RickBetterley

And, in the meantime, Pro Sports Car Racing in America 1958-1974 is a great book for those of us that appreciate cars of that era (including lots of Can-Am pictures).
No affiliation yada yada

MarkM

Bob, I think you have your logic backwards. Can Am's biggest years were 72 and 73, when Porsche was dominating. When the rules were changes and made them uncompetitive in 74, no one came to watch.

I grew up next to Mid-ohio, and I have not seen the track as packed for a race as I did back in 1973. No race series has ever been hurt by Porsche domination.

Larry Herman

Didn't those rule changes turn the cars into glorified Formula Atlantic cars with fenders? I seem to recall the Shadow and other "Can Am" cars morphing into that.

Bob Rouleau

You could be right, but that's not the way I remember it. The best years I recall were those when Chaparral, Lola, Ferrari!, Shadow etc. were all contenders. Then it became the Bruce (McLaren) and Denny show and finally the Porsches.

DAR951

Actually it was pretty much the Bruce and Denny show from the beginning, with some punctuation by Hall, Sharp, and Donohue (pre-Porsche)... The Shadow didn't show up until later... Not that it matters all that much, as it was all great to watch. If you really want a blast from the past, take a look at the names, mfrs. and models here: http://www.classicscars.com/wspr/res...ablecanam.html

Bob Rouleau

DAR - thanks for posting that! Brings back memories!

SundayDriver

Cool listing - thanks.

1AS

My recollection is that when they changed the rules from "There are no rules, except it must seat 2 and have fenders", things started to go downhill. The center-seaters were originally converted F5000 cars, and the "name" drivers disappeared. I think the rules changed as there was a real fear nobody would enter a car to compete with the Panzer Parade. There was validity to that concern, as the cars really devoured parts and the point of competing when there was no real chance disappeared in the cost of fielding an entry. I think most of the cars were unsponsored. I know the one I owned was entered by a wealthy privateer (Oklahoma oil money)

At the height of the series, it truely was incredible. Standing at the start-finish line at Road America when the green flag waved was unbelievable. I will never forget the first time I saw the Chaparral high wing tip down as the car entered corner 3 at RA. We were college students, just driving our car to a vanatge point. I thought my eyes were playing tricks until the next lap.
Interestingly, the cars are much more powerful now than when new. Today, I think the limiting factor is tires. That is certainly true for the big block cars, as currently campaigned cars have 100 more cubic inches and hundreds more hp. Still, 600 felt like alot. AS

Larry Herman

That list brings back a lot of names.

butzip

Well I was born in 1973, so I missed the original CanAm days, but I covet them deeply as they are home to everybodies favorite 917/30. I did however manage to become wholly brainwashed during the Can-Am II and Camel GT IMSA days. I don't know if I just remember them as being the fastest things I've ever seen because I was so young or if they really make today's cars seem a little, sall we say, constricted. These things in the rain @ LimeRock was unreal!! I'd love to see a 'the only rule is there are no rules' series today and see what comes from it.

Larry Herman

With the engineers we have these days, it would probably be undriveable by a human due to the G loads.

Also, with active suspension management and GPS positioning, the car could probably be programmed to know exactly how to drive each corner.

michel944

Alexander is right, past the mid-eighties we saw indy car derived Can-Am cars like the ex. Bobby Rahal's 1985 Budweiser Lola Indy Car, converted from the Cosworth Turbo engine to a Chevy small block, and there were more cars like these. I saw them race at the Sanair trioval near Montreal. At that time I was racing Formula Ford's during the same week end. I also witnessed Jacques Villeneuve (the uncle !) win the Trois-Rivieres Can-Am Grand-Prix in 1983 with a Canadian Tire sponsored car derived from the Formula 5000. A hell of a race where the late (and fast) Jim Crawford finished a close 2nd....Sweeeeeet memories....

DAR951

You mean Hall and Sharp wouldn't have had to use their left feet to set the position of that massive wing on the Chaparrals???!!!

I still think one of the coolest sights was to see that thing go full flat as they tracked out from a corner... there's a couple quick clips in the movie trailer that show that... one looks to be coming out of the Road America carousel into Kettle Bottoms(?)... when the wing goes flat the car gets small in a hurry...

Bob Rouleau

For those who don't know, Jim Hall also used an automatic tranny in the Chaparral.. probably to leave his left foot for the wing pedal!

DAR951

That's right! I'd forgotten that... but now that you remind me, it definitely was done to free-up the left foot for the wing.