1973 Can-Am season

1973 Can-Am season

The 1973 Canadian-American Challenge Cup was the eighth season of the Can-Am auto racing series. It consisted of FIA Group 7 racing cars running two-hour sprint events.

It began June 10, 1973, and ended October 28, 1973, after eight rounds. The season was dominated by two of the turbocharged Porsche 917/10 and then by the improved /30 version of Team Penske driven by Mark Donohue.

The last two races came amid the Oil Crisis, which ended interest in performance cars after an already-declining market over a several-year period. The golden age of the Trans Am Series had ended after the 1972 season, leaving Can Am and Formula 5000 as the frontrunners of the SCCA. The season was also the penultimate season of the CanAm series, which would fold after 1974 before being revived in an entirely reworked series based on F5000 a few years later.

Schedule

For 1973, the schedule was altered as the season continued on, one reason being the Porsche dominance. The first race ran in a standard, single race format. Rounds two through four ran as two heats, with the results being determined by combined results. Rounds five through eight ran a Sprint qualifying heat first to determine the starting order for the Cup event. The results of the Sprint and Cup were not combined.

Rnd	Race	Circuit	Date
1	Labatt's Blue Trophy	Mosport Park	June 10
2	Carling Can-Am	Road Atlanta	July 8
3	Watkins Glen Can-Am	Watkins Glen International	July 22
4	Buckeye Cup	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	August 12
5	Road America Can-Am	Road America	August 26
6	Molson Cup	Edmonton Speedway Park	September 16
7	Monterey Castrol Grand Prix	Laguna Seca Raceway	October 14
8	Los Angeles Times Grand Prix	Riverside International Raceway	October 28

Entries

Team	Chassis	Engine	Tire	Number	Drivers	Rounds
Vasek Polak Racing, Inc.	Porsche 917/10	Porsche 5.0 L Turbo Flat-12	G	0	Jody Scheckter	All
		Porsche 5.4 L Flat-12 Porsche 5.0 L Turbo Flat-12		3	Steve Durst	1–5
					Brian Redman	7–8
Wilson Racing	McLaren M8E	Chevrolet 7.6 L Turbo V8	G	2	Gary Wilson	4–5, 8
Hans Wiedmer	Porsche 917/10	Porsche 5.0 L Turbo Flat-12	G	4	Hans Wiedmer	1–4
William Cuddy	McLaren M8E	Chevrolet 7.6 L V8		4	Bill Cuddy	7
Willi Kauhsen Racing	Porsche 917/10	Porsche 5.0 L Turbo Flat-12	G	5	Willi Kauhsen	4
Roger Penske Racing Enterprises, Inc.	Porsche 917/30	Porsche 5.4 L Turbo Flat-12	G	6	Mark Donohue	All
U. S. Racing	McLaren M8F	Chevrolet 8.1 L V8	G	8	Scooter Patrick	All
William Overhauser Racing Team, Ltd.	McLaren M8D	Chevrolet 7.4 L V8 Chevrolet 7.6 L V8	G	9	John Cordts	All
Motschenbacher Racing Enterprises	McLaren M8F	Chevrolet 8.1 L V8	G	11	John Cannon	1, 3
					Lothar Motschenbacher	2, 6
					Derek Bell	4–5
					Steve Durst	6–8
Warren Agor Racing Enterprises	McLaren M8FP	Chevrolet 8.1 L V8	G	13	Warren Agor	1–5
Artemis International, Ltd.	Ferrari 512 M	Ferrari 5.0 L V12	G	13	Sam Posey	8
Racing Specialties	Lola T260	Chevrolet 7.6 L V8	G	14/39	Tom Heyser	2–5
					John Gunn	6–8
William M. Wonder	McLaren M8C	Chevrolet 7.6 L V8	G	15	Bill Wonder	1
Rinzler Motoracing-Royal Crown	Porsche 917/10	Porsche 5.4 L Turbo Flat-12	G	16	George Follmer	All
				23	Charlie Kemp	1, 3–8
Nagel Racing	Lola T260	Chevrolet 8.1 L V8	G	17	Bob Nagel	All
Bailey Speed Shop	Lola T222	Chevrolet 7.6 L V8		18	Gene Fisher	2
Müller Motors Corporation	KMW SP20	Porsche 2.6 L Flat-6	G	20	Bob Earl	8
				22	Hans Müller-Perschl	7–8
Charles P. Semple	Lola T163	Chevrolet 7.0 L V8		27/77	Tony Settember	7–8
Midwest Racing	McLaren M12	Chevrolet 8.1 L V8	G	30	Frank Kahlich	1, 8
Otto Zipper Racing Team	Alfa Romeo T33/3	Alfa Romeo 3.0 L V8	G	33	Milt Minter	7–8
Burmester Racing	McLaren M8R	Chevrolet 7.4 L V8 Chevrolet 8.1 L V8	F	34	Tom Dutton	All
Harry Bytzek	Porsche 908/02 K	Porsche 3.0 L Flat-8	F	39	Harry Bytzek	1
Jim Butcher Racing	McLaren M8C	Chevrolet 7.4 L V8	G	41	Jim Butcher	1–2
					Dick Durant	5
Ennerdale Racing	Costello SP7 Costello SP8	Oldsmobile 4.4 L V8		45	David Saville-Peck	1, 4–8
Blue Magic Corporation	McLaren M8E	Chevrolet 8.1 L V8	G	47	Ed Felter	1–5, 7
Pete Sherman Racing	McLaren M8F	Chevrolet 7.6 L V8	G	51	Pete Sherman	1–4
Lodestar Enterprises	McLaren M6A	Chevrolet 7.0 L V8		57	Dave Causey	5
Monte's Motors	Lola T162	Chevrolet 7.0 L V8		57	Monte Shelton	6
Brumos Porsche-Audi Corporation	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.0 L Flat-6	G	58	Peter Gregg	3
	Porsche 917/10	Porsche 5.0 L Turbo Flat-12		59	Hurley Haywood	All
Peckham Engineering	McLaren M8C	Chevrolet 7.4 L V8	G	64	Bob Peckham	4–5, 7–8
Roy Woods Racing, Inc.	McLaren M20	Chevrolet 8.1 L V8	G	73	David Hobbs	All
Kampo Enterprises	Lola T220	Chevrolet V8	G	74	Dan Kampo	5
R. D. Klempel	Lola T163	Chevrolet 7.5 L V8		77	Bob Klempel	1
Durant Racing	Lola T163	Chevrolet 7.0 L V8	G	81	Dick Durant	1
R. S. Racing Enterprises	McLaren M6B	Chevrolet 7.1 L V8		91	Leon Sirois	5
Commander Motor Homes Racing Team	McLaren M20	Chevrolet 7.6 L Turbo V8	F	96	Mario Andretti	2, 7–8
					John Cannon	7–8
	McLaren M8F	Chevrolet 7.6 L V8		97	Milt Minter	2
					Bob Brown	3–8
				98	Danny Hopkins	2–6
					John Cannon	7–8
Don Nichols	Shadow DN2	Chevrolet 8.1 L V8	G	101	Jackie Oliver	1–4, 6–8
					James Hunt	5
		Chevrolet 8.1 L Turbo V8		102	Jackie Oliver	5
					Vic Elford	7–8

Season results

The start of the Molson Cup at Edmonton Speedway Park. Mark Donohue's Penske-Sunoco Porsche 917/30 started in pole position.

Rnd	Circuit	Winning team	Results
		Winning driver
1	Mosport	#23 Rinzler Motoracing Royal Crown	Results
		Charlie Kemp
2	Road Atlanta	#16 Rinzler Motoracing Royal Crown	Results
		George Follmer
3	Watkins Glen	#6 Roger Penske Enterprises	Results
		Mark Donohue
4	Mid-Ohio	#6 Roger Penske Enterprises	Results
		Mark Donohue
5	Road America	#6 Roger Penske Enterprises	Results
		Mark Donohue
6	Edmonton	#6 Sunoco Porsche+Audi	Results
		Mark Donohue
7	Laguna Seca	#6 Roger Penske Enterprises	Results
		Mark Donohue
8	Riverside	#6 Roger Penske Enterprises	Results
		Mark Donohue

Drivers Championship

Points are awarded to the top ten finishers in the order of 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1.

Pos Driver MOS ATL WGL MOH ROA EDM LAG RIV Pts 1 Mark Donohue 7 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 139 2 George Follmer 13 1 20 2 3 2 11 20 62 3 Hurley Haywood 15 5 21 3 14 DNS 3 2 47 4 Charlie Kemp 1 4 DNS 12 8 13 3 45 5 Bob Nagel 3 6 11 13 6 7 6 4 44 6 Jody Scheckter 16 3 3 20 2 12 16 13 39 7 David Hobbs Wth 4 2 19 Wth 4 9 18 37 8 Scooter Patrick 4 18 10 18 4 6 8 10 31 9 Jackie Oliver 20 19 17 8 DNS 3 2 17 30 10 Steve Durst 5 7 7 10 DNS 5 10 8 29 11 Bobby Brown 16 5 5 11 4 19 26 12 Milt Minter 17 5 5 16 13 Hans Wiedmer 2 16 15 23 15 14 Tom Dutton 12 11 6 7 15 10 21 7 15 15 John Cannon 6 5 17 15 14 16 Derek Bell 4 DNS 10 17 Bob Peckham 11 Wth 7 6 10 18 Danny Hopkins 13 13 6 9 15 8 19 Tom Heyser 8 8 16 10 7 20 Gary Wilson 9 7 DNS 6 21 Ed Felter 8 10 18 12 16 20 4 22 John Cordts 9 12 19 14 Wth 9 14 14 4 23 Warren Agor 19 14 12 15 8 3 24 Pete Sherman 10 9 14 17 3 25 Peter Gregg 9 2 25 Hans Müller-Perschl Wth 9 2 Brian Redman 12 11 0 David Saville-Peck 18 21 11 14 22 Wth 0 William Wonder 11 0 Frank Kahlich Wth 12 0 John Gunn 13 23 Wth 0 Jigger Sirois 13 0 Jim Butcher 14 Wth 0 Vic Elford 15 21 0 Lothar Motschenbacher 15 0 Sam Posey 16 0 Dick Durant 17 DNS 0 Bill Cuddy 18 0 Tony Settember 19 Wth 0 Gene Fisher 20 0 Willi Kauhsen 22 0 Mario Andretti DNS DNS DNS 0 James Hunt DNS 0 Dan Kampo DNS 0 Dave Causey DNS 0 Monte Shelton DNS 0 Bob Earl Wth 0 Pos Driver MOS ATL WGL MOH ROA EDM LAG RIV Pts

Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th-6th place Light Blue 7th–10th place Dark Blue Finished (Outside Top 10) Purple Did not finish Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Brown Withdrawn (Wth) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Driver replacement (Rpl) Injured (Inj) Race not held (NH) Not competing In-line notation Bold Pole position

References

• "Canadian-American Challenge Cup 1973". World Sports Racing Prototypes. October 2, 2005. Archived from the original on June 2, 2008. Retrieved January 19, 2008.
• "Can-Am - final positions and tables". World Sports Racing Prototypes. October 2, 2005. Archived from the original on May 31, 2008. Retrieved January 19, 2008.