Muscle Cars You Should Know: '69 Ford Mustang BOSS 302 #16

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It all began in 1966, when SCCA's Executive Director John Bishop established a "Manufacturer's Title," hoping to attract Detroit's Big Three. The 1965 Mustang - the Shelby GT350, in particular - had been romping through the SCCA's B-Production Sedan division and Bishop wanted more than just Alfas, Minis and Cortinas in a professional series.



Sure, he made allowance for them with an "Under 2.0-liter" class in a new series he called Trans-Am, but he had a larger vision. When the sun rose over Sebring, FL, on the morning of March 25, 1966, it was glory dawning, though it would take a while to figure it out. That day, three Ford Mustangs, three Plymouth Barracudas and one Dodge Dart left an indelible impression on American racing. The Trans-Am series was born and would create legends for the next half decade. Oh, Bob Tullius took the two-door Dodge Dart all the way to the checkered flag that day.


Images: Ford Motor Co.

In September of that year, Carroll Shelby fielded a three-car Ford Mustang team with Lew Spencer at the helm, winning four of the seven 1966 season races. Shelby returned the following year, while Mercury recruited NASCAR legend Bud Moore to build Cougars for Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, and Ed Leslie. Chevrolet joined the competition as well, having Roger Penske and Mark Donohue armed with Larry Shinoda's brand-new Camaro Z/28. The season opened at Daytona with 34 cars registered. That number grew to well over sixty by the next race at Sebring.

What followed from that event was some of the best road racing that America has ever seen. It also led to some of the best pony cars that are still legends, some 40 years later - the Mustang BOSS 302, Challenger T/A, AAR 'Cuda and naturally, the Firebird Trans Am. Shelby took the 1967 series, with the Moore-prepared Cougars just behind. Mark Donohue logged three series wins with the new Z/28 Camaro, serving notice that the "Z" was soon to be reckoned with.


St. Jovite Trans Am, 1969. George Follmer (#16) and Parnelli Jones (#15) in their Bud Moore Mustangs lead Mark Donohue's Penske Sunoco Camaro.

With Roger Penske's organization and Mark Donohue's driving, they dominated the series that year, winning eight races in a row and finishing the season with 10 out of 13 victories. Ford would not roll over in the face of defeat, however stunning. They were taking on the world's best in Europe and they would do it here.

For 1969, Ford returned with the BOSS 302 Mustang. Bud Moore was again fielding a team, with Parnelli Jones and George Follmer driving. Carroll Shelby was back in the fray with Peter Revson and Horst Kwech. The BOSS 302 Mustang was a factory team car that didn't actually have much to do with the factory. Following the initial build, cars were shipped to Kar Kraft in Brighton, MI. The Kar Kraft operation was Ford's performance partner in the North and involved in many special projects for the manufacturer.


Kent Trans Am, Kent, WA, 1969. George Follmer (#16) and Parnelli Jones (#15) in their Bud Moore Mustangs during the race.

The Trans Am series had ignited the country's interest in road racing and former GM designer, Larry Shinoda, had penned out the styling of the road-going BOSS Mustang. Shinoda's involvement with the Z/28's development made him an invaluable resource at Ford. Kar Kraft handled the suspension development, while Ford engineer, Matt Donner, worked a great deal of magic on the Mustang's chassis.

Modifications at the hand of Kar Kraft were far from trivial. The outfit started by building and welding permanent roll cages into the Mustangs, not only to increase their safety aspects but also help to stiffen the chassis.

Front suspension wishbone mounting positions were relocated, both upper and lower, for better suspension geometry and the arms were strengthened by adding steel plates across the wishbone. Even the rubber bushings that connected them to the unit structure were replaced by hiem joints. Following from the suspension relocation, the spring perches on the upper control arms were moved in by about an inch to allow for added tire sidewall clearance from the heavy-duty coil springs employed.

Critical to the entire effort, however, was the BOSS 302 engine. The 1968 Trans Am series saw the release of Ford's "Tunnel Ram" cylinder head design, which proved to be rather an inauspicious start. The cylinder head was being developed for a new big block production engine - the 351 Cleveland V8. A key design difference was found in how the intake ports interacted with the push rods. Previous designs routed the ports around the push rods and took a rather rectangular profile as a result. The tunnel ram improvement placed the push rod directly in the middle of the port inside a column of metal. The resulting reduction of area in the port caused the incoming charge to speed up and "ram" its way into the combustion chamber.


The BOSS 302 represented a culmination of efforts throughout all areas of the car. The high-revving engine is most remembered, but suspension and chassis rework made the car a potential winner.
Image: Flickr

A new version was designed for the 1969 model year, which took some cues from the 426 Chrysler HEMI engines that had dominated NASCAR racing. While not using a true semi-hemispherical combustion chamber, the new cylinder heads angled and offset the intake and exhaust valves into a "semi-hemi" design that also allowed larger valves to be used, if at the cost of a larger overall package. For the 1969 engines, the intake valve was 2.23 inches in diameter, while the exhaust valve was 1.72 inches. The difference in airflow - and resulting power - was dramatic.

Other engine features distinguished the BOSS 302 from its garden-variety siblings. Four bolt bearing caps were characteristic of the C8FE-6015-B and D0ZE-6015-A blocks used for 1969 production. Screw-in freeze plugs were unique to these blocks as well.

Of course, additional modifications for the race car were made that never saw inclusion on the production BOSS 302s. Again, the cylinder heads figure significantly here. According to reports, the floor of the intake and exhaust ports were raised to increase intake flow velocity even further. Race engines would typically produce 450 horsepower or more, with a top end of 7,000 rpm.


Follmer's on-track style was forceful and direct, which the BOSS 302 responded well to.
Image: Flickr

Facing a formidable task, both the Shelby and Moore teams returned to the Trans Am fray in 1969. In the #16 car, George Follmer won at Bridgehampton, while team mate Parnelli Jones won the races in Michigan and Donnybrooke, and took three second place finishes as well. Supplemented by consistent placements from the Shelby cars, the Mustang herd kept up with the Camaros through the season, despite winning half as many races.

Jones and Follmer would go on to maintain the road racing battle among Detroit's Big Three manufacturers, which reached a peak in 1970, producing what is generally called the best season of racing in this era. The more recognizable "school bus" yellow Mustangs remain the images of common memory from that period. But, they did not appear without significant contribution from the 1969 versions characterized here.


Winners all - (L to R) George Follmer, Linda Vaughan, Parnelli Jones.
Image: Flickr

George Follmer would go on to build a career in other race series, including USAC and Formula 1.

Today, there remain only four 1969 Ford or Shelby team cars known. The #15 Bud Moore 1969 car, driven by Parnelli Jones was recently sold at auction. The later-production #16 car driven mainly by George Follmer, is owned by Vic Edelbrock Jr. The #1 and #2 Shelby BOSS 302 team cars are documented as well. Other cars that may have been built by Kar Kraft for the Trans Am series are acknowledged, but their whereabouts or ultimate fate remain unknown at this time. Nevertheless, the impact made by these Trans-Am BOSS 302s, particularly George Follmer's #16, left an indelible mark on the industry - particularly Mustang and it's potential for winning races - for generations to follow.

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