“There were a number of reasons why we went into the Formula A series in 1973”, explained Mark Donohue in his autobiography The Unfair Advantage. “American Motors was interested in getting into a series where they were more competitive than the Matador was in NASCAR. At the same time, Sunoco liked Formula A because it involved real open-wheel race cars that burned gasoline – unlike USAC cars which burned alcohol. And it looked to us like an easy way to pick up some wins. All we had to do was buy a competitive chassis, stuff our proven AMC 302-inch Trans-Am motor in it, and go out and collect the money – or Roger would, at least.
“I didn’t know much about the series, but Don Cox was going to Europe for us, and he could look at the various chassis that were available. McLaren didn’t have one. Trojan was going to, but they weren’t ready yet. March offered one that Cox didn’t like. So we ended up back at Lola, where Broadley was building a Formula A chassis that looked like a winner.
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