Racing was so cool back then. The drivers had so much personality and the cars were so cool. My dad took my brother and I to Road Atlanta in the mid 70's through the early 90's. Good times.
Saw several CanAms in the early 70s at Mosport. Sitting at Moss corner, 25 big V8s thundering down the chute, coming into the hairpin, was an unbelievable feeling. What a great series this was!
I agree, Can Am was by far the best racing series ever including F1. My brother and I spent 3 summers chasing the series around the north-eastern US and Canada, with Mosport being our home track. We were McLaren people and loved the Bruce and Denny show. Monstrous engines in little cars with almost no rules and world-class drivers - a formula for greatness never to be repeated. My favourite cars were the various McLaren M8s.
Was at this race as a 7 year old boy. We live close by and my dad was a local Jaycee who helped with traffic control. What a thrill to think back on this time in auto racing history. The track has changed a little over the years but is still a great place to watch Petit Lemans and other races
@@archetypex65 How true! I never raced there but I did take the driving classes there & was even a allowed to do some hot laps in my "street car" with a full cage & a Porsche 944!
I am so glad I found this video. Brings me back, racing slot cars, dreaming of being a racer, making models, watching Jim McKay Wide World of Sports ,when I was a kid. Liked it much better back then. Wasn't on TV much like today. But bought all the magazines and I knew what was what more than today . Peter Remsen, Mark McDonough , Swede Savage, Jim Clark, and so many more. Never forgotten buy me, RIP.
Also dreaming to become a racer in those days. Nowadays I am a racer, scale 1:32 however...... SLOT IT cars on a Scalextric track, www.slot.it/INGLESE/slotit_GB.php
I was there. LOVED CanAm. Hall was always my favorite because of innovative ideas. Lot of fun driving up there every year, camping just outside of the track. Bratwurst and corn on the cob. And a 100 places to sit and watch the race. So many different sounding engines. Those were the daze.
I still remember taking delivery of a couple of those cars for their owners. It was the first true race car I believe I had ever seen. It was the epitome of everything. And yet had no electronics to help you steer, no torque vectoring, no anti-lock brakes, just motor pedals and steering wheel and yet with a bit of aerodynamics was just an absolute monster on the race track.
Wow - what a great vid to come across. A real bonus at the end for me that I had no idea about. Tony Dean was a privateer English Porsche customer who bought season old 906 and 910etc porsches from the factory in the 60s. I didn't ever know he had a 908 or certainly that he'd had a Canam win. That's made my day. He was a genuine mad keen privateer (and I think a school teacher but I might be wrong about that because I'm getting on a bit) Bravo Tony - hope you're still with us !
Ralph Averill this the first I’ve heard of this news. Condolences to friends, family, and fans of racing. Rest In Peace Sir Sterling Moss you will be remembered.
Moss, what an idiot! This guy pretended to be the tough guy even with 80+ years old. The most overrated driver ever! He was always beaten by his teammates and is known as the eternal second. Camera hungry he was! Not more and no less. He immediately went close to the interviewees or, when he discovered a camera, positioned himself to be seen on TV. I don't want to apologize for my words because the truth is being spoken. How can such an idiot be considered a legend? Typical english overstatement!
@@wolfgangmarkusgstrein8522 True, Moss is complete failure compared with this shining internet hero of legend right here. How did you come to pass Sir Legend.....the only man who could pull the shining mouse from the plastic packet of destiny?
Hi there Eh, given that was the height of the CIA’s black ops programs, Watergate, Vietnam War, and everything else, the government couldn’t really be trusted then either. Lol
We don't need no stinking yellow flags. Run out there and remove that bodywork! Saw ALL of these cars at Riverside that year. And years before. Thank you for this SVRA
Great video. I've got many of these cars for my 1/32 scale Carrera digital slot cars. Especially the Lola, Porsche, and McLaren. This was the greatest racing to watch as a kid.
Earlier that year at Sebring I’d seen one of the owners of the track, Earl Walker, and the Atlanta Regional regional executive looking worried and asked what was wrong. The hotel had not held their reservation. So I told them they could stay at my great aunt and uncle’s house in Avon Park. Earl was so charming at breakfast the next morning and was a hit with my great aunt. So come the Can Am I Get a press pass as sports editor of the Georgia State University Signal. But my gf and I get up there to find that the director of publications had written the track asking for a ticket for someone else and they gave him mine. So home we went without seeing the race.
This footage is from the year I was born. I remember seeing the Can-Am car run & they are basically equal to the prototype cars of today, if not quicker. Been a big fan of Road Atlanta track since the early 80's. I was lucky enough to take the driving classes there when I was 16, amazing when you know the instructor& track owners. Gravity cavity was the best part of the track for me, what a feeling! It was one of the best places to watch the races from. Seen a lot of cars flip over coming down into the dip & then land on the up part of it. Does that car #21 say Paul Newman? I also met him out there quite a few times & a lot of the other drivers also. Very great memories of hanging out at the track as a teenager & I still continue to show up from time to time. But it's not the same experience, I really miss animal land. I did see a couple of the Can-Am cars for sale there about the late 90's early 2000, for like 150K, I think one was a McLaren but I'm not positive the other one was a Lola chassis. Thanks for sharing the footage, it was awesome.
That era of CAN AM racers was the best....loved going to Laguna Seca and seeing them. Lots of innovation....remembered Halls cars but also the Shadows with tiny tires and low low body...that didn't work but at least they tried. Later Shadows were better. And does anyone remember the car with 4 wheel drive run by 4 snow mobile engines....or the one running a blown drag boat engine? Being an ALFA fan I remember the smaller 2 liter engine ALFA ran also and did OK despite the huge hp difference. When the 917s showed up the competition was over but still loved seeing them all.
@Robert Berta Lexington, Ky was mentioned in this video. I live in Lexington and never heard of a Can Am race before. Going by your comment you are familiar with Can Am. Do you remember or have any information on a race in Lexington? I've done some research and no luck. Thanks for any reply.
Blown drag boat engine? That sounds like something I've heard in passing before, which was a later model McKee. I think it was the Mk10. Was this it? i.ytimg.com/vi/dXokCj2z-_E/maxresdefault.jpg
@@montyreed333 The narrator meant Lexington, Ohio, home of Mid Ohio, not Lexington KY. He was talking about the two races preceding Road Atlanta. According to this Wiki page they were at Mid Ohio and Road America. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_Can-Am_season
Living in Indianapolis, my father and I would trek to Mid-Ohio for their Can-Am round. Amazing talent in the series, and just plain fun with the big-bore engines. I have a distinct memory of watching Francois Cervert crest a hill in a year-old McLaren. The winners I watched were Jackie Stewart, George Follmer, and Mark Donohue. Much of fields back then were made up of future HOF members.
It's cool to see the old, unmolested Road Atlanta track with the CanAm beasts on it! Funny, wonder why they decided to include a number of weird sounds in this documentary.
I was about 10 years old when the Can Am series was in its hay day. The little bits of race footage that appeared on the Wide World Of Sports and articles in Road and Track magazine formed the bases of my love of sports car racing. Those cars seemed so foreign and exotic to a kid growing up in Vancouver Canada. Then my dad took me to Westwood race track just outside the city. It was designed by Sterling Moss in the late 50’s. Those 2 things set me down a course of road racing passion for cars and motorcycles that still burns hot in me today. Thanks for posting video I remember seeing it as kid. For those who like local club tracks search Westwood race track as there is a decent about of footage of both car and bikes at that track. The old Formula Atlantic and Trans Am series came there in 70s and early 80s.
Andy Harman There is a rather dismal excuse of a track s at Mission Raceway. There are 2 private tracks one on Vancouver Island which is good and an excellent track called Area 27 about 5.5 hours east of Vancouver in Oliver in the Okanagan Valley. Both are members only or you can pay for some track time sessions. There are no race events at either track unfortunately but there is hope that perhaps Area 27 may host some events. Take a look at their website.
Andy Harman Yes that’s correct and Trever Siebert put a lot of money in it. Its a fabulous layout in a beautiful setting. Theres lot of footage of cars on the track.
I wonder where he heard they were helicopter fans sucking this car to the pavement? They are cooling fans from an M-109 military vehicle. The engine that drives them is a 2 cylinder 45 hp Kohler snowmobile engine. It was one of the weak parts of the car as it had to run close to, if not full throttle, constantly while racing. It was a 2 stroke and its exhaust noise was more audible than the Chevy V8 drive engine! Very cool example of the ingenuity and creativeness of Jim Hall.
More people need to see this if just for the overhead view showing 10a/10b weren't always there. Had to be a brave one to go all out through that dip then up and under the bridge. #largeattachments
You still can see them there at the July vintage gathering. A handful run hard enough to shake the lovely Kettle Moraine scenery, knowing that big block V8s are plentiful in case they blow.
What a time to be alive. The racers were men, the cars were awesome, the fans were the best. Now it's all about pleasing sponsors, letting computers do all the work, living in the gym while following a dietitians orders... Sure I appreciate the dedication, but there was something we lost along the way after it used to be more about having fun and relying on pure talent rather than forced gains through obsessive levels of work ethic and training.
A very interesting video, but one error popped out in the intro. The race before Road Atlanta was @ Mid-Ohio, near Lexington, OHIO, not Lexington, Kentucky.
3:00 Funny how everyone forgets about Lola... they built the "Ford" GT40. In case you were wondering how they had the wherewithal to hang with McLaren... Also good to see the Chaparral get a mention. They wrote a lot of rules about what you couldn't do to a car after Chaparral went out onto the cutting edge... that whole suction car gimmick made them write up the modern rule book on aerodynamics in motorsport.
Jim Halls Chapparal cars, look more otherworldly, crazy but ingenious with the passing years, but they earned respect and honourable mentions all over the world, even as the mighty Porsche 917 ushered in a new era, and the death knell for the legendary team Maclarens dominance in this series.
Hmmmm...how many Can-Am races did Chaparral cars win again, with all that ingenuity? Answer, not as many as they would have with, say, a manual transmission. Look at the DNF log for Chaparral cars from 1966 on and you'll see what I mean. Even Phil Hill said the same.
In ALL forms of motor sports! The trans am division with the mustangs, challengers, camaros etc., NHRA drag racing had the Pro Stocks (not like the abortions they call pro stock today!), and the circle track guys still ran Detroit cars! All of that is ancient history now! What a shame!
@@tomt9543 Yes it is, plenty of cool classes like Can am, group 5 silhuettes, group B rally, group S rally prototypes , group 4 rally and racing, 60-80s f1 and 60s-70s Le mans prototypes.
Good ole times of tight economy on one side and luxury on the other :) Even in 1970, F1 car could but show their butts to these nonetheless sublime machines (yes, you got it right, I'm european)
Max Alfred, take a look at the 1967 World Sports Car Championship qualification record. The Chaparral 2F was THE fastest car at many of the tracks. Even more so at the fastest tracks, like Spa. It was a hardtop version of the 2E/2G. Get the message?
McLaren made it his business to design a winning car and run a winning team for this series. I believe the prize money was subsidising his F1operation. As the commentator says the power to weight ratio was massive. And it killed him.
I do miss the CanAm series. I miss the sound of the big engines with big power and cars that had few regulations. I attended the Times Grand Prix in the 60s &70s. What an Event!! I understand the reasoning of all the regulations somewhat but they make racing boring.
Yes and it was quite an evolution from the relatively low tech 60’s cars to see how they were modified in the 70’s but still mostly about power to weight with some crazy yet genius ideas coming from the likes of Jim Hall. Riverside was not the most beautiful track but it was fun and the only game in town for Southern California. It’s ironic that both Riverside and the original Ontario Motor Speedway home of the Questor Grand Prix were demolished and replaced with shopping malls.
I wonder if that car with the fans on the rear is where Gordon Murray got the idea for the Brabham BT46 fan car, which Niki Lauda used to win the 1978 swedish GP?
Brinx you sir are correct . 1968 was the last yr for the 2.2 liter. 69 saw the advent of the 3 liter engine , which to Europeans was an elephant engine, but the Americans considered it to be a hummingbird engine. But a win is a win and especially considering it was running in an unlimited class , no engine size restrictions . I was at this race and remember it as being the hottest day in my very long life.
@@mikecastellon4545 Hey Mike, great to hear that you were there! I'm from the Can part of Can-Am :) 6 weeks earlier I was at the race in Edmonton, Alberta. I feel lucky to have seen Can-Am races there from 1968/73 plus Trans- Am and others. For $5 I could go to the rear of the garages in the pit area, where cars were being worked on and where I rubbed shoulders with some of the greats. FIVE BUCKS! I have a feeling you saw many races in your part of the country. Oh the time had when we were young men!
Brinx yep, great times indeed. In those days there were many things we didn’t know , but one thing we were sure of....we’d be young forever and the fun would never end.
@Bryce Armstrong i suppose it wasn t really neccesary ... with such short straight aways and those old cars could ve not put over 1000 HP so easily to the ground ... and you don t want tire spin up until 4th gear... just having this thought right now
@Bryce Armstrong was road america the same like now ? cause i race it in race room sometimes online... or maybe it was concern about fuel consumption , those giant race engines with 7 liters they suck up on their own already alot .... where do you stuff a giant tank for that ?
I crewed for a fellow running Formula Vee the summer MIS opened. I got a chance to do two laps of the course in the Vee, fastest I've ever driven a car - and it only had about 75 horsepower. Really wild going 125 mph with the pavement about 1.5 inches from your butt.
I've been looking for footage of the original road course at MIS. I have driven the infield hybrid course there that uses turns 3 and 4 and the front stretch of the oval, then dives into the infield.
@@andyharman3022 I saw a Can Am Series Road Race there in 1974 during the oil Embargo when gasoline jumped up to $1.00 per gallon I was about 12 years old .. There may be quite a few videos on the Tube of Can Am races there.. some truley high performace cars 500 Cubic Inch aluminum Big Blog Chevys wiht fuel injection ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KRmTz3KvSig.html
@@andyharman3022 They used to have a Twin 250 250 miles Can Am or Indy cars on the road course and a 250 Mile NASCAR race on the same day www.bing.com/images/search?q=michigan+international+speedway+can+am+racing+on+road+course+1974&qpvt=Michigan+International+Speedway+Can+Am+racing+on+road+course+1974&form=IGRE&first=1&scenario=ImageBasicHover
