Up to 20 thundering V8-engined Trans Am Tribute cars from the 1960s and 1970s will shake the ground at Queensland Raceway over the June 27-28 weekend at this year’s Shannons Sports & Muscle Car Showdown.

The cars, which will include Jim Richards’ 1964 Falcon Sprint, a brace of 500HP Shelby GT 350s and a 550HP 1969 Chevrolet Camaro, will line up for six events during the meeting.

After forming up behind the traditional grid girls, the Tribute cars will enjoy a classic NASCAR rolling start behind a real 1970 Boss 302 Pace car, making the races a great crowd spectacle.

The original Trans Am races were for cars built from 1966 to 1972 and all were up to 5-litres engine capacity, however the Tribute will embrace larger-engined muscle cars from entire 1960s and 1970s era.

Famous Australian racing muscle cars confirmed for the meeting include the 1965 Mustang that the late Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan drove to win 68 races from 74 starts, the ex-Dick Johnson No.17 Bryan Burt Falcon Hard Top, the ex-John French Falcon XC Hard Top and the ex-Bob Morris XD Falcon sedan.

The Muscle car Sprints, which will see four groups of Aussie and American Muscle cars pitted against each other in an international needle match.

The meeting will also feature Group N Historic Touring cars and two Regularity events for classic and exotic late-model sports cars.

The latter will see potent Aston Martin, Ferrari, Jaguar, Maserati and Porsche cars compete against the clock on the Ipswich circuit.

The Patron of the meeting is Jim Richards, who will also be guest speaker at the Shannons Sports & Muscle car Gala Dinner on Saturday June 27 at the 4.5-star Metro international Hotel in ipswich.  

Just 200 spots are available for the dinner, with accommodation packages available.

A big Shannons Show and Shine will be held on the Sunday of the meeting, with all the Show and Shine entrants invited to cruise the track, while the event will also feature a number of trade stands.