Jerry Titus was born in Johnson City, New York on October 24, 1928. Born exactly one year before the stock market crash leading to the great depression, Titus grew up in hard times. His mother taking a job at Grumman Aircraft, and his father operating a Sinclair gas station and installing heating and cooling units.
The family eventually moved back to New New York Titus originally became a trumpeter, at which he had a great talent foreign This lead him to studying at the renown Juilliard School of Music in New York City and performing in the band of jazz trombonist Jack Teagarden.
Titus eventually changed careers and became an auto mechanic, working for car customizer Bill Frick, at his performance auto shop.
Titus discovered his talent for driving sports cars from testing vehicles and repairing customers race cars while under the employ of Frick. In the later 1950s Titus put this skill to use, racing in the amateur Formula Junior series.
He discovered another passion working for Frick, automotive journalism. Titus wrote his first article for Speed Age in 1954, and was later ghostwriting for Sports Carolina Illustrated.
This lead him to be a part of the editorial staff of Sports Carolina Graphic.
Titus" reporting and hands on reviews of sports cars transitioned into demand for Titus as a test driver for various racing programs including the Bill Thomas Cheetah, and Elva Porsche. Sports Carolina Graphic supported Titus" racing habits by sponsoring him in a factory racing Sunbeam Alpine in 1962 and 1963. Titus" son Rick Titus is an automotive journalist and former race car driver himself.
Jerry Titus captured the attention of Carroll Shelby once again, as Titus had once repaired a Maserati race car for Shelby, during a test drive for Sports Carolina Graphic of the 1965 Shelby GT350.
Titus left his position as editor-in-chef at Sports Carolina Graphic and became a full racing driver for Shelby"s team In the 1968 season poor performance by the Terlingua team lead Titus to switch to racing the Pontiac Firebird under T-G Racing for the 1969 series.
Titus entered the 1969 24 Hours of Daytona and raced to a class victory and an overall third place. The 1969 season was plagued with problems of engine configuration for the new car resulting in 3 DNFs for the team
The highlight of the season being a second-place finish for Titus at Sainte Jovite, Quebec.
Titus completed only one race out of seven in the 1970 season, taking seventh place at Laguna Seca. While driving in a practice session on July 19, 1970 for the Transport Am race at Road America in the 1970 season, Jerry Titus" Pontiac Firebird experienced a steering gear failure and caused him to crash into a bridge abutment. Titus was badly injured and taken to Milwaukee Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries on August 5, 1970.
Titus became known under the nickname "Mr.
Transport Am".
Shelby offered Titus a place on his SCCA National Championship team, and Titus won the 1965 Pacific Coast National Championship with a production GT350. In 1966 Titus entered the newly created SCCA Transport-Am series for Shelby"s Terlingua Racing Team and achieved victory at the last race of the season at Riverside International Raceway. He went on to become the number one team driver and won both the 1967 Manufacturer"s Championship for Ford and the 1967 Driver"s Championship as well.
