Time for Part 2 of the Walt Etten Collection of historic US and Canadian motor racing photos. We started off Walt's collection showing photos from two events, the 1970 Mid-Ohio and 1971 Mosport Can-Am races. Part 2 is quite a short chapter, containing pics from just one event, but its quite fascinating, none the less. This is the 1973 Canadian Grand Prix, at Mosport, Round 14 of the World Championship.
This was the race where a Safety Car (named a Pace Car at the time) was used for the first time in F1, but it was a shambles, and completely confused the outcome. Jackie Stewart had already wrapped up the Drivers Title, though the Constructors Championship was still to play for. Ronnie Petersen was on pole in his Lotus, while McLaren driver Peter Revson was awarded the win, but the star of the show was the young Niki Lauda, who stormed through from 8th on the grid to lead by lap 2 on a wet track. Lauda had twice taken out huge loans to try and further his early racing career, once in 1971 to buy himself into a March F2 drive, which then became an F1 drive when he was promoted. After a frustrating 1972 season, Lauda then took out another huge loan to buy himself a ride in the struggling BRM F1 team, and his stellar performance here at Mosport must surely have helped pave the way to Ferrari the following season.
In the early wet laps, Lauda completely dominated, but it wasn't to last. The rain stopped and the track dried, and his wet weather tyres went off. From lap 23, car after car headed to the pits for dry tyres, and the confusion completely mixed up the lap scorers. Then a collision between Jody Schecker and Francois Cevert brought about the Safety Car for the first time in F1, as Cevert's Tyrrell was partially blocking the track. But nobody was sure who was leading! Safety Car driver Eppie Wietzes picked up ISO driver Howden Ganley as the race leader, and once the wreckage was cleared and the race underway once more, it was Lotus driver Emerson Fittipaldi who soon took control, and Colin Chapman threw his cap in the air as the Bazilian crossed the line for what many thought was the victory. However, the man holding the chequered flag waved it as Revson went by!
Revson was eventually awarded the win, from Fittipaldi, and Jackie Oliver, who produced a great performance in the UOP Shadow.
These are Walt's photos from this dramatic event. Enjoy!
The rest of this collection can be viewed here > >
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