Can-Am Racing 1966-1969
56 race previews & reports on the Can-Am series. Articles from St.
Jovite, Mosport, Bridgehampton, Laguna Seca, Riverside, Las Vegas,
Edmonton, Texas, Watkins Glen, Mid Ohio, Michigan, Elkhart Lake, plus
full results from 1966 to 1969.
CAN-AM RACING 1970-1974
The second half of the Can-Am story spans the years from 1970 to 1974
and is one of continuing ingenuity and improvements in performance
despite increasing regulations being imposed by the FIA. However, the
opening of the new decade was a time when car exhaust pollution and
crash safety were becoming major consumer issues in the USA and speed no
longer figured as an important selling point. Then, the OPEC oil crisis
towards the end of 1973 made motor racing with huge gas-guzzling engines
somehow seem a bit out of touch with the economic difficulties being
faced by society. The death of Bruce McLaren overshadowed the start of
the 1970 Can-Am season, but the cars that carried his name continued to
dominate the series, Denny Hulme ending the year as champion. Peter
Revson drove a McLaren to win the championship in '71, the fifth in a
row for the company. 1972 saw the arrival of the factory-backed Porsches
and the end of the McLaren dynasty, but aerodynamic restrictions also
discouraged the Chaparrals and when the series sponsor elected not to
carry on the Can-Am swiftly went into a decline. Porsche had a clean
sweep in '73, winning all eight races, and then announced that they too
were withdrawing from the competition. In the final year, the
Chevrolet-powered Shadow of Jackie Oliver clinched the title by winning
the first four rounds and, after a McLaren driven by Scooter Patrick
took the chequered flag at Elkhart Lake, the sixth and seventh races
were cancelled. It was the end of the Can-Am, the fun was over. As with
the previous Brooklands Books volume on the Can-Am, the complete story
of every race in the period covered can be found in these pages,
together with a full set of results.
