1997 Ford Mustang Cobra SCCA Trans-Am (Tommy Kendall / Roush Racing chassis 33)

Street Mustangs flood auctions. Roush Racing chassis 33 does not belong in that pile. It is a tube-frame SCCA Trans-Am silhouette wearing removable Mustang bodywork — works iron from Jack Roush’s road-racing program, not an SN95 Cobra with a roll bar. Mecum’s Roush Collection materials put it as the last of 33 Roush/SVO silhouette racers and the car that closed the chapter before the organization leaned fully into NASCAR. What matters for Rare Machines is narrower and harder: this chassis is the documented 1997 championship machine, Path C without special pleading.

The season is public record, not brochure fog. Tommy Kendall won the first eleven of thirteen rounds of the 1997 SCCA Pro Racing Trans-Am Championship in the No. 11 All Sport Body Quencher Ford — St. Petersburg through Mosport — then sat out the streak only when Mike Borkowski’s Mustang took Pikes Peak and Reno. Contemporary reports treated Mosport as win number eleven; the Wikipedia season table and period finish logs agree on the sweep shape. That run broke Mark Donohue’s 1968 mark of eight consecutive Trans-Am wins and still stands as the professional road-racing consecutive-win record in the materials attached to this offering. Kendall and Roush locked a third consecutive Trans-Am drivers’ title that year — Kendall’s fourth career series crown. Ford swept the manufacturer side. Diligence still asks the buyer to match chassis 33 to the collection file at inspection; we do not invent a second identity.

The hardware story is period Roush Trans-Am: a Roush-built 310-cubic-inch small-block claimed around 650 hp under the series’ 8,200-rpm limiter, five-speed, Ford 9-inch, large vented discs, gold-center BBS modulars, Goodyear race rubber, AutoMeter Pro-Comp gauges, Sabelt/Sparco harness hardware as catalogued. We do not certify horsepower. Secondary Roush-era notes (collector/team oral history published outside Mecum) place six SN95 championship cars in the final program — three All Sport cars for Kendall among them — with chassis 33 as the 1997 title car. Treat that as supporting context, not a substitute for the plate on the car.

After the title, the machine stayed in the Roush Automotive Collection. Public Mecum notes put it at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2003 for Ford’s centenary and again in 2004 for the Mustang’s fortieth — exhibition trail, not a weekly vintage grid. First public auction appearance is the point of this dossier: you are not competing with a decade of online comps for the same chassis.

Score 93 — Ultra-rare. Production points reflect works Path C with an honesty haircut for the broader silhouette lineage versus single-digit factory runs; specification is correct 1997 Trans-Am works package; provenance hits the ceiling on a record championship streak; documentation is solid in season results and the named chassis lot, with a light haircut until papers meet the car; market scarcity is exceptional on a first Roush-collection offering; condition points credit collection continuity and FoS history without inventing race-weekend patina. Ford re-enters the Live board cleanly after Nobody’s Fool chassis 23 rotated off — same marque family, different series and a stronger season stack.

Status: Ended on site mirror until Brand heroImage wires — then Live + rotate CLK. Mecum Nashville Lot S141, 26 September 2026. Editorial master remains ready at score 93.

Watcher’s checklist

1. Confirm Roush Racing chassis 33 plate vs collection papers — do not rely on lot copy alone.
2. Do not confuse with street Mustang Cobras, later Roush Performance road cars, or Nobody’s Fool IMSA chassis 23.
3. Read the 1997 Trans-Am season table (11 Kendall wins + two Borkowski rounds) from primary race records.
4. Bill of Sale title type — plan registration / transport diligence before you bid.
5. Ask which body/livery panels are period All Sport No. 11 vs later display refresh.
6. Re-check Mecum Lot S141 status before you act.