What If Team Cougar had won that last race in 1967 and become the Trans Am series Champs? It would have been difficult for Ford to pull the plug on Team Cougar. Perhaps Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, and Ed Leslie would have gone on to win again in 1968. We will never know of course, but for certain, Mercury would have tried to make the most of the victory, and the best way to do that would have been with a commemorative vehicle.

Team Cougar In 1967 the Trans Am championship came down to the final race in Kent Washington at the Seattle International Raceway. Bud Moore Engineering prepared three Cougars for 1967 and two of them were in the race: #98 driven by Dan Gurney, and #15 driven by Parnelli Jones. When the final flag fell, Team Cougar finished second behind The Mustangs and, by only two points, came in second in the Manufacturers Championship.