liter cars.
Adamowicz collection
Mark and Tony on the podium Adamowicz collection – Karl Ludvigsen photo
This shot of St. Jovite shows the #7 amidst the big bore cars.
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection – Pete Lyons photo (petelyons.com)
At Mont Tremblant, Don Breslauer is hanging out the pit board on the first lap. The bottom number means that I had a 99-second lead in the class at that point. Donnie was one of the crew members, and it was generally one of his duties to hang out the pit board. Like me, he had worked down in Falls Church, Virginia, during the Group 44 days and he transplanted up to Wilton, Connecticut, to work for Milestone Racing.
Coming down the hill and into the corner at Le Circuit Mont Tremblant at St. Jovite, Quebec. We won at that race, and then we got protested after the finish for supposedly having “S” valves in our engine, the bigger-diameter pieces out of the 911S, which were verboten. We all knew that was illegal from day one. The guy who protested us was a local driver, a 911 driver who was a big name in Canadian racing; and we got torn down and, sure enough, we were legal. So we counter-protested him and they tore him down, and there in his engine were the 911S valves. I’m not sure if the guy’s even still alive, and I can’t remember his name today; and I wouldn’t want to embarrass him, anyway. We beat him squarely on the track.
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection – Competition Press and Autoweek
August 4, 1968
Bryar 200 Trans-Am Championship
Loudon, New Hampshire
Result: 1st in class
Don Breslauer (white shirt) and Mac Tilton are fueling, Goodyear tire rep writes tire temps, team owner Marvin Davidson looks on eagerly. Tony Muldoon, Milestone’s PR guy confers strategy with me during final stages of Bryar, NH. At one time we were leading overall until Mark Donohue finally powered by us in his Camaro. George Follmer bumped me, creating an unscheduled pit stop to replace a tire. We finished 3rd overall and 1st in our Under 2-Liter class.
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – David Nadig photo
Tony and Mark Donohue at the finish line.
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
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We blew away the ’68 Javelin team when we were leading “overall” at Bryar until George Follmer, frustrated at following us, created an incident that forced us to make an extra pit stop for a tire change. Mark Donohue’s Camaro won overall, George was 2nd in his Javelin and we were 3rd overall, 1st in class.
Adamowicz collection – Barry Tenin photo
Adamowicz collection – Competition Press and Autoweek
August 11, 1968
Watkins Glen 500 Trans-American
Watkins Glen, New York
Result: 1st in class
The round at Watkins Glen, where Jerry Titus won overall and I got the U-2 win. The Glen was a very historic race track, and for me, it was a real privilege to be able to race there, being a New York State person. We had a successful race that day, and any race where you can stand there on the podium next to a Donohue or a Titus was a very good day. In terms of U-2 versus O-2, we were always anywhere from a top 10 to second or third overall.
Titus let me drive his Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am car the following year at Seattle. He was a very determined driver, which you had to be back then, because the cars weren’t nearly as developed as they are today. A lot of people probably don’t remember it today, but he was also a very good writer, having had a column in Sports Car Graphic. He was killed in 1970 at Road America.”
Tony and Mark on the track
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection – Pete Lyons photo (petelyons.com)
Tony and Jerry Titus in victory circle.
Don Breslauer with victory sign board
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection
August 25, 1968
Continental Divide Raceways Continental 250
Castle Rock, Colorado
Result: DNF
Adamowicz collection – Pete Lyons photo (petelyons.com)
This picture above depicts preparing for one of my jobs of removing the engine for gear changes. We did this quite often on a weekend, with a 2 liter engine in Trans Am against the big bore guys, we always got the just right split in gears. The idea was to beat as many of the Big Bore cars as possible. Our oil lines were quick disconnect to keep the oil in the dry sump along with quick electrical cannon plug that disconnected all wiring with one twist of the wrist.
I was able to remove the engine and trans in about 20 minutes, it became quite a show during the Trans Am season.
September 8, 1968
Riverside International Raceway
Mission Bell 250
Riverside, California
Result: DNF (78 laps)
Tony leads Jerry Oliver. Adamowicz collection –Dave Friedman photo
“The oil cooler overheated the gas in the fuel cell. We vapor locked. This was the first time we experienced high ambient temps. You live and learn, and I remembered this one.”
– Mac Tilton
Awaiting-pit stop – Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection
This is Turn Seven at Riverside in 1968, and the 911 in front is Fred Baker, with me entering the corner behind him. Fred was an SCCA racer and this car, maroon in color, was a regular part of the Trans-Am series; and the team was good enough to win a race that season. To enter Turn Seven, you went up over a hill, and you couldn’t see what was on the other side; so, if you came over the hill, you’d often find a car sideways across the track. My guess is, what happened here was that Fred probably overcooked it coming into the corner, because he’s applied full opposite lock trying to save it. The 911 was a very short-wheelbase car, so it was always a little tail-happy to begin with.
Adamowicz collection – Peter Luongo photo
Tony with Jim Patterson
Adamowicz collection
October 6, 1968
Pacific Raceways Trans Am Sedan Road Race
Kent, Washington
The Milestone team didn’t enter the final race of the season.
We won 6 out of 10 races in 1968, set five track records, and won the manufacturer’s championship for Porsche. Our success was due to our preparation and our ingenuity. We had everything set up to disconnect and reconnect quickly, and we got the engine and transaxle out of that car as much as three or four times in a weekend to change gears. Between Mac and myself, we could get the engine and transaxle out of that car and on the ground in less than 20 minutes. We knew what we had to do, we did our job, and we put on a hell of a show.
12/20/68 National Auto Racing News
Tony’s 1968 invitation to join the Road Racing Driver’s Club
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Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection
Adamowicz collection
The Motor Age wristwatch
Heuer watch and advertisements showing the watch presented to Tony at the 1968 SCCA annual awards banquet. The watch was eventually sold to a private collector by Tony.
Don Breslauer (as told to Rich Taylor)
At the end of 1967, Tony Adamowicz put together a deal with a stockbroker named Marvin Davidson, who was an amateur racer. Mr. Davidson had an Alfa GTA Jr., but he wanted to get a little more serious. He and Tony decided to form a Trans-Am team. Their shop was an old school bus garage in Wilton, Connecticut called The Milestone Garage; their only employee was Mac Tilton.
Mr. Davidson bought a Porsche 911S, Mac and Tony prepared it and the team went to the Daytona 24-Hour. Around sundown, when visibility is tricky, Mr. Davidson flipped the Porsche end-over-end in the infield. The car was destroyed. When he got home, Mr. Davidson’s partners on Wall Street said, “You can be a stockbroker or a racer, not both.” So Tony Adamowicz became the team’s only racing driver. Tony and Mac pulled all the good parts off the wreck, then they went to New York and bought an orange 911S that had been stolen, vandalized and parked in the police impound area in Queens. It had no windows, it had been pounded all over with a ballpeen hammer; it was perfect! They started to build a new race car, but with just two of them, it was taking a long time. They needed help. Now I had started sweeping floors at Group 44 in 1962, when I was 12. Then I graduated to polishing mag wheels and eventually to doing simple nuts-and-bolts work. I also became friends with Tony when he worked for Group 44. So he called me. The day after I graduated from high school in 1968, I went to work for Milestone Racing. I can’t remember, but I think I was paid around $100 a week. I do remember that it was more money than I could spend! Mac Tilton taught me a lot. He was a wizard, and he could turn something complicated into something simple. He taught me that simplicity and reliability are what win races. His goal was to build a consistent car that didn’t change during a race. We rarely ran a new tire in a race; we’d always run four scrubbed-in tires so the car would be consistent. And of course, the Porsche 911 was a pretty good piece to begin with. We practiced pit stops all the time at home in the shop until we were as fast as anybody. The scary part was that Mac had to stand in front of the car, because the Porsche’s fuel tank was in the front. Tony would come down pit lane – there were no speed limits in the pits like they have now – and Mac would stand there waiting for him holding a couple of dump cans full of gasoline. We got to where Mac could put in two dump cans of gas and I could change the two outside tires in 10 or 11 seconds. It was pretty amazing.
Mac also read the rules carefully. The Trans-Am rules said we could remove the rear bumper. Now in the Porsche parts catalogue, the rear bumper comprised a whole section that included the lower half of the rear quarter panels. We removed this whole assembly, which left the dry sump oil tank dangling in the breeze on the right side. This was very beneficial to oil temperatures. We made delrin sway bar bushings; we had adjustable sway bars. Everybody ran Webers in those days. The Porsches used three carburetors on each bank. The Webers idled better than the Solexes, but Mac said, “We’re not idling around the race track.” So we switched to Solex carbs, which had replaceable venturis. We would change the venturis to get the best power band for each track. We also spent a lot of time figuring out the right gears for each course, and then Saturday night we’d do gear changes for Sunday’s race. It was all very simple, but we won races with what was pretty much a stock 911S. In Under-2, there was none of the cheating that was going on in Over-2. We didn’t need to. The Porsche factory made the racing 911R, but it was very rare. There was only one in the Trans-Am, as far as I know, a gold one that came out of Heischman’s shop in Virginia. Johnny Moore and some other people drove it, but it never really became a threat. Peter Gregg was not yet a factor. Our only real competition came from Bert Everett’s 911S and Horst Kwech’s Alfa GTA. Tony Adamowicz could tell the difference of a quarter-inch of sway bar adjustment or two psi of tire pressure. He was very sensitive to the car. He was also very sensitive to every part of the car that intimately connected with him. The position of the seat, of the wheel, of the shifter, how the pedals worked; all that had to be perfect. He was a good mechanic; he was capable of doing anything on the car. That made him very good at communicating with Mac. Tony was also a very consistent driver. He never got rattled. He was a joy to put a car together for. When you have somebody who’s going to drive the wheels off the car that you put together, who never crashes and who’s going to win, that makes it all worthwhile. Milestone Racing was not a high-buck effort. Mr. Davidson was paying for everything; we had no factory support. We owned two engines, one that we left behind in the shop and one that went to the races. We had an old Ford pickup truck with a cap on it and an open trailer. Mac, Tony and I would drive to the races and Mr. Davidson paid all our travel expenses. The Porsche was so reliable, and Tony was so easy on the car, our primary car-related expenses were for brake pads and tires. I left the team at the end of August to go to college in engineering, but by then Tony had already won the Trans-Am U-2 championship.
Mr. Davidson sold our orange #7 to Herb Wetson and Tony drove another car at Riverside. The team didn’t even go to Kent. I didn’t complete my freshman year of college. Mr. Davidson said, “You guys did so well, I’m going to buy you a Formula 5000 car.” So Mac and Tony enticed me to leave school and work on this Eagle they’d bought. Tony had never driven an open-wheel car before; indeed, the only V-8 he’d ever driven was the Group 44 Dart. Formula 5000 was a big jump, but he went on to win the Formula 5000 championship in ’69. The first race I went to was that 5000 race at Riverside in April of ’69, when Sam Posey backed into Ron Courtney and their cars caught fire. The police arrested Sam for attempted manslaughter, as though he had deliberately spun and crashed and destroyed two cars and hurt Courtney and was lucky not to kill himself! It was crazy. I was just a 19-year-old kid, and that incident scared me. That whole series scared me. I lasted about two-thirds of the Formula 5000 season, and then I quit and went back to school.