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50th Anniversary Time Capsule Tuesday Bios

Sam Posey - Trans-Am - 1968

Team Penske will be celebrating 50 years in motorsports in 2016. To help bring you many of the terrific stories of our five-decade run of excellence we began weekly online features, this is the fifth instalment of “Time Capsule Tuesday.” We hope you enjoy this memorable time in our history.

Few in the realm of motorsports will repudiate that one of the most accomplished and skilled drivers to get behind the wheel of a race car is Sam Posey.  But many do not know Posey is one of 85 drivers to pilot a race car for The Captain, Roger Penske.

A New York native, Posey graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design while starting as an amateur sports car racer in the mid-1960s. Posey made his racing debut at Daytona in 1966 driving a Porsche 904 GTS. With two other drivers, Posey started 22nd and finished 11th overall, fourth in class, at the annual Florida classic.

Posey then graduated to the Can-Am series, making his first start at St. Jovite, Canada on September 11, 1966 - the first race in the Can-Am series’ inaugural year.  Posey started from the 17th position piloting a McLaren M1B and finished 21st. 

It was not until two years later he teamed up with Team Penske. During the 1968 season, Posey made four starts for Team Penske in the Trans-Am Series, racing a Sunoco Camaro. Posey's car was the same Sunoco Blue with yellow lettering as Mark Donohue’s, but Posey sported a yellow spoiler while Donohue had a red spoiler. 

Chevrolet won the championship based on the Penske team effort that year. Donohue was the team’s lead driver and won a remarkable 10 of 13 races. Posey's first race with Team Penske was at Bridgehampton where he finished in third place. Posey also had notable finishes at Meadowdale, where he finished third, St. Jovite, where he finished third again and Watkins Glen, where Posey finished second. 

After the 1968 season, Posey raced for Ray Caldwell's factory-backed Autodynamics Dodge Challenger in Trans-Am and then raced in the USAC Championship Car Series in the 1969 and 1972-1974 seasons, with 13 career starts, including the 1972 Indianapolis 500. Posey finished in the top-10 eight times, with his best finish of third in 1969 at the Kent road course. Posey also competed in a single NASCAR event, the first race of the 1970 season, held on the Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California. Posey also participated in two Formula One world championship events, the 1971 and 1972 United States Grand Prix. 

Since retiring from driving, Posey began TV commentary for ABC Sports, covering some of the biggest races, including the Indy 500. Later, Posey provide commentary coverage of Formula One. Posey wrote for Road & Track Magazine, as well as authoring two books; “Playing with Trains”, a book on the model rail road hobby, and “The Mudge Pond Express”, his autobiography. Posey is also an accomplished artist, painting in the abstract.

Source:
http://www.sportscardigest.com/sam-posey-a-lifetime-of-achievements/